Bill Self's first 100 days as the head coach at Kansas were strongly shaped by his first 120 hours on the job.

	Bill Self has likely reached his last coaching destination.

That's when he headed out to visit with the recruits signed by former Jayhawk coach Roy Williams. There was talk, albeit an unsubstantiated rumor, that Williams was trying to get the committed Jayhawks to follow him to North Carolina.

Not true. But there was a possibility -- however remote -- that the new recruits could bolt on Self. That wouldn't have been a surprise; the National Letter of Intent committee has been like a sieve of late, letting any request slip through without a fight.

So, Self had to save the future of the program in the first week.

"I didn't know if I was going to stay or leave,'' said David Padgett, a 6-11 forward out of Reno, Nev., who is considered the star of the newcomer class. "But he came in and talked to my family and me about what style he plays and what he'd like to see me do. He talked about wanting to keep all the guys in the class. It was like a recruiting trip.''

Self said his biggest achievement in the first 100 days was salvaging last year's recruiting class.

But that was only one move that he had to make.

Self had to fend off scorned Illini fans that weren't pleased he bolted on the school. He had to put together a coaching staff. He needed to get to know the current players. He had to deal with the Charlie Villanueva saga -- Villanueva committed to Illinois when Self was coach, then considered Kansas when Self went there, but ended up committing to Connecticut before withdrawing from the NBA draft. He had to deal with a new athletic director at Kansas; it turned out to be Connecticut's Lew Perkins, a basketball coach's dream AD because of his passion for the sport.

And, of course, he had to move. The latter might have been the most exhausting and challenging to his family's well being.

Self hadn't planned on a chaotic spring. He didn't anticipate that he would be leaving Illinois. Why? The assumption was that Matt Doherty would stay at North Carolina for another season and that Williams wouldn't be leaving -- at least not yet.

But once Williams made his decision to go to North Carolina, Self became the only candidate for Kansas. He waivered on whether to leave one of the best situations in the country in Illinois, where his team made the Elite Eight a year ago (previously, he'd led Tulsa to the Elite Eight).

But Kansas was where he ultimately wanted to be. He got his coaching career started under Larry Brown as a Jayhawk assistant during the 1985-86 season. So he jumped at the chance to return, even cutting short a holiday weekend in Orlando. Ironically, the last time he was in Florida vacationing with his family, he took the Illinois job.

Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther wasn't too pleased. Neither were hardcore fans. But Self ultimately had to do what was best for him and Kansas was more of a destination for his family than Champaign, Ill.

Trying to squeeze in another vacation since he has been hired in Lawrence wasn't an option. Seeing his son's baseball games wasn't even possible. How difficult has this move been?

Self stayed in an apartment in Lawrence the first 80 days on the job. He moved into his house over the July 4th weekend. He sold his house in Champaign a few days before moving into the Lawrence house.

"The move has been draining,'' Self said. "My wife Cindy has done a great job and I should have been more involved. But the first 70 days I was on the job, I spent two nights in Champaign.''

Had Self stayed at Illinois, he said he would have been with his family probably 60 of those 70 days in the spring. He said his family spent no more than eight days with him during that stretch.

"That hurts a lot more than you think it does,'' Self said. "This is at a time when you weren't supposed to be gone. I missed out on my son's Little League baseball season. I made some practices but we moved but didn't get to any games.

"The move is the toughest part of changing jobs (from Illinois to Kansas), especially when it wasn't planned,'' Self said. "Being away from the family is disappointing to your family.''

Self hasn't even gone to a bank yet in Lawrence. He doesn't have a Kansas driver's license. He hasn't even had time to punch in new numbers on his Kansas cell phone.

But he did have time to get to know his own players. Self spent quality time with his core group -- Aaron Miles, Keith Langford, Wayne Simien and Jeff Graves -- for next season. Self's success has been in his ability to relate to players. Wherever he has gone, players want to play hard for him. He demands a punishing work ethic and he has yet to run up against a player who refuses to play hard for him.

"The most important thing we did as a staff during the first 100 days was make sure the present players were happy,'' said Self's associate head coach, Norm Roberts. "We're happy with the situation. We did it by building relationships as quickly as possible when we got the job. We talked to the families to get to know them so they could get to know us. We wanted to be around them as much as possible.''

Roberts said a coach needs to make calls to players and make sure they return the phone calls. He said they would check on how they were doing in school. He said they would engage conversations with the players about class, and their social life.

"It's critical for kids to understand where you're coming from and how you're going to treat them,'' said Roberts, who along with Tim Jankovich, made the jump from Illinois to Kansas.

The communication paid off. Self convinced Ben Miller to stay instead of looking elsewhere and added Joe Dooley from Wyoming. He also flirted with hiring Danny Manning as an administrative assistant, but Manning took a pass. That meant Self could look to a former Illini player in Sean Harrington to complete the staff.

"Once you build that relationship the rest falls into place,'' Roberts said. "First impressions are important and then after that you have to be consistent with communication. You have to keep open lines of communication with the kid and make yourself known around them more.''

Self is one of the most accessible coaches with his players, the athletic department and the media. And that certainly helped in winning over the signees David Padgett, Omar Wilkes, J.R. Giddens and Jeremy Case.

Mitch Germann, the media relations director for men's basketball at Kansas, was the shadow to King Roy Williams in Lawrence. Williams was like Elvis and sightings were common around town. Williams hardly ever went unnoticed. Self still is a relative unknown to the commoner in Lawrence but doesn't big-time anyone, according to Germann, who has witnessed strangers talk to Self in restaurants who didn't know his name or his occupation.

"He is overwhelmingly accessible,'' Germann said. "He has said yes to every request presented to him. He carries his cell phone with him and local writers know how to reach him directly. When Lew Perkins was introduced as our new athletic director, coach Self stuck around for 45 minutes and every last reporter in the room talked to him before they left. He was the last person to leave the room.''

That's not a knock on the beloved Williams, who always dealt with the media at scheduled times but might not have been into all of the conversational stuff with reporters. That wasn't his style to hang out the way Self would tend to do. Neither is right or wrong, but Self's style is playing well.

"He's more laid back than coach Williams,'' said Padgett, who spent a few weeks earlier this summer in Lawrence taking classes. "Coach Williams was strict from what I hear from the players. Coach Self is more lenient on some things….He tried to get us to feel as comfortable as possible with him. He said we could come in and talk no matter what. When he was around, he was running around getting settled but we always knew we could go talk to him.''

If there was a hole in this transition, it was something that Self couldn't fill. He didn't coach Kansas to the national title game. With Williams leaving and Self arriving, the players and their accomplishment was somewhat overshadowed.

"The players haven't had the attention they deserve for having an unbelievable season,'' said Self. Williams said they could receive it again because this is the year Kansas has tremendous depth and said the Jayhawks have a top-five team returning.

"The thing that amazes me is that the fans say, 'coach this will be our year,' but I'm like, hasn't it been your year?''' Self said. "Expectations are high here and going to the final game doesn't do anything to alleviate those expectations.''

And that's why getting the players to commit again -- to Kansas -- was critical to Self's long-term success in Lawrence.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.