Coaching Staff

Kurtis Townsend | Assistant Coach

Kurtis Townsend joined the Kansas staff in summer 2004 and at 18 seasons, he is the longest tenured assistant coach in Kansas men’s basketball history. Since his arrival in Lawrence, Townsend has been a part of the KU program which has won two national championships, reached three NCAA Tournament title games, four Final Fours, eight NCAA Tournament Elite Eights and 10 NCAA Sweet 16s. KU has won an NCAA record 14-consecutive Big 12 regular-season titles (2005-18), 16 overall, and nine conference tournament crowns with Townsend on the sidelines. Also while at Kansas, Townsend has coached 12 NBA Draft Lottery selections, 27 overall NBA draftees and 59 All-Big 12 Jayhawks.

Recognized as a top assistant by many national organizations, Townsend played a major role in recruiting KU’s NBA draftees Josh Jackson, Andrew Wiggins, Ben McLemore, Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Julian Wright, Josh Selby and 2010 Consensus All-America First Team selection Sherron Collins. He also was instrumental in bringing 2017 National Player of the Year, Frank Mason III, to KU as well as 2018 Consensus All-America First Team selection Devonte’ Graham.

Townsend joined the Jayhawk staff after serving as an assistant under Perry Clark at the University of Miami for one season. He also served as an assistant at Southern California, Michigan, California and Eastern Kentucky.

Prior to Miami, Townsend spent two seasons at USC helping guide the Trojans to two Pac-10 Tournament championship games. In 2001-02, his first season with the Trojans, USC finished 22-10, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and finishing the season ranked 18th in the nation by the Associated Press.

Before USC, Townsend spent three seasons at Michigan helping lead the Wolverines to the NIT in 2000. He was also an assistant at Eastern Kentucky in 1997-98 following four seasons at California (1993-97), where he helped coach the Golden Bears to three NCAA Tournament appearances (1994, 1996, 1997), including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 1997.

Townsend has coached numerous NBA players including KU’s contingent from the last 18 seasons: Wayne Simien, Julian Wright, Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Xavier Henry, Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Josh Selby, Cole Aldrich, Thomas Robinson, Tyshawn Taylor, Ben McLemore, Jeff Withey, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Tarik Black, Kelly Oubre Jr., Cliff Alexander, Cheick Diallo, Josh Jackson, Wayne Selden Jr., Frank Mason III, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Devonte’ Graham, Marcus Garrett, Udoka Azubuike, Devon Dotson, Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun. Additionally, he has mentored Jason Kidd, Lamond Murray, Tremaine Fowlkes, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Ed Gray, Sean Marks, Michael Stewart, Jamal Crawford, Lou Bullock, Sam Clancy and Guillermo Diaz. While at Cal, he also coached former NFL player Tony Gonzalez.

Townsend began his coaching career at the high school level in his hometown of San Jose, California, having served as an assistant coach at Leland (1984-87) and Del Mar (1987-89). He then became head coach at Leigh (1989-91) where his teams won two league titles and later advanced to the state championship. From there, Townsend was head coach at Willow Glen High School (1991-93) where his team made it to the sectional finals two-straight years.

Townsend played point guard at Western Kentucky for two seasons (1978-80), helping the Hilltoppers to the 1980 Ohio Valley Conference title and an NCAA Tournament bid. He spent the 1981 season in the CBA for the Montana Golden Nuggets and earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation from Western Kentucky in 1982.

Prior to transferring to Western Kentucky, Townsend played two seasons at Menlo (California) Junior College where he earned first-team all-state and All-America honorable mention honors in 1978.

Townsend is married to the former Linda Woodson. He has five children: Tanika, Marques, Keisha, Kaliyah and Myka. Kaliyah is a junior at KU.

Norm Roberts | Assistant Coach

Norm Roberts enters his 12th season on the Kansas sidelines after rejoining Bill Self’s staff in June 2012. Roberts was on Self’s first KU staff in 2003-04 and returned prior to the 2012-13 season.

In his time at Kansas, the Jayhawks have won eight Big 12 regular-season titles, four Big 12 Tournament championships and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 six times, the Elite Eight five times and the Final Four twice, in 2018 and the 2022 NCAA National Championship title.

While on the KU sidelines, Roberts has coached six NBA Lottery selections in Josh Jackson, Andrew Wiggins, Ben McLemore, Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ochai Agbaji. Additionally, Roberts has seen more than 30 Jayhawks go on to compete professionally, be it in the NBA, the G-League or overseas.

In Roberts’ stint at KU, 45 KU student-athletes have been named to All-Big 12 teams, including four Big 12 Players of the Year, three Big 12 Defensive Players of the Year, two Big 12 Freshman of the Year and two Big 12 Newcomers of the Year. 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 and Ochai Agbaji in 2022. Additionally, Marcus Garrett was the national defensive player of the year in 2020.

Roberts returned to Kansas after serving the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach at the University of Florida, where the Gators advanced to the Elite Eight of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

Roberts is no stranger to Kansas or Self. He 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).

Prior to his year in Gainesville, Roberts spent six seasons as the head coach at St. John’s in New York, where the Queens, New York, native took over the Red Storm in 2004.

In his first season, 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.

Jeremy Case | Assistant Coach

Jeremy Case was named assistant coach in August 2021 after the former Kansas guard rejoined the KU staff as video coordinator in August 2016. Case served as assistant coach in the interim role from April 2021 until August 2021 when the was named.

