Travis Goff reveals how much he involves himself in Bill Self's health concerns

Bill Self has had two heart surgeries in three years, with him most recently being hospitalized and operated on back in the final week of July. That had led AD Travis Goff to keep tabs where needed on the Jayhawks’ head basketball coach.

Appearing at Big 12 Media Days with Kansas on Wednesday, Goff was asked how he handles the circumstances surrounding Self’s recent health issues. He says it’s something he tries to monitor considerately, but that Self is doing well in what he needs to in order to be healthier.

“No, I mean, I think you find your place in that, right. I think it takes a little bit of time and relationship and comfort. And, he’s always been open to my prodding, questions, you know,” said Goff. “Ways in which he’s making adjustments just in everything, right, managing stress, putting some things in the rearview, right – I think all things we have to think about. There are chapters in life that bring storms. He’s certainly faced it, just like everybody, in a different way and certainly in an elevated fashion. Those are in the rearview.”

“To have come through the health challenges and, honestly, from, I think, a medical perspective as the experts would say, he’s better and healthier than he’s been in who knows how long, and just feeling better? You know, you hear people say this. You don’t know that you feel awful until you feel better,” said Goff.

Self has had a pair of stents inserted on two separate instances to deal with blocked arteries in his heart, with one surgery back in March of 2023, which kept him out of the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament for the Jayhawks, and this most recent one in July of 2025. He, back in July, was released after a two-day stay after coming in to be checked with symptoms of concern. Everything he has shared since then has suggested good health and a better lifestyle for him to hopefully be better moving forward.

Self is set to enter what is the 23rd season for him as head coach at Kansas. The Jayhawks enter the season at No. 19 in the Preseason AP Poll, and were voted in the preseason to finish in sixth in the Big 12. KU will open that season tomorrow night with an exhibition game at Louisville, with their regular season tipping on November 3rd against Green Bay in Allen Fieldhouse.

This has been a point of concern, even more so off the court, especially coming out of this summer’s latest incident in Lawrence. But, in the three months since then, Goff says there’s nothing to suggest to him that Self isn’t doing much better.

“Seeing that, feeling that from him, and him addressing some things as well? That gives me supreme confidence in where that’s at,” said Goff.