Why new Kansas Jayhawks assistant Jacque Vaughn made a ‘pivot to come back home’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former KU star Jacque Vaughn joins Jayhawks as assistant under Bill Self.
- Vaughn cites mentorship, growth and return to roots as motivation for role.
- Vaughn's NBA tenure adds credibility for Kansas players with pro ambitions.
Jacque Vaughn, whose last college basketball practice was 28 years ago, was eager to report to the Kansas Jayhawks’ practice gym at 9 a.m. on Monday for the first day of KU’s eight-week summer workout program.
The 1997 KU graduate, who played in the NBA for 12 seasons and then remained in the league as a scout, assistant coach and eventual head coach of the Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets, is now a newly hired first-year assistant coach on Bill Self’s Jayhawks staff.
“I don’t think I told Coach this, but I told my wife, I woke up at 4:30 the other day, morning time,” Vaughn recalled with a smile. “And I said, ‘That’s a good sign, right there, the enthusiasm.’
“I was looking forward to being on the court with the guys, like it brought back all the first (days) of training camps that I had when I woke up early. So keep waking up early. That was a good sign.”
Vaughn and 23rd-year Kansas head coach Self held what Self called “our annual summer retreat,” in the form of a Tuesday news conference aimed at introducing Vaughn and some of KU’s newcomer players to media and fans.
Vaughn, a former KU point guard great, replaces Norm Roberts on the Jayhawks’ coaching staff. Roberts recently announced his retirement after 14 years at KU and 37 years total.
Vaughn, 50, is ready to re-embrace the college game.
“The thought of it … I think it’s pretty cool, the fact that I’ll be involved in coaching a group that I played on the same floor that they’re playing on,” Vaughn said of James Naismith Court in Allen Fieldhouse.
“For me to come back after probably 30 years of being in the NBA and the experiences from those early years (1993-97 at KU) for me, and now to be able to talk with guys (players) about it, what my path has been, and hopefully guide them and be a mentor/coach and someone that is pulling for them more than they are pulling for themselves ... it’s pretty cool.”
Vaughn, fired by the Nets midway through the 2023-24 season after the team started trading away key players, on Tuesday explained the reasons for his return to the college game.
“One of the things that really brought me back is I’ve been fortunate to be around some great coaches,” he said, “and we always talk about kids getting better and guys getting better. And I think as a coach, I want to get better.
“And so the opportunity to be around a Hall of Famer (Self) who has two national championships and is taking our program to a different level, really guided my pivot to come back home.”
The former NCAA Academic All-American of the Year had his KU jersey No 11 hung in the Allen Fieldhouse rafters in December 2002. More recently, he did some research before accepting Self’s job offer.
One of the calls he made was to former KU backcourt partner Jerod Haase, who has been a head coach at Stanford and UAB and was an assistant at KU and North Carolina.
“I talked to a bunch of guys, actually, across the board, that had coached in college, like Jerod,” Vaughn said. “I spoke with them ... and ran some ideas by (him) and got his input, to other friends of mine that had coached in college at other places.
“And then also, I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to other professional coaches, and they thought that it was a great idea and pivot at this time in my life.”
Vaughn said there are some similarities in coaching at all levels.
“I think it really remains the same,” he said. “Players are players. The talent level could be different, but you still listen with intent. You still are truthful to guys. You still pull for them, want them to get better. So I think that doesn’t change.
“I used to always talk to guys in the video room and I used to say, ‘Do you want to coach?’ They say, ‘Yes.’ I say, ‘OK, well, there’s a juco job that’s available. There’s a Div. III job that’s available. There’s a college job that’s available. Do you want to coach? Coaching is coaching.’
“It so happened that my path took me to the NBA, but there’s excellent coaches across this country that coach at all levels of the game.”
Vaughn went on to explain his own coaching philosophy.
“My biggest message ... is there are no shortcuts,” said Vaughn, who said Self has given him the green light to work with all players, not just prized incoming point guard Darryn Peterson — who, like Vaughn, figures to start and play a huge role from day one at Kansas.
“I really believe in putting in the work, and the results will come from that work. I like to do simple better and so I don’t complicate things,” Vaughn said. “And so that message to the guys, I’ve always said, ‘The less amount of keys on my key ring, the better off I’ll be.’ And so we’re just going to do simple better, not take shortcuts and work extremely hard.”
Self said he reached out to Vaughn shortly after Roberts revealed his intent to retire. Vaughn, after conferring with his wife and two sons, indicated he’d be interested in discussing the position in depth with KU’s coach.
They met in Lawrence and about a week later Vaughn accepted the offer.
“It’s exciting, you know,” It’s exciting for Kansas, because obviously there’s been a lot of beloved players since I’ve been here, and obviously in the regimes before I arrived here,” Self said. “When I think about the most beloved that I’ve had, that combined talent, on-court success, and community involvement, connection to fans, one of the first ones I think about would be Devonté (Graham). Well, to me, this was the equivalent of Devonté under coach (Roy) Williams.
“So, I think it’s exciting but I don’t think you hire somebody because people like you. I think you hire only because they complement what your what your talents are. And he does that in a way that it brings something to us that’s different than what we’ve ever had before,” Self added. “We have a college assistant coach that was a three-time NBA head coach that’s trained Kevin (Durant) and Kyrie (Irving) and all the different guys that I think brings immediate credibility to guys that want to be pros out there knowing they’re going to get to work with somebody that knows first-hand what it’s supposed to look like,” Self added of helping KU’s players play pro ball some day.
Self continued: “I think that his reputation and the knowledge you have about him speaks for itself. It’s not very often you can have someone on your staff whose name is hung with the retired jerseys on the one end (south end of fieldhouse rafters) and on the other end his name is hung with the two-time first team Academic All-Americans, too. And then obviously to be a 12-year NBA vet as a player, win a world championship (with San Antonio Spurs), and then go on to be an assistant coach and then be a head NBA coach, we’re very, very proud and excited about Jacque coming in and making us better.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM with the headline "Why new Kansas Jayhawks assistant Jacque Vaughn made a ‘pivot to come back home’."
