The deeper meaning behind Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self’s final words on Bruce Weber

Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self began with the slightest of pauses, and then his eyes veered toward the sky. He had prepared for this question, and it looked as though he wanted to choose his words carefully.

His counterpart certainly had.

Twenty hours earlier, sitting on this same stage inside T-Mobile Center, Bruce Weber sensed a fall toward the mat and decided to throw one last punch in Self’s direction.

Why not?

In the end, go down swinging.

“I heard him,” Self said matter-of-factly here Thursday.

Weber resigned from his post as Kansas State’s head coach earlier Thursday morning, the conclusion of a 10-year reign in Manhattan that he saw coming. Telegraphed it to the rest of us, too, with a six-minute monologue Wednesday night in which he defended his own record before pointing toward the alleged wrong-doings of some of his counterparts.

The unfair playing field, he sees it.

He didn’t mention KU by name, but he didn’t need to. We got the message. He pointed instead to “the FBI stuff,” undoubtedly referring to a federal investigation into college basketball corruption that resulted in a major NCAA infractions case against Self and KU.

“That’s the sad part of our business,” Weber said.

Weber, a member of the NCAA’s ethics committee, has earned the right to speak his mind on the state of college basketball. Earned the right to spend his final hours on the job however he pleases. And if he wants to spend them excusing his 3-20 record against Self’s KU teams, hey, more power to him.

But Self has earned the right to not particularly care for it, either. He didn’t say that, not in those words, but the mechanical delivery of his parting words for Weber delivered that message.

“I think this time of year everybody in our profession feels a little bit of pressure, stress, sometimes can be emotional,” Self said, expressionless. “I know I go through phases as well.”

It isn’t a phase — not the cloud of the FBI investigation, nor the outgoing coach bothered by it. Weber didn’t have some sort of heat-of-the-moment meltdown Wednesday night in Kansas City. It’s a mission for a 65-year-old coach who feels he has seen the making of the sausage and wants the world to see it, too.

Before this season, Weber told a couple of friends in the business he would grow out his hair “until something happens” to those involved in the FBI investigation.

“Obviously,” he said, flicking toward his long, gray locks, “it’s still growing.”

Think about that. Each morning as Weber looked into his mirror, he saw a daily reminder of the very thing he hated the most about the sport he loves. How could he not be inclined to mention it on his way out of town?

That it comes at Self’s expense is likely no accident, either. Their relationship predates the K-State-Kansas rivalry — after Weber took over for Self at Illinois, he once wore all-black clothing to practice as a mock funeral for Self. The point was to tell everyone to move on, but it didn’t land that way in Lawrence.

Weber has long played the unfairness card against Kansas, from “Ask Fran!” to one final mention of the allegations and everything in between.

Nobody likes to be on the other side of all that, though, particularly when delivered through a news conference. And so if Self’s near-scripted response felt a little stiff after the comment thrown in his direction a day earlier, that’s probably not an accident, either.

“I have enjoyed competing against his teams — I never thought it was him against me — but I have enjoyed my players competing against his players. I thought he did a good job in Manhattan, and I wish him well in whatever he does,” Self said.

It’s complimentary enough, considering the circumstances. Self was the fourth coach to walk to the stage for a news conference Thursday. The initial three were asked about Weber, too.

Their responses, in part:

“He did an unbelievable job at Kansas State. He’s had a great career. A great career. And he did it the right way,” TCU’s Jamie Dixon said.

“He’s always been a hard-working, good guy. ... He’s had a great, great career. Some of us aren’t blessed to have walked into ready-made programs. And I think Bruce is one of those guys,” West Virginia’s Bob Huggins said.

“He’s a Hall of Famer in my mind. I’m on the record with Bruce Weber. You guys can go back the very first game we played against him — he’s a coach’s coach. The game is better because Coach Weber was part of it,” Texas’ Chris Beard said.

Three saw a runway to honor an outgoing coach.

Another completed an answer — the one on the receiving end of one last jab.