Self again declines to answer questions about college basketball recruiting scandal
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas head coach Bill Self addresses media members at the beginning of his segment during Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018 at Sprint Center.
Updated story: 8:33 p.m. Wednesday
• In wake of basketball corruption trial’s verdict, Self says his staff has done nothing wrong
Update: 3:04 p.m. Wednesday
KANSAS CITY, MO. — During a breakout session with reporters Wednesday at Big 12 Media Day, KU coach Bill Self again declined to comment on a trial aiming to tackle corruption in college basketball even though the verdict of the case was released at the end of the hour-long session at the Sprint Center.
He said a statement from KU Athletics would be released later Wednesday and he would release his own statement at another unknown time.
Self previously said he would not comment on the trial until it concluded. When asked Wednesday if he was frustrated he couldn’t respond to the allegations revealed in court, he said it’s often better to be quiet.
“Anytime somebody punches you, I think your tendency is to fight back,” he said prior to the verdict coming down. “But sometimes the best thing to say is nothing.”
When asked if the allegations revealed in the trial would hurt his legacy, Self said he would not “sit here and defend myself.”
“Based on perception from what’s come out and what’s been reported, certainly people can have their thoughts and opinions,” he said. “I’ve got to be mature enough to understand that and not be mad about it.”
Although Self declined to comment about the trial when he began talking to reporters, he again spoke about eligibility questions surrounding Silvio De Sousa, which stem from information revealed in the New York City courtroom. Earlier Wednesday, Self announced that De Sousa will be held out from playing until KU and the NCAA evaluate his eligibility.
Self said that De Sousa was aware of the possibility of being held out, but Self said he did not tell De Sousa until Tuesday.
“He certainly now feels sad because he’s had something taken away from him that he obviously did not anticipate would be taken from him,” Self said. “He’s a big boy too … Eligibility issues are very commonplace in college athletics and guys have to deal with them.”
Although KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend also came up in the trial, Self said his responsibilities in recruitment have not changed.
“Not at all,” he said.
KU player Dedric Lawson told the Journal-World that Townsend has been at practices and team meetings as normal.
When asked if he had any concerns about continuing a partnership with Adidas, Self deferred questions to the KU Athletic Director Jeff Long, who was not available for interviews at the event.
Self said he was upbeat about his program although he, his assistant coach and players on his team became centerpieces of the trial.
“As a leader of our program, why should I let things that are going on somewhere else affect how I am around my players or how I coach my team?” he said. “You’re not much of a leader if that’s the case. I should be able to handle both, and certainly I will.”
Self said he doesn’t think the trial has had any affect on his current team, but he does think it may have affected the program’s recruiting of future players.
“I would say it hasn’t helped,” he said. “It’s been hard because we haven’t be able to explain.”
— Lawrence Journal-World KU basketball beat writer Matt Tait contributed to this report.
Original story: 12:40 p.m. Wednesday
KANSAS CITY, MO. — University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has again declined to answer questions related to the federal trial on basketball corruption.
“That’s a mandate that’s been given to me,” he said Wednesday during a Big 12 media day news conference.
Self did not elaborate on where that mandate came from, or who issued the mandate. Even though he refused to answer questions in person, earlier Wednesday, he released a written statement about actions taken in response to allegations from the trial.
KU, which has won at least a share of the last 14 Big 12 Conference regular season championships, has become a focus of the current trial in New York, specifically Self’s relationship with government witness and former Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola. Gassnola testified that he paid for players to come to KU, including $90,000 to the mother of Billy Preston and $2,500 to Fenny Falmagne, the guardian of Silvio De Sousa. Gassnola testified that he never told Self about the payments.
Prior to taking the stage for a news conference, Self said on WHB 810 Sports Radio that it was “uncomfortable” to hear his name brought up in the trial.
In recent testimony, both the prosecution and the defense said families of KU players Preston and De Sousa received cash payments to attend KU. Text messages and phone calls revealed in court showed that Self and assistant coach Kurtis Townsend were aware of Adidas’ involvement in helping to recruit players.
“It has been uncomfortable, but I also am confident in how we conduct our business,” Self said during the broadcast. “(Hearing their names) brings discomfort, but it would also bring discomfort if neither of our names were brought up and a player’s name was.
“It’s unsettling to see those reports through the media and testimony,” he added. “(But) we’re big boys. We know we have to deal with that. It goes with the territory.”
Self added that there would be a time when he could comment, but clarified that it would be “after the trial is complete” and likely through a statement.
“I know factually what I’m limited to (saying) and I will keep it at that,” he said.
During the news conference, Self reiterated that De Sousa would be withheld from playing in games as the team waits for an eligibility review from KU and the NCAA. He said De Sousa was deemed eligible last year, and the decision to keep him out going forward was based on “recent developments that took place in the trial.”
Self is scheduled to meet with reporters again Wednesday afternoon.
During their news conferences Kansas State coach Bruce Weber and West Virginia coach Bob Huggins both answered questions about alleged recruiting violations revealed in the trial.
Weber said he believed it was a nationwide problem and hoped it would get fixed, but he doesn’t worry about what other institutions are doing.
“I can’t worry about what other people do,” he said. “I just worry about what we do. We try to do it right and I think we got good players. We’ve got good kids. So we’ve got an opportunity to be successful and that’s what we’re really focused on.”
“At the same time,” he continued, “the game is important to me and I want things corrected if it can be and hopefully it will be in the future.”
Huggins said he didn’t think it had been proven just yet that basketball programs were involved in the recruiting scandal but that, if it did happen, it was just a small number of schools involved.
“We’re talking, what, four or five schools at most?” he said, noting there are 361 teams in Division I basketball. “I think the state of our game is fine. If things happened, we all know they shouldn’t have happened, but that doesn’t affect that state of our game and the way people go about doing their business.”
Check back for updates as this story develops.
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