Bill Self Says He’ll Return to Coach Kansas in 2026-27 Season

The Hall of Fame coach publicly flirted with retirement.

Bill Self is set to return in 2027. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Kansas coach Bill Self isn’t going anywhere.

The Jayhawks boss is returning to coach Kansas in 2027, he announced Wednesday afternoon after much speculation that he would walk away.

“With renewed clarity and the ongoing support from our administration, I remain focused and committed to Kansas basketball competing for a national championship,” Self said. “I look forward to seeing and hearing the best fans in college basketball next season at Allen Fieldhouse.”

The move comes amid a trying stretch for Self, one of the 15 winningest coaches in the history of Division I men’s college basketball. In 2026, Kansas lost double-digit games for the third straight year, the first time that had happened since the late 1980s. The Jayhawks bowed out in the NCAA second round against St. John’s; they haven’t reached the tournament’s second weekend since winning the national title in 2022.

More urgently, Self has been hospitalized twice in the past calendar year—first in July 2025 (when he had two stents inserted) and then again in January (out of an abundance of caution).

Self has served as Kansas’s head coach since 2004, when the Jayhawks lured him away from Illinois. He is 648-167 lifetime with the Jayhawks, and 855-272 for his career with Oral Roberts, Tulsa, the Fighting Illini and Kansas. He played collegiately for Oklahoma State from 1982 to '85.

SI’s Kevin Sweeney on what Self’s return means

Rumors that Self might call it quits had hovered over the Kansas program in recent weeks. Even after Self had denied that any decision had been made in late March, a more forceful statement on his future was critical as the Jayhawks head into the offseason. The NCAA transfer portal opens Tuesday, April 7, with the Jayhawks likely in need of multiple key pieces.

Also looming over Kansas right now is the long-standing recruitment of 2026 No. 1 recruit Tyran Stokes, who seems poised to make a decision in the coming days. Stokes visited Kansas for the Jayhawks’ win over BYU on January 31. He initially announced a final list of Kansas, Kentucky and Oregon, though it’s possible others could sneak into the mix late. Self making clear he’ll be the one there to potentially coach Stokes could aid in the star wing’s decision.

Self sticking around for another year also avoids Kansas being forced to make a move at the same time as North Carolina hunts for its next coach. In almost any other coaching cycle, KU would be the No. 1 job on the market, but had it opened this week the Jayhawks would’ve been competing with the Tar Heels for candidates. Another year for Self could boost top assistant Jacque Vaughn’s chances of earning the head job after Self’s eventual retirement, giving him more time to get a lay of the land in college and entrench himself in the program. Vaughn is a 1997 Kansas alum who has had multiple head coaching stints in the NBA, most recently in Brooklyn with the Nets before returning to college as an assistant for Self.

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