Source: Kansas to hire Bland as assistant coach

• Myron MedcalfAug 19, 2025, 02:48 PM ET

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  Myron Medcalf covers college basketball for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2011.

Kansas will work with Tony Bland, who was implicated in the 2017 FBI investigation that threatened to alter the sport, as an assistant coach, a source informed ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Tuesday.Bland, who worked as

an assistant at Washington last season, was one of the 10 individuals arrested in a federal probe around a bribery plan and implicated of accepting money in exchange for guiding pro prospects to specific people and their businesses.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Bland, then an assistant at USC, consequently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy after admitting that he accepted a$4,100 allurement from company managers and financial consultants to direct professional athletes to utilize their services.Bland was sentenced to two years’probation and did not serve prison

time. He was also struck with a three-year program cause that ended last year, when Washington’s Danny Sprinkle offered him his first task given that the FBI investigation.Bland joins a Kansas squad that goes into the year in a precarious circumstance, compared to previous years for the storied program.Bill Self was just recently hospitalized for the second time in 2 years with a heart concern. He had actually 2 stents positioned into his heart in July and is anticipated to make a full healing. Two years earlier, he missed out on multiple games, including the group’s 2023 NCAA competition loss to Arkansas, with heart issues.Bland joins a personnel that also just recently added former standout Jacque Vaughn as an assistant, too.This year’s Jayhawks will lean on luxury prospect Darryn Peterson, who might be the

very first choice in next summer’s NBA draft.