5-Star Bryce Thompson And His Dad Prank Texted And Called Bill Self For Over An Entire Day To Make Self Think He Was Picking Oklahoma State
[The Athletic] - “He’s about to call you,” Rod texted. “It’s not good around here right now. Shaking my head.”
When Self asked why, Rod fired back: “OSU. I’m sick, but he has to tell you.”
Self immediately called a meeting with his staff, convinced the pursuit of Bryce was over. He told his wife. He was sick. Roberts, who also coached Rod as an assistant, tried to call the Thompsons. They didn’t answer. He sent Self a text: “My bad, Coach. I didn’t get it done.”
Then as Rod drove Bryce to school, he dialed Self and put the phone on speaker. “Hey, Coach, appreciate you, man, for recruiting me and showing me a great time,” Bryce said in a hushed tone. “It’s really been good and I just really appreciate the time you spent with me recruiting me, and like my dad said, it’s the right thing for me to call everybody, so I’m just calling to let you know that I WANT TO BE A JAYHAWK!”
This has gotta be one of the worst parts of being a college coach. You're dealing with morons. I mean you're life and success is determined by dumb college kids and then trying to convince high school kids to come play for you. Think about how dumb you were in college. Think about how dumb you feel talking to college kids now. This is how shit like this happens.
Bryce Thompson is a top-25 recruit and a 5-star guy. Kansas is desperate to land guys like this with all the NOA sanctions looming over. Now imagine you're Bill Self, a guy who is facing said NOA's, and you're getting text messages and jokes saying he's going to Oklahoma State. Then you get a call and say you're losing a recruit to a conference foe.
Not only that but you're Bill Self. You're quite literally in the Hall of Fame. You're one of the most successful and well-known coaches in the game right now. You gotta be on the butt end of a joke just to keep boosters happy and land a recruit. That's fucking brutal. I don't care if Bryce Thompson is a 5-star dude, he's gotta be running suicides the moment he steps on campus for this.