To the editor:

If there is any silver lining in OSU’s (aka Boone Pickens) search for a new coach it will be we now have something else to concern ourselves with rather than a former coach.

It’s ironic that the more attention given to Roy Williams’ departure, the more we detract from the greatest tradition in college basketball. Can anyone truly say that one person is bigger than a 110-year program which claims the inventor of game, the father of coaching, three of the greatest college players ever (Chamberlain, White and Manning), not to mention the third-winningest program ever (soon to be No. 2) and the most conference titles?

If Phog Allen had left, that would have been one thing, but Roy Williams’ tenure, although a good one, represented only 7 percent of what has become the greatest college basketball tradition, period. Both Larry Brown and Bill Self understood this from the beginning. With Bill Self, we have actually improved our program. While I believe it would be highly unlikely that Self would willingly leave, if he did so, Kansas would still be the dream job for any of the best college coaches in America and our rich tradition will continue to thrive.

We may be witnessing one of the best teams in recent history. Let’s savor that, as well as the chance to watch the second- and third-winningest programs in the country match up Saturday in one of the best Final Fours ever. Anything else is a diminishes what we are so fortunate to have here.

Bob Grabill,
Lawrence