STILLWATER — Just hours after winning the National Championship, Kansas coach Bill Self said he would pick up the phone if Oklahoma State called. But as of Tuesday afternoon, OSU athletic director Mike Holder said he hadn't yet made any calls, to Self or any other coaches.
Holder, who reached a resignation agreement with basketball coach Sean Sutton a week ago, also said he has not put any numbers together regarding a potential salary offer. The Tulsa World reported rumors of OSU offering Self a $6 million signing bonus and $3.5-million-per season contract.
"Absolutely false,” Holder said via email. "I have not discussed or thought about any financial package. Anyone reporting otherwise is making it up.”
Tuesday morning would have been an unlikely time for Holder to contact Self regardless. The National Champion Jayhawks were due back in Lawrence in the afternoon and scheduled to bus directly from the airport to Memorial Stadium for a celebration at 3 p.m.
Holder would not say when — or if — he planned to contact Self, only that he is "being patient.”
Self said both Monday night after the game and again at a Tuesday morning news conference at the Alamodome that he would take calls from OSU.
"If somebody from OSU calls me, I'm gonna take the call,” Self said. "I know people down there. But they haven't contacted me.”
Self said his next step is to discuss his contract with athletic director Lew Perkins.
"I want to visit with my athletic director,” Self said. "To be real honest with you, I love Kansas. Love my job here, and hopefully it will be a situation where I can spend a long time here. I'm certainly not looking to leave, but Lew and I got to visit. I'm sure that'll happen in the next couple days.”
Self said he is looking for "like what everybody'd like to have,” indicating that he's looking for more years on his contract, which currently runs through 2011.
"Out of fairness to me,” Self said, "with my contract situation, why would I say that I'm positively (staying at Kansas) when I don't even know if they're gonna extend me? I've got three years left on my contract, and what I'd like to have is what everybody would like to have. I'd like to have some security. When I say security, I mean years.”
On Monday night, Perkins did not want to discuss the issue with reporters.
"If this is about his contract, we're not going to talk about that,” Perkins said. "Please don't take away a great night. We're not going to talk about this.”
John Rohde and Berry Tramel contributed to this story
