LAWRENCE, Kan. — When he starred at Kansas in the late 1990s, Jacque Vaughn always wore a rubber band around his left wrist. Not just on the court, but everywhere.
A bad turnover? Snap.
Grammatical mistake on a paper? Snap.
Vaughn held himself to a high standard because everyone else saw him as the standard.
Ryan Robertson, his backup at point guard, said Vaughn was the only person in basketball he ever looked up to.
“There wasn’t anything about Jacque,” Robertson said, “that I didn’t like.”
Roy Williams has this folksy way of telling you that his players are like his children; it’s hard to pick a favorite. But then he starts talking about Vaughn, the Big 12 Player of the Year and an Academic All-American as a senior. When Williams showed up at a Kansas City hospital at 6 a.m. for Vaughn’s wrist surgery in his senior year, the nurse told him there was a “problem.” His entire team had shown up.
“One of the finest kids and the finest gentleman I’ve ever known in my life,” Williams said.
In May, when Vaughn called Williams to ask if he should return to his alma mater to be an assistant coach at Kansas, Williams told him to “take the dadgum thing.” So he did: 28 years after he left Lawrence for a life in the pros, Vaughn made his official return to KU as the newest member of Bill Self’s coaching staff. At 50 years old, the two-time NBA head coach is now coaching in college for the first time.
“Jacque Vaughn needs to be in coaching,” Williams said. “He needs to be able to touch young people because he’s experienced so many different things.”
Vaughn didn’t put up great stats during his NBA career — only 4.5 points and 2.5 assists per game — but Williams said the reason his former pupil lasted 12 years in the league is because “every coach loved having him around.” That’s because Vaughn’s goal was to be someone his teammates could depend on. It’s why every offseason, he was obsessed with getting in the best shape possible, working out multiple times a day for seven days a week.
But it’s also why he retired in 2009, despite San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich calling to see if he still wanted to play. That summer, Vaughn’s body had started barking back. It was getting hard to put in the work. And for the first time, his mind wasn’t consumed with basketball.
Popovich wouldn’t take no for an answer. He told Vaughn to get to San Antonio, and they’d figure out what he wanted to do. It turns out that it was coaching.
Vaughn climbed the ranks from there, earning his first head-coaching job three years later with the Orlando Magic. He lasted two-and-a-half seasons, then became a head coach again — as an interim — with the Brooklyn Nets at the end of the 2019-20 season, before returning to his assistant spot the next year. Then in 2022-23, Vaughn became the Nets’ interim coach again after Brooklyn fired Steve Nash — and the second time, he had the interim tag dropped.
But coaching in the NBA often comes with a short shelf life. Fired 54 games into the 2023-24 season, Vaughn had a chance to let his mind relax for the first time … maybe ever. He and his wife moved to a home they’d purchased during the pandemic in Paradise Valley, Ariz. They were empty nesters for the first time, too, with both sons at the University of Miami.
Without a job for the first time in his adult life, Vaughn took the opportunity to work on his golf game, listen to podcasts (His favorite podcast is “Founders,” which dives deep on people who’ve created successful companies) and spend time with his wife. Then in March, he experienced his favorite memory of his year away. For 27 years, he’d been in the NBA as a coach or player — meaning he never had the chance to really watch the NCAA Tournament. So he sat on his couch and tuned in to every game. He watched for the joy of it, but also started thinking ahead, pulling concepts he could use once he returned to coaching.
It was nice to have that free time, but something else started to nudge at him.
“I wanted to be depended on.”
Jacque Vaughn played for Gregg Popovich, then began his coaching career as an assistant under the former Spurs head coach. (Jeffrey Bottari / NBAE via Getty Images)
On the final day of summer practices at his alma mater, Vaughn wears a red Kansas basketball shirt and a smile. He’s grateful to be here, at a place where he feels like he can make a difference. Will be given the time to make a difference.
“I do think we’re guardians of the next generation,” he said. “And I do love being a part of that.”
Vaughn was given the chance to have a full-circle moment in his life when Kansas assistant Norm Roberts retired earlier this spring. Self immediately targeted Vaughn for the job. Considering it had been over two decades since Self last hired a top-three assistant from outside his coaching tree — Kurtis Townsend in 2004 — it was obvious how badly he wanted to bring back the former Jayhawk. Still, Vaughn had to weigh the offer against two others: an associate head coach and lead assistant, both in the NBA.
NBA assistants leaving to become college head coaches has become a trend — like Kevin Young at BYU, Alex Jensen at Utah and Luke Loucks at Florida State — but Vaughn’s offer was to be an assistant, not a head coach. His brother-in-law questioned why he’d even consider such a move.
Vaughn remembered a line he used to share with players sent from the NBA to the G-League: “You’re not going down; you’re going over.”
And Self didn’t hire Vaughn just for the PR bump of bringing a storied alumnus with NBA coaching experience home. Vaughn aligns exactly with what it seems Kansas needs.
The Jayhawks underwent a necessary makeover this offseason. The last two seasons have been the worst of Self’s 22 in Lawrence, with last year as the spoiled cherry on top. KU had its lowest finish in the Big 12 under Self (sixth), its lowest NCAA Tournament seed (7) and lost in the first round for the first time since 2006. The Jayhawks weren’t built for the modern game — not enough shooting or athleticism — and they’d struggled to find good fits in the transfer portal.
Self retooled the roster with athletic players who fit his playing style. An early look at the Jayhawks resembles a mini-Oklahoma City Thunder, with Darryn Peterson — the top player in the 2025 class, and a favorite to go No. 1 in the 2026 NBA Draft — filling the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander role. Self surrounded his stud freshman with bigger guards and wings spacing the floor, all of whom are capable of slashing and punishing closeouts. Self talks about Peterson in a way he’s never talked about any other freshman before, perhaps similar to how Williams once saw a young Vaughn in the summer of 1993. (Vaughn became the first freshman to be a full-time starter for Williams.)
