Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks made news today with the announcement that they have agreed to a lifetime contract. The current deal expires next year and the new deal will be five years long and automatically add a year every year at the end of the season. This deal will continue to renew each year until Self decides to retire from coaching. It comes in the midst of an NCAA investigation into the Jayhawks for misconduct.
Kansas announced today that Bill Self has signed a lifetime contract with the Jayhawks. His current contract, which was set to expire next March, is being replaced with a new five-year rolling agreement that automatically adds one year at the conclusion of each season.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 2, 2021
Self said the following in response to the deal being announced:
“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Chancellor [Doug] Girod, Kurt Watson, and the rest of the leadership at KU for their belief and faith in me to provide this lifetime contract, every day, I am reminded just how fortunate I am to lead this storied program and there truly is no place else I would rather be. As we continue to work through the challenges facing our program, we look forward to moving ahead and focusing on our bright future. I would also like to express my gratitude to our alumni and donors, as well as the best fans and students in the nation, that have supported my family and me for the past 18 seasons. I’m excited to remain your basketball coach and compete for many championships in the future.”
The deal includes a clause saying the NCAA Investigation will have no impact on his tenure with the program. This is an interesting move, but Kansas is clearly making it known that Self is their man and they’re standing behind him no matter what. The NCAA ruling will eventually come down and Kansas will handle it then.
