Williams retires from N. Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -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.

In other college basketball news:

• Michigan coach Juwan Howard was named the Associated Press coach of the year, and Iowa’s Luka Garza was named the AP player of the year. Howard led the Wolverines to the Elite Eight in his second season and a No. 1 seed, and Garza averaged 24.1 points to rank second nationally and 8.7 rebounds.

• Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham, named a first-team All-American, declared for the NBA draft. Cunningham is projected to be one of the top picks.

NFL considers rule changes

The NFL is considering a rule change that would allow teams to maintain possession of the ball after a score by substituting one offensive play for an onside kickoff attempt.

Other potential changes include adding a loss of down for a second forward pass from behind the line and for a pass thrown after the ball returns behind the line and to ensure the enforcement of all accepted penalties committed by either team during successive try attempts. In other NFL news:

• The sister of Los Angeles Chargers controlling owner Dean Spanos is petitioning a California court to put one-third of the team’s ownership stake up for sale.