Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self has added veteran assistant Tony Bland to his coaching staff, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Tuesday.
Bland, a longtime presence in West Coast basketball, comes to Lawrence after spending the 2023-24 season as an assistant under Danny Sprinkle at Washington. Before that, he was the head coach at St. Bernard High School in Los Angeles and previously served as associate head coach at USC from 2013-17 under Andy Enfield.
He began his college coaching career at his alma mater, San Diego State, where he helped guide the Aztecs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013.
As a player, Bland suited up for two Hall of Fame coaches: Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and Steve Fisher at San Diego State. He totaled 1,368 points, 331 rebounds and 319 assists across 127 career games, helping lead teams to three NCAA Tournaments and an NIT appearance. He was twice named All-Mountain West and captained the Aztecs in 2003, when they earned their first Division I postseason win.
Following college, Bland was invited to the Indiana Pacers’ training camp, signed a preseason deal with the Sacramento Kings and played professionally in the NBA Development League, Russia and Europe.
A Los Angeles native, Bland was a high school All-American at Westchester High before moving on to a collegiate and coaching career that now brings him to one of the nation’s premier programs at Kansas.