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Shortly after Carolina defeated Louisville to win the 2008 NCAA East Regional, the team bus carrying the victorious Tar Heels was headed north out of Charlotte on I-85. Longtime assistant coach Joe Holladay leaned over to Roy Williams at the front of the bus and said with astonishment: "Wow, four Final Fours in seven years. That's pretty remarkable." Indeed it is. Not only has Williams led Carolina to Final Fours in 2005 and 2008 after leading Kansas there in 2002 and 2003, he has done it with three almost completely different groups of players. The Jayhawks featured Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich. The 2005 national champion Tar Heels included Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Jawad Williams. Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson starred on Carolina's 2008 regional champions. Different seasons. Different players. Different paths to glory. One constant - Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams. Over the last seven years, the 58-year-old Asheville, N.C., native has won 205 games, including 24 in the NCAA Tournament. That's more Final Fours, more wins and more NCAA Tournament victories than any coach in the nation. He has led Carolina to the most wins in the school's illustrious history for one year (36 in 2007-08), two years (67), three years (90) and four years (123 from 2005-08). Last year he became only the second coach in college basketball history to lead two different schools to multiple Final Fours (with Jack Gardner of Kansas State and Utah). Williams also had the distinction of coaching the consensus National Player of the Year (Hansbrough) in the same season in which Paul Pierce, one of his former All-Americas at Kansas, was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. A school record for wins, Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and Tournament titles, East Regional crown, passing John Wooden and Bob Knight in all-time NCAA Tournament victories - it was quite a year. Yet there he was this past July taking a week's worth of 5 a.m. wakeup calls to get to summer camps, recruiting as hard as he did 30 years ago when his mentor, Dean Smith, tabbed him to be one of his assistants on the Tar Heel bench. Williams knows only one way to approach his job - with hard work. It is a work ethic that helped lead a small-town boy from the mountains of North Carolina to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. Twenty-three of his former players from Carolina and Kansas joined him in Springfield, Mass., for the induction ceremony. Hall historians called the turnout one of the largest in recent memory. "This will fuel my competitiveness even more to make those people that chose me to be in the Hall of Fame feel they made the right decision," Williams told ESPN's Andy Katz. Williams became the eighth coach or player from Carolina to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, joining an elite group that includes Dean Smith, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham, James Worthy and Bob McAdoo. Few coaches have compiled a resume as distinguished as Williams. He has led the Tar Heels to a 142-33 record in his first five seasons and sports a 20-year mark of 560-134. His winning percentage of .807 is third best in college basketball history and first among active coaches. His teams have won 12 regular-season conference titles, six conference tournament championships, been ranked No. 1 in the nation at least one time in nine different seasons and earned a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed eight times. In five years at Carolina, the Associated Press has ranked the Tar Heels in the Top 25 in 90 of 96 polls (all six exceptions were in 2005-06, although UNC finished that year ranked No. 10). That includes 69 Top 10 rankings, 51 times in the Top 5 and 15 weeks as the No. 1 team in the country. But as impressive as his accomplishments are, Williams most enjoys the relationships he builds with players and staff, the journey to greatness and the opportunity to compete. "Coach Williams helped me become a man," says Marvin Williams, who was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2005 and the second player selected in that year's NBA Draft. "He always held me accountable for my actions on the court. He's a father figure and he's my coach. He'll always be my coach." Wayne Simien, who played two seasons for Williams at Kansas and was on the team that Williams left for Chapel Hill, echoes those thoughts: "Coach means so much to me. He's been not only a coach, but a positive role model and a father figure." "As a coach, I remember him as just an easygoing guy," Michael Jordan told Tar Heel Monthly in 2007. "You could definitely sit down and talk to him and he wasn't intimidating at all. He seemed like a guy right down the street. "My father and he really connected," says Jordan. "I think it was Roy's down-homeness. It was his whole background and his understanding for where we were coming