Bill Self reacts to shooting at Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade

Kansas head men’s basketball coach Bill Self didn’t have trouble summoning the various locations that he recalls a mass shooting taking place — movie theaters, schools, concerts. And he’s now added Super Bowl championship celebration and parade to that lexicon of places that can’t truly be considered safe.

Tucked beyond the southwestern fringes of Kansas City, the city of Lawrence, Kansas, and the campus of Kansas University are less than an hour away from the current epicenter of the NFL and, this week, a horrific mass shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl parade. Self felt the horror from afar, and was saddened that another incident of indiscriminate violence marred what should’ve been a happy day for all.

“It was awful,” Self said. “I didn’t know about it live. A lot of people were obviously watching and knew about it live. I found out about it just a few minutes later. And I’m sure I knew a ton of people at the parade but I haven’t talked to those people, asking them ‘Did you go?’ or whatever. But yeah, just horrific. We’re in such a sad state, as everybody knows, that the most family-friendly, wholesome thing that you could do to make your city and look good and show your support of people that bring joy to you now has just been minimized so much because of all the safety issues that go along with it. But whether it’s a concert, parade or even attending a movie or going to school, these certainly aren’t looked at in the same way back when I was growing up. And it’s sad that it has become that.”

Self was asked about the highs of celebrating his two national championships as the Kansas head coach as he considered what it’s like for those moments to be cut down in an instant.

The head coach took a broader, more reflective tack to respond to the query.

“Even something that’s been transpiring in a grocery store, at a post office or in a school or now a parade or things like that, it makes you wonder if doing those things are really worthwhile,” Self said. “So I certainly hope that it can be improved and corrected and there are some things that can be done to make people more comfortable and wanting to live in a way where they don’t have to worry about the most innocent of things. But it certainly will change the outlook of many people and already has, but certainly yesterday was another indication that we’re not moving in a very good direction.”