Norm Roberts was the head basketball coach at Queens College in New York when Bill Self hired him as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts in 1996.

Since then, Roberts has followed the nomadic Self to Tulsa, Illinois and now Kansas University.

“I’ve had opportunities to interview and be involved with different jobs, but I’ve really enjoyed working with him,” Roberts said Monday after Self was introduced as KU’s new coach. “He gives me a lot of freedom to work. He’s a faithful guy. You stay with guys that are successful.”

Self and Roberts have been successful. Since Roberts joined his staff six years ago, Self’s teams have posted a 173-58 record.

“He is as good as it gets,” Self said of his associate head coach.

Roberts, a 38-year-old New York native, knows all about Kansas basketball. He worked Larry Brown’s camps in the 1980s, and his brother, Kenny, was a walk-on at KU in the Ted Owens era.

“It’s exciting,” Roberts said. “It’s a great opportunity. Kansas is an unbelievable place. It’s one of the top programs in the nation.”

The other Illini aide joining Self at KU — Tim Jankovich — also knows Kansas well. He played one year for George Raveling at Washington State in 1977-78 before transferring to Kansas State, where he was a three-year starter for coach Jack Hartman. The point guard was a Rhodes Scholar who earned two degrees from KSU.

Jankovich has worked under some big-name coaches, including Lon Kruger (Texas-Pan American), Hartman (K-State) and Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State). He spent three years on the staff of former KU aide Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt before going to work for Self — another Sutton disciple — last season. Jankovich has been a head coach twice, spending six years at North Texas (1993-97) and two at Hutchinson Community College (1997-99).

The former Wildcat is thrilled to be coming home.

“I pinch myself about three times an hour to make sure this isn’t a dream,” he said Monday in a phone interview from Illinois. “I was happy at Vandy. I was happy here, but to be able to go to the University of Kansas and be near home … it’s beyond comprehension right now. I might be the luckiest guy in the world.”

Self has room for one more full-time assistant as well as administrative aides. He said his goal was to put together “the best staff in America.” The third spot likely will go to someone with ties to KU.

“It’s real important that we have somebody in place that helps tie things together that’s been here and certainly understands Kansas and can help sell Kansas,” he said.

Two of former coach Roy Williams’ assistants — Joe Holladay and Steve Robinson — already have joined Williams at North Carolina, and it was unclear if Ben Miller would join the Tar Heels program, remain at KU or seek work elsewhere.

Miller declined two interview requests from the Journal-World Monday.

Meanwhile, administrative assistants Jerod Haase and C.B. McGrath both said they would join Williams’ UNC staff in roles yet to be determined.

There are, however, plenty of candidates lining up for the remaining assistant’s spot on Self’s staff.

Former Kansas manager Bill Pope and former Jayhawk guard Kevin Pritchard both attended Self’s news conference Monday.

Former KU All-American Danny Manning also has expressed an interest in coaching and was working out with the team this year before signing a contract with Detroit midway through the NBA season.

“I’d love to work here,” said Pope, who was in Self’s wedding. “It’s home for me, but today I’m just here to enjoy the moment with Bill.”

Pope was a manager on KU’s 1986 Final Four team, while Self was a graduate assistant.

Now in his sixth year as head coach at Division II Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo., Pope has been an assistant coach at Kilgore Junior College, Lamar, Texas-San Antonio, Oral Roberts, Jacksonville, Western Kentucky and North Carolina A&T.

At Lincoln, the Kansas City native took over a program that had not had a winning season in 15 years and turned it into a winner.

“I’d do it in a heartbeat,” he said of returning to KU. “But that’s not something that’s been talked about. There’s guys more qualified than me.”

Pritchard played at Kansas from 1986 to 1990, and the Oklahoma native knows Self, who is good friends with Pritchard’s high school coach.

Pritchard was coach and general manager of the Kansas City Knights of the ABA for two years before the league shut down last season because of financial problems. The league’s owners are scheduled to meet in two weeks in Las Vegas to discuss resuming play in 2003.

Pritchard, who still lives in Lawrence, indicated he would be interested in working for Self.

“It would be an honor to sit on the bench at Kansas,” he said.