Kansas makes Bill Self the highest-paid college basketball coach

Terms of the deal also add another year to the contract at the end of each season, pay a $5M bonus for lasting another five years and allow for another renegotiation following the 2025-26 season.

"Bill Self is undoubtedly the most consistent coach in college basketball, and a restructuring of his contract terms were long overdue," said KU Director of Athletics Travis Goff said.

"With him and his staff at the helm of our basketball program, the future of Kansas Athletics has never been brighter."

Self, who has 773 wins, 20 Big 12 titles and two NCAA titles in his 20 seasons in Lawrence, said he's happy to stick around. "There's no place like Kansas," he said.

The price tag is hefty for the Jayhawks but one worth paying. 

Self's tenure is not without controversy. In October, per the Associated Press, the men’s basketball program was put on probation and ordered to take down its 2018 Final Four banner. Kansas, however, escaped a postseason ban because an independent panel downgraded five Level I violations lodged against the Jayhawks.

Self, meanwhile, has proved he can hold his own in the new world of NIL and a wide-open transfer portal, snagging former Michigan star Hunter Dickinson. 

He also continues to successfully recruit the traditional way, securing the No. 3 recruiting class in 2024 — highlighted by the nation's top center prospect Flory Bidunga — to follow the ninth-ranked class in coming into this season per 247sports.com.  

He's also led the most consistent program in the country since his arrival, winning the Big 12 regular season 14 consecutive times and never missing the NCAA Tournament in his tenure. 

With conference realignment and NIL transforming college athletics, there isn't anyone better to lead Kansas into the future.