Williams, 70, retires after 903-victory run
Hall of Famer thrived with UNC, Kansas
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 titles 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, two weeks after the 70-year-old Williams closed his 18th season with the Tar Heels after a 15year run with the jay hawks.
Williams went 903-264 — 485-163 with UNC and 418-101 with Kansas. He won NCAA titles with the Tar
Heels in 2005, 2009 and 2017.
Yet Williams described himself as a coach who also was bothered by losses and by his mistakes over the past two difficult seasons, one marking the lone losing record of his career and the other with a young group playing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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 lone firstround loss in 30 tournaments.
“I love coaching, working the kids on the court, the locker room, the trips, the ‘Jump Around’ (pregame) music, the trying to build a team,” Williams said. “I will always love that. And I’m scared to death of the next phase. But I no longer feel that I’m the right man.”
Williams spent 10 seasons at his alma mater as an assistant under Dean Smith before Kansas took a chance on him in 1988. He took Kansas to four Final Fours and two national title games in 15 seasons.