Bill Self walked out of Chicago’s Hyatt Regency O’Hare Airport late Wednesday afternoon feeling upbeat about the coaching profession and the upcoming season.

“I think anytime you get a group of guys together right before the start of practice, it creates energy and enthusiasm. There is a feeling of unity; that we are on the same page,” said Self, Kansas University’s first-year basketball coach and one of more than 300 Division One coaches who gathered for an emergency ethics summit just two days before the start of the 2003-04 season.

The three-hour summit was called by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in the wake of scandals at Baylor, Georgia, Fresno State, Iowa State and St. Bonaventure.

“There’s a misperception coaches do not do things the right way. That’s not the case at all. Some guys haven’t done it the right way,” Self said. “We are going to address every problem we feel we have. No we are not perfect. We are trying. Everybody is on the same page. What our organization needs is other entities on the same page.”

The D-I coaches — who were joined by NCAA President Miles Brand — agreed to adopt a code of ethics for players and coaches to fit their specific programs. The coaches have agreed to send their individual code of ethics to the NABC in the next three weeks.

“There’s always been a code of ethics. Ninety-nine percent of our coaches have been delivering on a code of ethics a long time,” Self said. “There may be some things done at a later date to even expand on the code of ethics that exists.

“What we got out of today is everybody is on the same page and we try to develop a game plan certainly that the NCAA will be more involved in.”

The NABC has decided to in coming weeks to develop a “lack of coach control” infraction that could result from any NCAA member program under investigation. Also, the NABC will review recommendations on stiffer penalties for secondary recruiting violations based on the impact they have on a recruit’s decision to attend one school over another.

Also, the NABC announced plans to launch a professional development program mandated for all assistant coaches at this year’s Final Four in San Antonio. At the Final Four, all current D-I coaches will reconvene.

“We think this was a very positive meeting,” Self said. “The one thing we feel very strongly about is our profession has taken some hits, but the guys in this meeting today are doing things the right way and are trying to handle their business and handle things in their programs in an ethical matter with integrity.”

Coaches were happy Brand attended.

“It opens up the door for cooperation, revisiting some rules,” said Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, president of the NABC. “Sometimes when we talk about violations, or cheating, or coaches making a mistake — a lot of these things are rules that maybe could be eliminated.”

“Being able to have a partnership with the NCAA gives us an opportunity to revisit and look at some certain rules,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m not going to go into individual rules. We talked about some things that we think can help coaches and help our game.”

Attendance for the meeting was mandatory — Final Four tickets were revoked for coaches who did not attend.

Texas Tech coach Bob Knight did not show.

“If anybody could afford not to be here, it’s Bobby Knight,” former Georgetown coach John Thompson told the Associated Press. “He’s a lot of things, but he’s not someone who’s not concerned about this game. Just because he was not here does not mean that he will be inactive for the cause.”

• Self at Wrigley: Self attended Tuesday’s Cubs-Marlins playoff game in which the Cubs saw a 3-0 eighth-inning lead turn into an 8-3 Game Six loss.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sporting event like that … to see a place go from total euphoria to totally deflated,” Self said. “Everybody was deflated (after Marlins’ eight-run inning).”

Things fell apart for the Cubs after a fan deflected a foul ball that could have been caught by outfielder Moises Alou.

“We had a bad angle on it,” Self said of the play.

• ’88 squad: KU’s 1988 national-championship team will be honored at Friday’s Late Night In the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the evening’s festivities to start at 10 p.m.

Members of the ’88 team expected to attend include Sean Alvarado, Marvin Branch, Jeff Gueldner, Mike Maddox, Danny Manning, Archie Marshall, Marvin Mattox, Lincoln Minor, Milt Newton, Chris Piper, Kevin Pritchard and Mark Randall.

It’s not finalized, but as of Wednesday chances were good coach Larry Brown of the Detroit Pistons would return, along with coaches Alvin Gentry, Ed Manning, John Robic, David Moe and perhaps Wichita State’s Mark Turgeon. Managers Bill Pope and Mark Perlmutter will be on hand.