Who better to help mentor someone like Peterson than a guy who has walked in his shoes?
“He’s certainly not above rolling his sleeves up, putting in hours. All those sorts of things that maybe you would think an NBA head coach would be,” Self said. “He likes to work, he loves this place, and he’s terrific on the court.”
Asked who he called to vet Vaughn before officially signing him, Self was taken aback.
“I didn’t talk to anybody about him,” the 62-year-old said. “I talked to Jacque.”
Vaughn’s time in the Spurs ecosystem meant Self knew they spoke the same basketball language. Vaughn comes from Popovich’s coaching tree, while Popovich comes from Larry Brown’s coaching tree … as does Self, who Brown hired for his first college coaching job in 1985. On top of that, one of Self’s best friends — and his old roommate at KU in the ’80s — is R.C. Buford, the architect of the Spurs dynasty.
“The basketball world is two blocks long,” Vaughn said.
Self and Vaughn’s shared Spurs connections have already materialized on the court. On the final practice of KU’s summer session, Self referenced one of the Spurs’ greatest contributions to basketball: the 0.5 rule, which requires a player to make a decision — shoot, pass or drive — in a half a second.
“Jacque,” Self said, “point five is that what they called it?”
“Point five,” Vaughn confirmed.
A reminder to the KU players of the company they now keep.
Jacque Vaughn was twice elevated to Nets interim coach, getting the interim tag removed the second time in 2022. (Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images)
As the final summer practice finishes, Vaughn hangs around and rebounds for Peterson as he shoots free throws. He then goes to everyone left in the gym before he exits. It’s subtle, but that simple act exemplifies why Vaughn felt called to coaching: Because he’s always felt like he could relate to every teammate he’s had or player he’s coached.
“I can take a guy, we can go eat at the White House, or we can eat at White Castle and be OK doing both,” Vaughn said. “Every player that I’ve coached, every person that I have come in contact with organization-wise, I always wanted to leave an impression of how I made them feel.”
Detroit Pistons guard Caris LeVert is one of those players. LeVert played for Vaughn in Brooklyn and was assigned to Vaughn as his developmental coach. LeVert said Vaughn was so good in that role that other teammates would get jealous they weren’t in his group.
LeVert questions whether he would have lasted as long as he has in the league — he’s entering his 10th season — if not for Vaughn. LeVert prided himself on being a gym rat, but he was overdoing it as a rookie, showing up late at night and not getting the proper rest. Vaughn got through to LeVert that the season was a journey as opposed to a sprint, and he could still get in extra work but do so in a more efficient manner.
“He’s someone who’s gonna be there good, bad, ugly, and he was not afraid to tell the truth,” LeVert said. “In this business, you run across a lot of people who kind of try to massage the truth; JV is someone who would give it to you straight.”
Vaughn’s humility also stuck with LeVert and Jalen Wilson, the former Kansas wing who also played for Vaughn in Brooklyn. When Vaughn was promoted to head coach, instead of reassigning the players he worked with to an assistant, Vaughn continued with his group.
“Most coaches may sit on the side or coach from the side,” Wilson said. “He was right there sweating with us.”
Wilson said he created an atmosphere where it didn’t feel like there was a hierarchy.
“JV is one of the best motivators that I played for,” LeVert said. “For me, he was more than a coach; he was more like a big brother. … He knows how to talk to that age of players. He’s somebody who can talk to anybody. When JV walks into a room, you know JV’s in a room.”
Bill Self, who is entering his 23rd season as KU coach, said he hired Jacque Vaughn because he was “the best guy for us.” (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Some theorize the reason KU brought Vaughn back was to become Self’s successor.
Self, who will turn 63 in December, was hospitalized last month and had two stents inserted, and he previously missed the 2023 NCAA Tournament after undergoing a heart procedure. He has returned to work and said Friday that he could coach a game tomorrow if KU had one.
As for a succession plan …
“Absolutely not remotely in mind,” Self said. “I just wanted to hire the best guy and I thought he was the best guy for us. He’s terrific on the court. He’s great with the kids. He’s high energy. But I’m not interested in thinking or talking about a succession plan.”
While Vaughn is no stranger on campus, he admits that he’s very much a newbie back at Kansas. He’s entering a college environment much different than the one he left upon graduating in 1997. He didn’t seek the advice of others when he decided to go back to school, but he did get a call from his former backcourt mate and former Stanford coach Jerod Haase. He mostly wanted to share his thoughts on the changes to the college game. Those changes, in some ways, have made Vaughn’s time in the NBA more relevant because college basketball has turned professional.
“The worlds are merging,” Vaughn said.
What’s different, though, with college basketball is the connection fans feel to the players who wear the uniform or the coaches who roam the sideline. That’s somewhat changing in this transfer era, and Kansas has felt that these last few years.
Vaughn’s return should rekindle those feelings. He is forever the face of the 1990s Jayhawks. You still see No. 11 jerseys from that era. Kansas fans talk about the 1997 Arizona loss — Vaughn’s final college game — like a devastating life event.
That conclusion never felt appropriate. Maybe it was always in the cards for Vaughn to get a second act.
“We’ve come full circle, where I always wanted to be depended on as a player — and same way as a coach,” Vaughn said. “My energy, juice, I want you to be able to depend on that on a daily basis. And I’m going to climb into this same space, where I don’t want to let my university down. I don’t want to let this fan base down. It’s special. It means something to me.”
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
