Despite Kansas Jayhawks basketball fan criticism related to Darryn Peterson, some close early-season losses, and starting lineup/rotation complaints, Coach Bill Self has done a phenomenal job navigating this 2025-2026 season thus far. Looking over at fellow blue blood, Kentucky, and their turmoil and booing of Coach Mark Pope, should prove just how valuable Self is:
This is the craziest booing I’ve ever seen of a Head Coach, maybe ever
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) December 6, 2025
Wild scene as Kentucky is getting blasted by a Gonzaga team that just got blasted 🤯
pic.twitter.com/lgnKLQlNZW
Rewind to 2024, and the Kentucky Wildcats officially severed their relationship with John Calipari, who had spent 15 years coaching the program. Coach Cal’s tenure with UK had soured in his final four seasons, as the Wildcats missed March Madness in 2021 and could not get past the first weekend of the tournament in 2022, 2023, or 2024.
This led the two to part ways as Calipari headed over to Arkansas, and Kentucky replaced him with former 1996 Kentucky NCAA champion and the BYU basketball coach at the time, Mark Pope. UK fans felt this would be just the change that the program needed, a coach who loves Kentucky and had done wonders with his BYU team the previous season.
Sadly, this relationship has also soured quicker than expected. After trailing Gonzaga at halftime by a score of 43-20, loud boos rained down on the Wildcats and Coach Pope. The Cats went on to lose by a score of 94-59, and many were calling for him to lose his job and even claiming that the team “has no heart,” including former Wildcat legend, DeMarcus Cousins:
Can’t lie…this uk team has no heart! This is hard to watch smh
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) December 6, 2025
With Kentucky sitting at 5-4 on the season now and hearing the discontent of the Wildcat fanbase about their new coach, this should be a great warning to Kansas fans about how hard replacing Coach Self might be.
Will Jacque Vaughn be the long-term Bill Self replacement for Kansas?
Following two head coaching stints in the NBA with the Orlando Magic (2012-2015) and the Brooklyn Nets (2019-2020 as an interim head coach and 2022-2024), the now 50-year-old joined the Jayhawks coaching staff this year to add to an already strong coaching staff. Much like Pope for Kentucky, Vaughn was a beloved Jayhawk in his collegiate career.
While there is no news of Bill Self thinking about retirement in the next few seasons, at age 62 himself (and having dealt with some health issues in recent seasons), it will definitely be on the horizon at some point. Vaughn feels like the most seamless replacement for Self if the program elects to stay in-house for the hire.
With that being said, the Jayhawks could opt for a younger up-and-coming coach when that time comes as well. When Self took over the program in 2003, he was a chipper 40 years young, but Vaughn would be well over a decade older than Self if he were to take over in the coming years.
Another concern would be that, unlike Pope before taking over Kentucky, Vaughn has also not been the head coach of a college program before, which functions very differently from an NBA franchise. Ultimately, this decision is far into the future in an ideal world, but the recent Kentucky woes with Pope is great food for thought when the Jayhawks do have to make that decision.