Former NBA star and coach Jacque Vaughn is taking his talents to college basketball. Kansas is set to hire the two-time NBA head coach as an assistant basketball coach, according to ESPN. Kansas head coach Bill Self had a role to fill with the retirement of assistant Norm Roberts.
Vaughn attended Kansas from 1993-97, and was a two-time All-American during that time, as well as the Big Eight Player of the Year in 1996. From there, the Utah Jazz drafted him to the NBA as a first-round pick in 1997.
The point guard played for the Jazz, the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, the then New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs during his 12-year playing career, which spanned until 2009. He won a championship with his final team, the Spurs, in 2007. Vaughn ended his playing career with 3,463 points, 1,028 rebounds and 1,919 assists.
Following his retirement as a player, he kicked off his NBA coaching career, beginning as a Spurs assistant from 2010-12. He then earned a head coaching gig with the Orlando Magic, where he stayed from 2012-15.
The 50-year-old returned to his old team, now in Brooklyn, first as an assistant, then as the interim head coach in 2020 and finally the Nets head coach from 2022-24. He coached 355 games in the NBA. This would be Vaughn’s first gig in college athletics and his extensive experience in the NBA will no doubt help him in the transition to the new role.
Vaughn joins a Kansas basketball program eager to turn the page after a 21-13 season that saw the Jayhawks fall to Arizona in the Big 12 Championship Quarterfinals and then to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
