BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
The Kansas Jayhawks are losing a long-time member of their coaching staff.
Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame member Norm Roberts will retire after fourteen seasons with the program and 37 years of coaching, he announced on Monday.
“I want to thank everybody at the University of Kansas and from everywhere I’ve been lucky enough to coach,” Roberts said. “I’ve been fortunate that I’ve never worked a day in my life. Being able to coach at Kansas and be part of this program has been unbelievable. After 37 years as a coach, it is time for me to move on, enjoy my family, spend more time with my wife (Pascale) and sons (Niko and Justin). The thing I’m going to remember most is the players and watching them grow, watching them succeed, and watching them fight through adversity and come back from that.”
Roberts’ illustrious career with the Jayhawks included seven Big 12 regular-season titles, three Big 12 tournament championships, five Sweet 16 appearances, four Elite 8 appearances and the 2022 National Championship.
Roberts was on Kansas head coach Bill Self’s original staff in 2003 before being hired as the head coach at St. John’s, where he spent the next six years. Before the 2012-13 season, Roberts rejoined Self’s staff, where he remained for the rest of his career.
“This is a bittersweet moment for me because Norm and I have been together since 1995,” said KU head coach Bill Self about when Roberts joined his staff at Oral Roberts prior to the 1995-96 season. “Norm has played a key role to our success at all of the stops we have had together, especially here at Kansas. From recruiting to developing players to scouting and his knowledge of the game both on and off the court, Norm has been instrumental in what we have achieved. We won alot of games together – many conference titles, deep NCAA Tournament runs, Final Fours and a national championship. We’ve had some unbelievable memories that will last our lifetimes. We should all be happy for Norm to go enjoy life with Pascale and his boys. Norm has done as good of a job as anyone in representing the University of Kansas, the athletic department, and our basketball program in a first-class manner.”
Assistant coaches often go under the radar in terms of the impact that they have on a team, but for Kansas, it is no doubt that Roberts had a profound effect on the culture and on winning.
“It’s the people that make Kansas basketball special – the fans, the coaches, the players, the administration,” Roberts said. “I’ve been blessed to have 14 unbelievable years here. I want to thank everybody for everything they’ve done for me and my family, and I will forever be a Jayhawk.”
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