Bill Self 'not a big fan' of Utah firing Craig Smith before end of season

The Kansas Jayhawks are turning their attention to the Big 12 Tournament. There, the Jayhawks have a bye and head coach Bill Self is working to prepare for a few possible outcomes following Round 1 of the conference tournament.

One of the two teams that Kansas could be playing in their first conference tournament game is Utah. The Utes are already on an interim head coach after firing Craig Smith in the middle of the season. When Bill Self was asked about the challenge of preparing for a team that had a coaching change, he first made sure to share that he was frustrated with the decision by Utah.

“You know what, I’m not a big fan of any decisions like that being carried out and made while the season’s going on,” Bill Self said. “I don’t know Craig well, but I know him well enough to know he’s a good coach and he’s had great success. He beat our butts.”

In the middle of February, Kansas was upset by Utah in what was a difficult road trip for the Jayhawks. However, the memory of that win wasn’t enough to save Craig Smith in the end. He’d go on to be fired by the Utes after dropping a game to UCF a little over a week later. That ended a four-season run with the program where he went 65-62 and failed to ever make the NCAA Tournament.

Utah replaced Craig Smith with Josh Eilert. He had previously been the interim head coach at West Virginia, replacing Bob Huggins. There, he put together a record of 9-23. He’s 1-3 this season at Utah. In that season with the Mountaineers, Eilert did find a way to upset Kansas, though. So, there is some familiarity for Bill Self and Kansas, but that doesn’t mean Self necessarily knows what to expect from Utah in terms of changes in the team’s approach.

“So, I think it’s hard. Josh coached against us last year at West Virginia,” Self said. “But, just being honest, who has it ever happened to that we’ve coached against an interim coach at the end of the season? I’m sure it’s happened, but I don’t remember it. So, I won’t put much stock into it being much different than the way it was last time.”

Before Kansas and Utah have the chance to play, the Utes will take on UCF in Round 1 of the Big 12 Tournament. The winner of that will advance to take on the Jayhawks on Wednesday, March 12th.