North Carolina coach Roy Williams announces retirement
The last time Roy Williams left North Carolina, he was a virtually unknown assistant who was getting his first shot as a college head coach at tradition-rich Kansas.
Now Williams is leaving the Tar Heels again with a resume chock full of honors — as a retiring Hall of Famer with more than 900 wins, three national championships and a legacy built on more than three decades of success at two of college basketball’s most storied programs.
The school announced the decision Thursday, some two weeks after the 70-year-old Williams closed his 18th season with the Tar Heels after a highly successful 15-year run with the Jayhawks. In all, Williams won 903 games in a career that included those three titles, all with the Tar Heels, in 2005, 2009 and 2017.
“Everybody wants to know the reason and the reason is very simple,” Williams said at a news conference on the Smith Center court bearing his name. “Every time somebody asked me how long I was going to go, I’d always say, ‘As long as my health allows me to do it.’
“But deep down inside, I knew the only thing that would speed that up was if I did not feel that I was any longer the right man for the job. ... I no longer feel that I am the right man for the job.”
The Tar Heels lost to Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in his final game, his only first-round loss in 30 tournaments.
Williams spent 10 seasons at his alma mater under Smith before Kansas took a chance on him in 1988. He spent 15 seasons there, taking Kansas to four Final Fours and two national title games.
IOWA’S LUKA GARZA NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR >> Luka Garza, the 6-foot-11, 265-pound senior from Iowa, is The Associated Press men’s
college basketball national player of the year after finishing second last season. He was the runaway choice for the award, receiving 50 of 63 votes from AP Top 25 voters.
Ayo Dosunmu, who led Illinois to the Big Ten Tournament title and a No. 1 NCAA seed, was second with six votes, followed by Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham with three. Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert and Baylor’s Jared Butler each earned two votes.
Garza ranked second nationally by averaging 24.1 points with 8.7 rebounds. MICHIGAN’S JUWAN HOWARD NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR >> Michigan’s Juwan Howard was named The Associated Press men’s college basketball coach of the year, receiving 35 of 63 votes from a national media panel. Gonzaga’s Mark Few was second with 16 votes, and Baylor’s Scott Drew and Alabama’s Nate Oats each received five.
The 48-year-old Howard returned to coach his alma mater after John Beilein left for the NBA in 2019. He led the Wolverines to 19 wins before the 2019-20 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic and took another,
bigger step this season.
The Wolverines reached as high as No. 2 in the AP Top 25 and finished No. 4 after a 19-3 regular season. Michigan earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament where the Wolverines lost to UCLA in the Elite Eight. CUNNINGHAM TO ENTER NBA DRAFT >> Cunningham announced that he will enter the NBA draft after a dynamic freshman season for Oklahoma State that saw him named a first-team AP AllAmerican. The 6-foot-8 point guard is expected to be a high pick — possibly No. 1 overall.
Cunningham won the Wayman Tisdale Award as the top freshman. He led the Big 12 in scoring with 20.2 points per game. In league play, he ranked in the top 10 in scoring (20.1), seventh in rebounding (6.5), eighth in field goal percentage (.443), 10th in assists (3.3) and seventh in freethrow percentage (.843). TEXAS TECH’S BEARD LEAVING FOR TEXAS >> The athletic director at Texas Tech said that men’s basketball coach Chris Beard has informed the school he is taking the job at Texas.
Beard made the decision early Thursday, according to Kirby Hocutt, the AD at
Texas Tech. Texas has not announced the hire.
Beard led the Red Raiders to an NCAA Tournament runner-up finish two seasons ago. At Texas, he will replace Shaka Smart, who left after six seasons for Marquette.
Beard, 48, was a Longhorns student assistant under coach Tom Penders.
DEPAUL PICKS OREGON ASSISTANT >> DePaul has hired longtime Oregon assistant Tony Stubblefield as head coach, hoping he can restore a struggling program, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.