KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Kansas coach Bill Self hired Jerrance Howard to be an assistant coach on Friday, plucking one of the top recruiters from Larry Brown's coaching staff at SMU.

Self was looking for someone with deep connections on the recruiting front to replace Joe Dooley, who was instrumental in landing some of the Jayhawks' top talent over the past decade. Dooley left in April to become the head coach at Florida Gulf Coast.

"Jerrance has great energy, is unbelievably positive and in a short amount of time has established himself as one of the better recruiters," Self said. "I'm totally comfortable with him coming in here, having a smooth transition and having an immediate, positive impact on our program."