Kansas Basketball Head Coach Odds: Jacque Vaughn Is the Early Favorite to Replace Bill Self

By Christopher Boan

Mar 23rd, 2026 2:08 PM EDT

Vaughn is considered the front-runner to replace Bill Self at KU (USATODAY)

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On the heels of the Kansas Jayhawks’ fifth defeat in six years in the opening weekend of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, questions are swirling around the future of the team’s longtime head coach.

With KU coach Bill Self hinting at retiring in the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s 67-65 loss to St. John’s in the second round, Bookies.com broke down who the next Kansas basketball coach could be, with Self’s longtime assistant Jacque Vaughn among the leaders in the race. These are odds you won't find at US betting apps.

Why Bill Self’s Future At Kansas Is Suddenly In Question 

Self, who is 63, told reporters on Sunday that he was leaving his future with the Jayhawks up to his family, saying he planned on discussing returning to the program he’s led since 2003 with them first.  

"I'll get back and get with family and visit and see what's going on," Self said. "I love what I do, I need to be able to do it where I'm feeling good and healthy to do it fairly well. I'll get back home, and it'll all be discussed." 

The former Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois head coach has had several medical procedures in recent years, including a heart catheterization in 2023 and had two stents placed into his heart the following year.  

He additionally was sent to the hospital in January after falling “under the weather,” though Self told reporters on Sunday that he feels “as good as I’ve felt in a long time.”  

If Self hangs up the whistle this offseason, he’ll leave Kansas as the winningest coach in KU history, going 648-167 in 23 years in Lawrence, while winning two of the school’s four national titles. 

For now, though, it appears that a Kansas Jayhawks coaching search is a real possibility in 2026, with AD Travis Goff likely needing to make a hiring decision quickly to keep the ball rolling in Lawrence and ensure they're once again Big 12 favorites next season at operators like BetMGM.

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Jacque Vaughn Odds: Why the Early Favorite Makes Perfect Sense 

While there would undoubtedly be a huge pool of potential replacements for Self from schools across America, given the shine of the KU job and the fact that the Jayhawks have only employed 11 men across 128 seasons of men’s basketball, we’re going with an in-house candidate to replace Self.  

That’s because 51-year-old former KU star guard Jacque Vaughn is our inside man to get the KU job should Self retire, at +120, as the longtime NBA assistant left the pro ranks to join the bench beside him in 2025.  

Vaughn brings more than a decade of NBA experience as a player, having suited up for the Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs, in addition to another decade as an assistant (with two head coaching stints) in the NBA.  

Throw in the fact that Vaughn was a two-time consensus second-team All-American at KU in 1996 and 1997, as well as winning the Big Eight Player of the Year award in 1996 and you have a decent idea why he’d be a logical choice to replace Self in 2026.  

While Vaughn’s six-year stint across the NBA as the head coach of the Orlando Magic (from 2012 to 2015) and Nets (in 2019-20, 2022-23 and 2023-24) didn’t end well, with a 129-226 (.363) record, he would bring a prodigal son home to his college roots and help rally the fanbase in the new NIL era, where blood is definitely thicker than water.  

Last year, Self directly endorsed Vaughn as a potential heir apparent on a podcast with Jon Rothstein, saying his assistant coach’s background in the NBA as a player and coach makes him a logical guy to take over in Lawrence.  

“Then you get a chance to hire a guy (Vaughn) that’s been a three-time NBA head coach and been in the league for 12 years as a player,” Self said. "Those are things that obviously mean something.” 

Whether Vaughn does, in fact, become the next Kansas coach remains to be seen, though we’re giving him the best odds of any potential replacement right now at Bookies.com.  

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The Big-Name Outside Candidates Kansas Could Target 

While Vaughn will likely be on the inside track to replace Self if he retires, top tier coaches across the NCAA like Tommy Lloyd of Arizona, Alabama’s Nate Oats, T.J. Otzelberger of Iowa State and Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg could be worth keeping an eye on in Lawrence.  

In Lloyd’s case, the fifth year Arizona head coach might want to trade in his close-but-no-cigar March track record in Tucson (with the Wildcats making their third straight Sweet 16 after losing the last two to Houston and Duke) for a surer thing in Lawrence.  

Still, given that Lloyd chose to spend two decades as Gonzaga head coach Mark Few’s right-hand man before finally stepping out to take his first head coaching job at Arizona in 2021, it’s no guarantee that the 2022 AP and NABC Coach of the Year will move on this offseason.  

