LAWRENCE — Much of the early days of Kansas basketball’s offseason following the 2025-26 season focused on whether Bill Self would retire from coaching or not.
Self has dealt with health issues in recent years. He’s also been the head coach at KU for more than two decades, with a career in coaching that spans much longer than that. Should he have decided to have that be his final season in college athletics, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Self ultimately elected to come back to Kansas for the 2026-27 season and continue his time leading the program. He has a team that’ll be a contender in the Big 12 Conference and potentially nationally. Led by freshman guard Tyran Stokes, the Jayhawks could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
But college basketball also saw Oregon announce earlier this month that head coach Dana Altman is retiring, with him citing in part in a press conference a feeling he couldn't give the job everything he had anymore, and that its team would have an interim head coach for the upcoming campaign. It could lead one to wonder, would another longtime head coach’s decision to retire affect Self’s outlook on his own career?
According to Self, that’s not the case.
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“I’ll be honest, he’s a pillar in our profession; he’s great,” Self said. “I think I’m at the point now with my situation and life thoughts, I don’t think somebody else would influence in any shape or form the way I look at this. So, I just want to feel good and go out and get after it. So, that’s what I think about.”
Self acknowledged there are a number of reasons why someone could decide to move on, whether that’s health, family situations, not feeling the same way walking to the office or something else. College athletics demands a lot, with Self describing it as essentially life in the fast lane non-stop. How much the college landscape has changed matters, too.
Self, though, will lead the Jayhawks this season and continue to chase more Big 12 and national success. Stokes isn’t alone, with senior guards Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. being two more that fans will be eager to see play. It’s just a matter of how far they can all take the team.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at JMGuskey@usatodayco.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Will Dana Altman’s retirement from Oregon affect Bill Self’s outlook?