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Kansas basketball’s Bill Self ties Phog Allen as program’s all-time winningest head coach

LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self added to his legacy with the Jayhawks on Friday with his team’s 92-89 win against UNC.

Self now has 590 career victories with the Jayhawks, tying him with Phog Allen, who coached the Jayhawks for more than 30 seasons, as the program’s all-time winningest head coach.

"I feel good," Self said postgame. "I’ll be honest with you, I hadn’t thought about it today until (KU director of broadcasting) Brian Hanni asked me about it. And we tied him last year, and then we got 15 taken from us, but the whole thing is, is I’m proud but he’s still the greatest coach and the best innovator that this school will ever know. So, we don’t need to get carried away. We play more games. If he’d had played that many games and coached 39 years he would have won 2,000 games. So, but — it’s great. It’s great."

Self continued: "But the reality of it is, is all we are is we just won a big game in November that you guys will make a bigger deal out of than whatever. Because I guarantee (UNC coach Hubert Davis)'s going to leave out of here thinking, ‘You know what? We got better.’ And I think that we’ll leave out of here thinking, ‘Even though we didn’t play our best, I think that we found a way to win, which is a big positive thing.’ So it was probably a good game for both programs, I would think."

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Self addressed the possibility this could happen Thursday, with reporters, ahead of the game. Much of what he had to say, though, just like on Friday, was praise for what Allen accomplished years ago at Kansas. On Thursday, Self also mentioned no matter what happens he'll always consider Allen the best coach in program history. From Self's perspective, the advantages he's been able to have at Kansas exist because of what Allen built.

On Thursday, Self also praised the players and coaches who’ve been with him over the years. A number of those former players were in attendance for the game Friday, showing their support. And now Self is one win away from setting a new program record, with his first opportunity to do so on Tuesday in Atlanta during a Champions Classic matchup against Michigan State.

Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self enters Allen Fieldhouse for a Nov. 8, 2024 game against North Carolina in Lawrence.
Kansas basketball head coach Bill Self enters Allen Fieldhouse for a Nov. 8, 2024 game against North Carolina in Lawrence.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball coach Bill Self ties Phog Allen for KU all-time wins