For now, we’re giving Lloyd +200 odds of replacing Self at KU, ranking just ahead of Oats (+350), Otzelberger (+400) and Fred Hoiberg of Nebraska (+500), who have quickly become two of the hottest names in men’s basketball.  

In Oats’ case, his trajectory began moving north after coaching the Buffalo Bulls to a first-round upset over the Arizona Wildcats in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, ultimately landing him in Tuscaloosa, where he’s won two SEC regular season and conference titles, in addition to taking Alabama to the Final Four in 2024.  

Otzelberger’s time in Aimes has been equally impressive, guiding Iowa State to a 124-52 (.705) record since arriving in 2021, with five straight appearances in the Big Dance and this year’s team steamrolling past Tennessee State (108-74) and Kentucky (82-63) in the Big Dance.  

In the case of Oats, the biggest obstacle for KU brass might be his buyout, which is believed to be the largest in college basketball at $18 million if he leaves Alabama before then end of March, though it will drop to a more reasonable $10 million after that and $4 million in 2027, per The Tuscaloosa News. 

Finally, Hoiberg is another Power Four name to remember, as he’s taken Nebraska to new heights, winning the school’s first games in the tourney over Troy and Vanderbilt, guiding NU into the Sweet 16 for the first time ever.  

The 53-year-old former Iowa State and Chicago Bulls coach was born in Lincoln and recently signed a three-year extension through 2032, though money should be no object for Goff if he’s trying to keep KU among the sport’s upper echelon.  

Other Names To Remember With KU Search 

A few other names that could come up for KU if Self opts to retire are ones like Todd Golden of Florida, who won a national title in 2025 before bowing out against Iowa in Sunday’s second round.  

Golden (+600) is only 40 and has plenty of access to money and talent in the heart of the basketball-crazy SEC, though he might struggle to turn down any overtures from the sport’s traditional cornerstone program.  

Other names that could come up are internal picks like KU associate head coach Jeremy Case, who has served under Self in two stints (2008-09 and 2021-now) after playing for him from 2003 to 2008.  

Case (+800) was a member of KU’s 2008 title team and is the primary transfer portal architect for KU currently, though his lack of head coaching experience puts him behind names like Vaughn in the Jayhawks internal pecking order, probably.  

Another former KU player-turned-assistant to keep an eye on is Aaron Miles, who hasn’t coached with Self since a brief stint during the 2015-16 season though he has been on the bench in the NBA, with the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans, where he is now.  

Miles (+1000) ranks ahead of Missouri’s Dennis Gates (+1200) as the final KU coaching candidates outside the long shot realm, with Gates serving as a potential Border War bombshell that would weaken KU’s longtime rivals from Columbia.  

Also of interest: Next UNC Head Coach Odds.

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KU Long Shots to Remember 

Outside of those nine names, keep an eye on ones like Scott Drew of Baylor, Gonzaga’s Mark Few, Oklahoma’s Porter Moser, former KU assistant and legend Danny Manning, Ole Miss’ Chris Beard, Mark Byington of Vanderbilt, Josh Schertz of Saint Louis and Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun this offseason.  

Drew, who has coached Baylor to a national title and been around the game for years, would be an eye-raising hire, especially since he’d be poached from a fellow Big 12 program.  

Few would be a surprise, given his preference to stay in Spokane since taking his first (and only) head coaching job there in 1999 after Dan Monson left for Minnesota, while Moser’s name brand recognition might have taken too much of a hit at OU to warrant such a move.  

Manning would be a big splash for old-time KU fans thanks to his heroics in 1988, though his coaching runs at Tulsa and Wake Forest might scare away Goff and his team this go-around.  

Beard’s off-the-court issues plus the Rebels’ slump in 2025-26 would likely make him a non-starter for KU fans, though his success at Texas Tech and Texas would be appealing to a sizable portion of the alumni base.  

Byington has been a consistent winner at JMU and Vanderbilt, taking the Commodores to the second round and into the SEC title game this year, while Schertz and Calhoun will be the hottest mid-major names on the market this year after their success in St. Louis and Logan.  

At the end of the day, the decision on what happens next in Lawrence will be Self’s to make, with the rest of the college basketball world waiting with eyes on KU to see what happens next.  

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