Kansas HC Bill Self signs lifetime contract

Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self signed a lifetime contract with the school on Tuesday. The deal will pay out $53 million in its first five years, making Self the highest-paid basketball coach at a public university in history.

Self has been coaching with Kansas since 2003, and in that time, the Jayhawks have reached the Final Four four times (one has since been vacated) and have won the NCAA Championship two out of those three times. Kansas has also claimed eight Big 12 titles during Self’s tenure.

However, his time in Lawrence has not been without scandal. The Jayhawks were the subject of an FBI investigation in the late 2010s regarding bribery, and the NCAA put the program under investigation for recruiting violations at the same time. The program had to vacate a trip to the Final Four from their 2018 record under NCAA sanctions but escaped largely un-penalized.

With the lifetime deal, following the end of each year of coaching, another year will be added to the end of Self’s contract. The contract can be renegotiated after the 2025-26 season.