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Kansas coach Bill Self sidelined after medical procedure

nqajqrqw7months ago (05-16)Basketball Hub172

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Just over 20 years agowhile on a recruiting trip to Pittsburgh, Bob Huggins collapsed atthe airport while catching a flight home, awaking to find himselfsurrounded by strangers who were lifting him into an ambulance.

Then the coach at Cincinnati, Huggins drifted in and out ofconsciousness on the ride to the hospital, where doctors told thefuture Hall of Fame coach that he’d suffered a massive heartattack. Huggins wound up having a device implanted to helpnormalize his heartbeat, and he was told to make some lifestylechanges — exercise more, watch what he was eating, lose some weightand try to lower his stress level.

That last one? That might have been the toughest one.

Long days and longer nights, coupled with the increasingly highstakes of major college basketball, naturally put the health ofcoaches in peril. Huggins is just one of many who have dealt withissues over the years.

So when Huggins, now the coach at West Virginia, learnedThursday that longtime friend and Kansas counterpart Bill Self hadgone to the emergency room ahead of the Big 12 Tournament — andsubsequently admitted to the hospital for an undisclosed illness —he could relate in a way that struck him close to home.

“It comes to there are times when you don’t have any choice (butto slow down). And I went through that. I had no choice,” Hugginssaid, shortly after his Mountaineers were beaten by Kansas in theBig 12 Tournament quarterfinals.

“I was in the hospital with a whole bunch of tubes and somebodycoming in, seeming like every 15 minutes, and sticking me withsomething,” he recalled. “You know, I want Bill to get well — Iwant to say as soon as he can, but really, I think what I need tosay or mean to say is, I want him to come out of there the way he’salways been.”

Officials from Kansas have been short on details of what ledSelf to be admitted to the hospital late Wednesday. Dr. SteveStites, the chief medical officer at the University of KansasHealth System, said in a statement that Self did not suffer a heartattack, which some outlets had reported, but that he had aprocedure done.

The school initially said Self would miss the Jayhawks’postseason opener with an illness, then announced Thursday nightthat he would miss the remainder of the Big 12 Tournament as well.The defending champion Jayhawks were due to play Iowa State onFriday night for a spot in the championship game.

Longtime assistant Norm Roberts intends to lead Kansas for aslong as Self is out. Whether that will include the NCAA Tournament,where the Jayhawks are a likely No. 1 seed and also the defendingchampions, is entirely unknown.

“Coach is doing good,” Roberts said Thursday night. “I talked tohim on the phone (after beating West Virginia). He’s doing well. Healready wants to watch film and all of that. He’s doing well. He’sdoing better.”

Whether the stress of the season — and playing in arguably thetoughest league in college basketball — contributed to Self’shealth problems is purely conjecture. But there have been plenty ofexamples that drive home the point that the profession, by its verynature, puts at risk those that demand the most from it.

Huggins is one of them. So is Skip Prosser. The Wake Forestcoach suffered his own heart attack after taking a midday run in2007, and was found slumped on his office couch and unresponsive;he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The stressful lifestyle isn’t exclusive to basketball, either.Football coach Urban Meyer has said on several occasions that thestrain of the job has contributed to his health issues andaccompanying leaves of absences and retirements.

“It brings to reality how short life is,” Baylor coach ScottDrew said.

Self is expected to make a full recovery, his doctors said, andthe 60-year-old Hall of Fame coach could be in charge of theJayhawks for years to come. His rolling contract basically giveshim the freedom to decide when he hangs it up.

Only he knows when that will be. And what factors he will takeinto consideration.

“I’m sure at some point in time we’ll talk,” Huggins said. “Heand I talk. I’ve been through those things and it’s not any fun.Especially, I think it would be really hard for Bill this time ofyear, because of them trying to make another run at a nationalchampionship, and him being in the state he’s in now. I think thatwould be very difficult for him.

“He’s a great competitor,” Huggins said. “A tremendouscompetitor.”

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