As the college basketball landscape continues to change and evolve at a rapid pace, one big change came to the University of Kansas on Monday, when longtime KU assistant Norm Roberts announced his retirement.
Roberts, 59, who has been at head coach Bill Self’s side for the past 14 years at KU, and with him for many more years at stops before that, said goodbye to the game in a news release after 37 years in coaching.
A member of the STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame and huge part of KU’s success under Self, both as a recruiter and a coach on the court, Roberts’ list of achievements is long.
While the accomplishments that earned Roberts a spot in the Hall of Fame include things like lottery picks, All-Americans, recruiting wins and more, Roberts was known for far more than the things he accomplished.
"Norm has done as good of a job as anyone in representing (KU), the athletic department and our basketball program in a first-class manner.” — Kansas coach Bill Self
“The thing I’m going to remember most is the players and watching them grow, watching them succeed, and watching them fight through adversity and come back from that.” - Coach Roberts reflects on his impactful time at Kansas pic.twitter.com/CuVrhvuPqK
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) May 5, 2025
In addition to his time at Kansas, which included being on staff during Self’s first year in charge (2003-04) and on the bench for the 2022 national title, Roberts was the head coach at St. John’s from 2004-11 in his native New York and also spent one season on Billy Donovan’s staff at Florida before returning to Kansas for the 2012-13 season.
Roberts, a native of Queens, New York, also worked under Self at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois before coming to KU.
“I want to thank everybody at the University of Kansas and from everywhere I've been lucky enough to coach,” Roberts said in announcing his retirement. “I've been fortunate that I’ve never worked a day in my life. Being able to coach at Kansas and be part of this program has been unbelievable. After 37 years as a coach, it is time for me to move on, enjoy my family, spend more time with my wife and sons. The thing I'm going to remember most is the players and watching them grow, watching them succeed, and watching them fight through adversity and come back from that.”
He added: “It’s the people that make Kansas basketball special – the fans, the coaches, the players, the administration. I've been blessed to have 14 unbelievable years here. I want to thank everybody for everything they've done for me and my family, and I will forever be a Jayhawk.”
Here’s a quick look at the three things I’ll remember most about Roberts from my time and interactions with him at Kansas.
• The voice – Whether you’re talking about the way his players liked to imitate it or just hearing it when he told a great story, Roberts’ gruff and gravely voice in that classic New York accent was a signature part of his existence. He lost it quickly when things turned intense and never even considered pulling back. Instead, he just operated at a lower volume and demanded that his players find a way to hear him. The tone of his voice was part of his charm, much in the way that a radio broadcaster has his own sound, so, too, did Roberts. And if you were lucky enough to know him well, you could pinpoint just how into his stories or conversations he was by the way the volume or raspiness of his voice changed as the story went along. Norm was a classic basketball coach and had the voice to go with it.
• His family – Whether you’re talking about Niko Roberts taking to the role of KU walk-on with perfection or his son Justin Roberts being one of the top talents to come through Lawrence High this century, or his wife, Pascale, being at every event and supporting KU with all she had, the Roberts clan was as entrenched in KU basketball culture as any. Coaches give a lot of time to their craft and, as a result, they miss a lot of time at home. But I always thought it was cool how visible and present Roberts’ family was during his time with the Jayhawks. There’s no doubt he still missed important family events and moments. You can’t be in this business without missing a few. But Roberts and his family always found a way to make the most of their time and made the most of their collective KU experience in the process.
• The 2022-23 season – Roberts was all class during the 2023 postseason, when he took over for Self as the Jayhawks’ acting head coach when Self was out with a health issue. Having been a head coach before, there was a level of comfort that came with Roberts taking the reins. But, still, for a team that was a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance on the heels of winning a national title, running the show while adjusting on the fly could not have been easy, and Norm made it look just that. He was great with the media, kept the train on the tracks just like Self was there all along and did so because he, like so many others, believed that his job was to coach the Kansas way of doing things. Nothing more and nothing less. KU drew a tough draw and was bounced in the second round of that tournament. But Roberts should always be praised and remembered well for the work he did during a tough time. One of my favorite Norm Roberts stories came from this season, in the summer that followed, when a couple of campers at a KU summer camp approached him and asked him for his autograph, knowing they recognized him for some reason. After a little conversation to jog their memories, one of the kids yelled to his friends, 'Hey, guys, it's the back-up coach!' Roberts, never one to make anything about him, took it all in stride and chalked it up as another good story to tell.
“This is a bittersweet moment for me because Norm and I have been together since 1995,” Self said in a news release announcing Roberts’ retirement. “Norm has played a key role (in) our success at all of the stops we have had together, especially here at Kansas. From recruiting to developing players to scouting and his knowledge of the game both on and off the court, Norm has been instrumental in what we have achieved. We won a lot of games together – many conference titles, deep NCAA Tournament runs, Final Fours and a national championship. We've had some unbelievable memories that will last our lifetimes.”
Self added: “We should all be happy for Norm to go enjoy life with Pascale and his boys. Norm has done as good of a job as anyone in representing the University of Kansas, the athletic department and our basketball program in a first-class manner.”
As for what's next for KU, people, for years, have been begging KU to bring back former Kansas great and one-time Self assistant, Danny Manning, to rejoin the coaching staff.
I don't see that happening.
If anything, I think Self uses this as an opportunity to get a little younger, perhaps even elevating someone like Chase Buford, 36, into a more prominent assistant coaching role.
Buford, the son of San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford, and a former KU walk-on and national champion, was on the KU staff last season, after working as a head coach at several stops in the NBA's G League and overseas with the Sydney Kings.
He is currently listed on the KU roster as an assistant coach, and it will be interesting to see exactly what role he will serve next season.
Regardless of where he lands, you can count on one thing: Self will have no shortage of options for coaches he can bring on.
When Jerrance Howard left a few years back, Self's list of candidates was both long and impressive, before he elected to give that job to Jeremy Case, another former player who was already on staff and rising in the coaching ranks at the time.
It would not surprise me at all if Self hires a former college head coach, maybe someone in his early-to-mid-50s, to fill Roberts' shoes on the Kansas bench.
If you're looking for a timeline, Howard's departure was announced in early April of 2021 and Case was officially promoted in August of that year, four months later. We're already a month past the April date, so don't be surprised if this one moves a little quicker than that one did.
