Tyler Self to walk-on at Kansas
Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self was last year’s Naismith Award recipient for taking the Jayhawks, who lost almost all of their key performers from the previous season, to unexpected heights. KU was not expected to make the tournament after some poor play in the fall, but they ended up going all the way to the National Championship and getting beat by the clock before another epic comeback could take place.
Arguably the best coach in college basketball, Bill Self also has a son who plays ball. Tyler Self will walk on to the Kansas Jayhawks. The team is building a “Big Three” of walk-ons as far as coaching pedigrees go. Former Jayhawks star and assistant coach Danny Manning’s son Evan Manning will walk-on to KU, as well as current assistant coach Norm Robert’s son Niko Roberts.
Tyler Self is a 6’2″ guard who will walk on for his father Bill, and he was a player (3.9 points-1.3 rebounds) for Lawrence Free State. He was also teammates with Manning’s son at Free State; Manning would later go to a prep school in New Hampshire after graduating from the Lawrence school in the Sunflower League.
“It was my mother, him and I eating dinner at a little Mexican restaurant. I said something like, ‘I want to play.’ They were both kind of surprised. I think they both said, ‘Really?’ at the same time. It was pretty funny,” said Tyler.
Bill Self’s son Tyler has an older sister (Bill’s daughter) who attends KU and is a senior. Tyler Self is yet another walk-on among a hefty list of notable KU coaches’s sons, and it will be interesting to see the guard’s role on the team. Are those three fundamentally sound like the stereotype for coaches’s sons go? I am most interested in seeing Evan Manning, since his father is THE Danny Manning.
Self chose Kansas over his father’s alma matter Oklahoma State, but he would not have played hoops with the Cowboys. He would like to pursue a career in business and would have focused on that at the other Big 12 school. His father has never pressured him as an athlete, nor has he ever really coached him, which is all too interesting. Sounds like Bill Self does things the right way and takes a step back with his son.
The walk-on guard will likely make his presence known mostly during practices, and his demeanor means that he will likely be a great and supportive teammate. Don’t expect him to get game action at all, but it’s great to see Tyler Self joining the team.