This is easily one of the best returns home in Kansas basketball history. In a surprising, yet incredible move, Bill Self and KU announced on Wednesday that legendary point guard Jacque Vaughn is back with Kansas.
That's right, Vaughn has filled the vacant spot on Self's staff as an assistant coach. During his playing days with the Jayhawks, Vaughn was one of the best PGs in the country and he became the program's new all-time assist leader while he was on campus.
He's beloved all over Lawrence and countless people could not be happier that he's now going to be helping out Self in trying to get the Jayhawks back to where they need to be. Vaughn is of course thrilled about this too, making that much clear in a special message for everyone to see:
Bill Self hiring Jacque Vaughn is a huge move for Kansas basketball
As you can see from that graphic above, this move means to world to Vaughn, who was an All-American with the Jayhawks while he was on campus. He lived up to his major hype coming out of high school, no doubt about that.
At the coaching level, Vaughn got his start in 2010 with the Spurs and Gregg Popovich. He got his first taste of coaching experience with the Orlando Magic, but he was fired during the 2014-15 season.
He then joined the Nets as an assistant, eventually taking over as head coach. Unfortunately, things didn't go too well for him in Brooklyn, with him once again being shown the door. Despite those setbacks, an opportunity to come home to Lawrence presented itself and Vaughn wasn't going to turn it down.
After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign for Kansas, Self is doing whatever he can to improve this squad for next season. On the recruiting trail, there's plenty of buzz that 5-star transfer Darrion Williams could commit soon. Regardless of whether that happens or not, bringing in Vaughn is exciting news that has a lot of people smiling.