SAN ANTONIO, Texas.  Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self had barely finished cutting down the net here after his team triumphed over Memphis to win the school's first national title in 20 years when the questions started.  "I'm not going to get into that until I talk to my wife and myself," he said.  "Speaking for myself, I need some security--for her and myself."

Self, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Self is a graduate of Oklahoma State, which recently received $165 million from billionaire alumnus T. Boone Pickens, and there was speculation that he would bolt to Stillwater to cash in at what is the pinnacle of most college coaches' careers.

"Don't make me turn into 'Bad Bill', okay?"

Self is generally viewed as relatively self-effacing among college basketball coaches, who often require universities to supply them with private dressing rooms and other amenities.  "I can assure you that Rick Pitino has a separate hot tub and mini-fridge just for his ego," says long-time basketball reporter Chick Bryant, who writes for Hoopsonline.com.  "I don't want to think about what he got for his libido."

"I've got to stop chewing myself up over turnovers!"

Critics of high-powered college sports programs say the prospect of a school paying millions of dollars to a man for coaching basketball sent the wrong message to students.  "We have philosophy professors who talk to themselves for $60,000 a year," said St. George's College provost Lyle Adkins.  "And they don't have to watch their students shower."

Pitino:  "I'm my own toughest critic."

Kansas fans were concerned that they might lose their second top-flite coach in five years, as North Carolina coach Roy Williams left the school in 2003 after losing to Syracuse in the national finals game.  "I like coach, but I think he's kind of self-centered," said Aimee Lane, a pep band member from Emporia, Kansas.  "Like all he ever talks about is himself."

Copyright 2008, Con Chapman