Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KANSAS 10
Update from Irving Big 12 Football Media Days kicked off Monday. PAGE 27
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010
CALIFORNIA LOVE
San Fran's a big fan of Jayhawks
Michael Lee joins two other Kansas alumni on USF coaching staff
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
Lee's Kansas career is most remembered for the three-point attempt blocked by Hakim Warrick and his 7-foot-2 wingspan at the end of the 2003 national title game, but his connection to the program goes well beyond that. A four-year letterman, Lee played under
Kansas has a well-documented history of stellar basketball coaches. From James Naismith, who invented the game, to Larry Brown, who is the only coach to win a college championship and an NBA title, to Bill Self, who has the highest winning percentage in University history, the Jayhawks have played under some of the greats of the coaching profession.
The University of San Francisco has taken note.
Lee's hiring makes him the third coach with direct ties to Kansas on a four-man staff. Justin Bauman, who was promoted to assistant coach earlier this off-season, spent six years with the Kansas program. He was a manager under Roy Williams from 2000-2003 and was head manager and student assistant coach from 2003-2006 under Bill Self.
The Dons' second-year head coach Rex Walters played under Roy Williams at Kansas, graduating in 1993, and is stocking his coaching staff full of former Jayhawks. Walters hired former Jayhawk guard Michael Lee as an assistant coach on July 19.
"Coach Lee is someone I have known for a long time from our time at Kansas and I have continued to follow him as a professional player and then as an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb," Walters said.
Ohio State added to slate
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Men's basketball will play the Buckeyes in 2011 and 2012. PAGE 27
"Coach Lee adds instant credibility with our student athletes in terms of player development and from the team success that he experienced at Kansas," Walters said.
Lee said he was excited to go to work for a coach who had firsthand experience with the same winning tradition he had.
"It is a privilege to work under Coach Walters," Lee said. "He is truly a competitor, as am I, and this decision was a no-brainer for me."
Walters said the winning tradition he experienced at Kansas was something he hoped he could build on. With three coaches with heavy exposure to a program like that, he hopes to speed the transition for the Dons, who went 12-18 last year and missed out on the postseason.
Bauman, like Lee, was at Kansas for the transition from the Williams to the Self eras.