Kansas suspends Self for 4 games, imposes recruiting restrictions

Kansas is suspending head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend for four games, the school announced.

The Jayhawks will also cut the number of scholarships by three across the next three years in men's basketball. The school will impose a six-week ban on any recruiting communications, as well as any unofficial visits. Additionally, Kansas will give itself 13 fewer days of permitted recruiting in 2022-23 and remove four official visits this season and in 2023-24.

The punishment stems from the NCAA's investigation into the Jayhawks program in 2017.

As a result of his suspension, Self will miss the Champions Classic clash against Duke on Nov. 15. He'll also miss Kansas' regular-season opener against Omaha (Nov. 7), as well as subsequent games versus North Dakota State (Nov. 10) and Southern Utah (Nov. 18).

Self and Townsend were also prohibited from making any recruiting visits on the road from April through July.

Kansas, which won its fourth national championship - second under Self - this past April, was named in a list of schools corresponding to the FBI's corruption probe into college basketball in 2017. That inquiry spurred the NCAA to launch its own investigation. In September 2019, the association alleged the Jayhawks committed five Level 1 violations, which the associating body deemed "egregious" and said could "undermine and threaten" college athletics.

Assistant Norm Roberts will serve as the Jayhawks' interim head coach. Self and Townsend will be eligible to return for the team's Battle 4 Atlantis opener against NC State on Nov. 23.

"Coach Townsend and I accept and support KU's decision to self-impose these sanctions," Self said in a statement.

"We are in good hands with coach Roberts, and I am confident that he will do a great job on the bench leading our team. I am proud of the way our guys have handled this situation, and I look forward to returning to the bench for our game against NC State."

Self has been the Jayhawks' head coach since 2003. The school signed the 59-year-old to a lifetime contract in April 2021.