Carolina on rare search for coach
North Carolina now faces the challenge of finding Roy Williams’ successor.
The Hall of Fame coach is retiring from the Tar Heels’ storied men’s basketball program, opening the job for the first time in nearly two decades. That leaves athletics director Bubba Cunningham directing the highest-profile coaching search of his nearly decade-long tenure at UNC, with Williams set to have at least some input.
“I believe we’ve got the best job in college basketball,” Cunningham said. “This job doesn’t come open very often. We need to spend a great deal of time thinking about who is the right person right now.”
Williams announced his retirement Thursday, saying he no longer felt like
“the right man” for the job over the past two difficult seasons. That ends an 18-season run that included three NCAA titles since he returned to his alma mater after a 15-year run at Kansas.
In a virtual news conference Thursday night, Cunningham said he and chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz would handle the process instead of using a search committee. He said he has sought input from a numerous former players as well as Williams, who Cunningham said had already shared his opinion.
Williams mentioned that, too, during his news conference earlier Thursday.
“I’m putting a lot of load on he and the chancellor’s shoulders because I’m giving my opinion very strongly about what I want to happen with the program,” Williams said.
Cunningham said he prefers head-coaching experience but it isn’t required. The same is true of hiring someone with UNC ties, which worked with longtime assistant Bill Guthridge taking over after Dean Smith’s 1997 retirement and Williams’ return in 2003 — but didn’t work during the tumultuous tenure of Matt Doherty after Williams turned turned down the job following Guthridge’s retirement in 2000.