With Case on staff, Kansas has won one NCAA National Championship in 2022, six Big 12 regular-season championships and two Big 12 Tournament titles. Additionally, KU has advanced to four NCAA Tournament Sweet 16s, three NCAA Elite Eights and two Final Fours during Case’s staff tenure.

In addition to the team accomplishments, during Case’s stint on the staff, Kansas has produced six Consensus All-America selections, 25 All-Big 12 honorees, four Big 12 Players of the Year (Frank Mason in 2017, Devonte’ Graham in 2018, Udoka Azubuike in 2020 and Ochai Agbaji in 2022), two Big 12 Defensive Players of the Year (Cole Aldrich in 2009 and Marcus Garrett in 2020), two Big 12 Newcomers of the Year (Malik Newman in 2018 and Dedric Lawson in 2019). Mason was the national player of the year in 2017 and Garrett was the national defensive player of the year in 2020.

With Case on the KU staff, seven Jayhawks have been selected in the NBA Draft and more than 20 players have played professionally either in the NBA, the G-League or overseas.

Case came to KU after four seasons as an assistant coach at Houston Baptist University. While at HBU, under longtime Huskies’ head coach Ron Cottrell, Case was part of the Huskies’ transition from the Great West Conference to the Southland Conference in 2013-14. After finishing 6-25 in 2013-14 and 14th in the Southland, the Huskies improved every year going 12-16 and tying for eighth in 2014-15 and 17-17 and fifth in the 2015-16.

Case was a member of Kansas’ 2008 NCAA National Championship team and after graduation was on the KU staff while taking graduate courses at KU for the 2008-09 season. From there, Case was an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State for three years before Houston Baptist. While at Southeast Missouri State, the Redhawks increased their win total every season with Case on staff, more than doubling the win total from his first year to his third.

A native of McAlester, Oklahoma, Case played in 94 games while at Kansas and won four Big 12 regular-season and three Big 12 postseason tournament championships. Including the 2008 title, Case was part of three NCAA Elite Eight teams while playing at KU.

A redshirt in 2004-05, Case earned his bachelor’s degree in communications in 2007 and was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree in 2006 and 2008.

Case’s father, Win, is an assistant men’s basketball coach at Mississippi and was a college teammate of KU head coach Bill Self at Oklahoma State. Case’s mother, Rita Newton, played college basketball at Seminole (Oklahoma) Junior College.

Case is married to the former Lauren Jackson, who played soccer at KU from 2007-10. Case has a son, Malachi.

Fred Quartlebaum | Director of Basketball Operations

Fred Quartlebaum, “Coach Q”, a veteran college basketball coach with close to 30 years of experience, joined the Kansas men’s basketball staff as Director of Student-Athlete Development in June 2013 and moved to Director of Basketball Operations role in 2020. In this role, Coach Q takes pride in ensuring efficient logistical operations of the team and developing players for lifelong success on and off the court. In Nov. 2021, Quartlebaum was recognized as “50 Notable Division I Support Staff” in college basketball by Silver Waves Media.

Quartlebaum serves on the University of Kansas’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Committee, Strategic Planning sub-committee for Culture Building, Leadership and Integrity and leads social justice initiatives to empower and educate the men’s basketball program. Quartlebaum also serves on Team IMPACT’s Athletic Advisory Board to assist in partnership structure and spread awareness about Team IMPACT’s programs with schools and conferences throughout the country. He believes the power of sport can unite, inspire, and change the world.

Entering his 10th season at KU, Quartlebaum has been part of seven Big 12 regular-season championships, three Big 12 Tournament titles, five in-season tournament titles, four NCAA Tournament Elite Eights, one Final Four in 2018 and the coveted NCAA National Championship in 2022. Additionally, Quartlebaum has seen 18 Jayhawks move onto the NBA, including lottery selection Ochai Agbaji and fellow first-rounder Christian Braun in the 2022 NBA Draft.

In the summer of 2015, Quartlebaum was an assistant coach who guided the USA National Team, made up mainly of University of Kansas student-athletes and KU coaches and staff, to the gold medal at the World University Games in Gwangju, Korea, by posting an 8-0 record. The medal was USA’s first in three World University Games and the first gold, 14th overall, for the Americans since 2005.

Quartlebaum has a long resume of basketball coaching experience. Prior to KU, Quartlebaum spent 20 years as an assistant coach recruiting and developing student athletes at the US Naval Academy, Towson, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Iowa State, and six seasons as an assistant coach at St. John’s under current KU assistant coach Norm Roberts. While at Holy Cross he was the head coach for four games and picked up his first victory against Drake in the Lobo Invitational in December of 1997. He accompanied Matt Doherty from Notre Dame to North Carolina (2000-03) where he played a part in recruiting four McDonald’s All-Americans who eventually would win an NCAA title in 2005. While at St. John’s, Quartlebaum attended the Black Coaches Association’s (BCA) “Achieving Coaching Excellence” (ACE) program and was named to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition.

In August 2021 Quartlebaum fulfilled a lifelong goal, co-authoring “The Positivity Tribe in the Locker Room” which highlights a team’s journey through adversity to success by building a positive team culture, focusing on the details of small wins that lead to huge victories.

Quartlebaum played college basketball at Fordham where he was a four-year letterwinner from 1985-89. He helped the Rams to an NIT appearance in 1988 and was co-captain his senior season.

A native of the Bronx & Dobbs Ferry, NY, Coach Q played high school basketball at Stepinac High School in White Plains, NY. Quartlebaum and his wife, Christy, have two sons, Trey, and Mayson.  Trey is a senior men’s basketball player at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY and Mayson is a junior men’s basketball player at University of Missouri- St. Louis.