Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas men's basketball assistant coach Norm Roberts, a member of the Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame, announced his retirement Monday following 14 seasons at Kansas and 37 years in the basketball coaching ranks.
In his time at Kansas, the Jayhawks won seven Big 12 regular-season titles, three Big 12 Tournament championships and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 five times, the Elite Eight four times and captured the 2022 NCAA National Championship title.
"I want to thank everybody at the University of Kansas and from everywhere I've been lucky enough to coach," Roberts said. "I've been fortunate that I've never worked a day in my life. Being able to coach at Kansas and be part of this program has been unbelievable. After 37 years as a coach, it is time for me to move on, enjoy my family, spend more time with my wife (Pascale) and sons (Niko and Justin). The thing I'm going to remember most is the players and watching them grow, watching them succeed, and watching them fight through adversity and come back from that."
A STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame member, Roberts was on Coach Bill Self's original KU coaching staff in 2003-04. Following that season, he was named the head coach of St. John's, where he served for six seasons. He rejoined Self's staff prior to the 2012-13 season and was on the Kansas sideline through this most recent season.
"This is a bittersweet moment for me because Norm and I have been together since 1995," said KU head coach Bill Self about when Roberts joined his staff at Oral Roberts prior to the 1995-96 season. "Norm has played a key role to our success at all of the stops we have had together, especially here at Kansas. From recruiting to developing players to scouting and his knowledge of the game both on and off the court, Norm has been instrumental in what we have achieved. We won alot of games together – many conference titles, deep NCAA Tournament runs, Final Fours and a national championship. We've had some unbelievable memories that will last our lifetimes.
Self added, "We should all be happy for Norm to go enjoy life with Pascale and his boys. Norm has done as good of a job as anyone in representing the University of Kansas, the athletic department and our basketball program in a first-class manner."
In Roberts' impactful career at KU, 60 KU student-athletes have been named to All-Big 12 teams, including five Big 12 Players of the Year, four Big 12 Defensive Players of the Year, two Big 12 Freshman of the Year, two Big 12 Newcomers of the Year and a Big 12 Most Improved Player. The conference players of the year were 2017 Consensus National Player of the Year Frank Mason III, Consensus All-America selections Devonte' Graham in 2018, Udoka Azubuike in 2020, Ochai Agbaji in 2022 and Jalen Wilson in 2023. Additionally, Marcus Garrett was the national defensive player of the year in 2020.
While on the KU sidelines, Roberts has coached seven NBA Lottery selections in Josh Jackson, Andrew Wiggins, Ben McLemore, Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr., Agbaji and Gradey Dick. Other NBA players during Roberts' KU stint include the aforementioned Jayhawks and Wayne Selden Jr., Devon Dotson, Christian Braun and Johnny Furphy. All in all, Roberts has seen more than 35 Jayhawks go on to compete professionally.
Roberts has been by Self's side throughout much of the Hall of Famer's career. Roberts spent nine seasons on Self's staffs at KU in 2003-04 as associate head coach; three years at Illinois (2000-03), including serving as associate head coach in 2002-03; three seasons at Tulsa (1997-2000) and two years at Oral Roberts (1995-97).
As the head coach of St. John's, the Red Storm showed that despite coming off several losing seasons they could compete at a high level with a pair of top-25 victories over No. 17 North Carolina State and No. 21 Pittsburgh while claiming the championship at the 2004 Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. St. John's also defeated long-time rival Georgetown that year.
Roberts' second season, 2005-06, St. John's improved its overall and conference record and claimed the Holiday Festival championship for a second-consecutive year. The team also scored its first top-10 win under Roberts, defeating No. 9 Pittsburgh, 55-50, on Jan. 21 just four days after another top-25 win against No. 17/15 Louisville, 68-56.
In 2008-09, St. John's scored its biggest victory of Roberts' tenure, knocking off No. 7 Notre Dame and added a pair of wins over Georgetown, including a first-round matchup in the Big East Tournament. In his final season with the program, Roberts led St. John's past UConn in the Big East Tournament and earned a postseason berth in the NIT.
A 1987 graduate of Queens College with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education, Roberts is the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,719 points. He also is the career leader in steals (253) and is second in assists (460), and had his number (15) retired by his alma mater in 1993.
Roberts' first job out of college was under legendary high school coach Jack Curran at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, where he spent three years as the head freshman coach and an assistant on the varsity squad. While at Archbishop Molloy, he had the opportunity to coach many noted New York players, highlighted by the 1991 No. 2 overall NBA draft pick Kenny Anderson.
He and his wife Pascale have two sons, Nicholas (Niko), who was a four-year letterwinner at Kansas from 2011-14 and graduated from KU in spring 2014, and Justin, who played collegiate basketball at Toledo and at Niagara. Niko is the associate commissioner for men's and women's basketball at the Mountain West Conference. Justin is an assistant director of development for Boise State Athletics.
"It's the people that make Kansas basketball special – the fans, the coaches, the players, the administration," Roberts said. "I've been blessed to have 14 unbelievable years here. I want to thank everybody for everything they've done for me and my family, and I will forever be a Jayhawk."