from. He made the transition so much easier. At that time I was totally unknown. Coach Williams was the best educator about what we were going through. "His willingness to understand the athlete and get the best out of the athlete is what makes Roy a Hall of Famer," adds Jordan. "His patience, his knowledge for the game, his effort and diligence to understand the game and understand the player and how they can co-exist. To me, that's a Hall of Fame-type guy, someone who makes adjustments according to the personnel rather than forcing his way of thinking on a team or a player." An editorial in the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World stated: "Williams is a winner, not only on the basketball court but also as a person. Collegiate sports need more coaches such as Williams, men and women who set an example for others to try and match." Williams has won 28 games per season. He is the only coach to win a game in 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, is third behind Dean Smith and Lute Olson for most consecutive years playing in the NCAA Tournament and is second in 30-win seasons (eight). In 30 years on college coaching staffs, Williams has been part of 835 wins and just 195 defeats. Williams has a 59-21 record in ACC regular-season games, the most wins ever by a coach in his first five years in the No. 1 conference in America. Williams won 418 games at Kansas from 1988-2003 and is the second-winningest coach in KU history behind Phog Allen. His 560 wins are 59 more than any other coach won in their first 20 years. Incredibly, he is already ahead of Jerry Tarkanian's mark of 530 wins after 21 seasons. He has won national coach of the year honors six times, conference coach of the year eight times and received the John Wooden Legends of Coaching award from the Los Angeles Athletic Club in 2003. Last year, Williams led the Tar Heels to a school-record 36 wins and became the seventh coach in ACC history to win at least three regular-season championships. He is the only coach to win three in his first five years in the league. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the country for 14 weeks in the Associated Press poll, including the final poll. The No. 1 finish marked the 13th time in 20 years that his teams have finished the year ranked in the AP's Top 10. Hansbrough was the consensus National Player of the Year, joining Gooden, Collison and May as the fourth man to play for Williams to earn Player of the Year honors. Carolina won the ACC Tournament for the second year in a row, marking the first time since 1977 that UNC won the regular-season title outright and the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last five years. The 2007-08 Tar Heels went a perfect 13-0 record on the road. The 13 road wins were the second-most in school history and the most since the 1945-46 team went 14-2 on the road. UNC led the nation in rebounding and was second in scoring at 88.6 points per game. That was the sixth time in the last seven years his teams have been in the top four nationally in scoring (first in 2002 and 2005, second in 2007 and 2008, third in 2003 and fourth in 2004). His teams have averaged 80 or more points in 17 of 20 seasons and have averaged 85.1 points in his five years at UNC. Carolina scored 100 or more points eight times (26 in the last five years) and had 90 or more points in 20 of 39 games. His teams have finished in the Top 10 nationally in scoring in nine of his 20 seasons, in scoring margin 14 times, in field goal percentage 12 times, in win-loss percentage nine times and in field goal defense four times. Also, his squads have finished in the top seven nationally in assists per game in six of the last seven years and in the top eight nationally in rebounding margin in 10 of the last 12 years. Williams' crowning achievement as a coach to date came on April 4, 2005, when the Tar Heels defeated No. 1 ranked Illinois, 75-70, to win UNC's fourth NCAA championship. The 2005 national championship capped a season in which the Tar Heels went 33-4, including a 14-2 mark in the ACC. "Coach Williams put me in positions to be successful," says May, the MVP of the 2005 Final Four. "He pulled out my strengths, hid my weaknesses and taught me how to run the floor. I never wanted to run until I came here, now I love it." Carolina led the nation in scoring average, scoring margin and assists and became the third team in history to lead the nation in scoring and win the NCAA championship. "We all wanted to win for the seniors, but I especially wanted a national championship for Coach Williams," May said. "He's a great person and a great coach and I wanted to be on his first national championship team. I know he's going to win more, but we can always say we were on his first." Williams takes great pride in his teams playing unselfish basketball, taking the best shots available, rebounding and playing tenacious, man-to-man defense. The 2005 Tar Heels exhibited all of those traits. "Winning the national championship means all the preparation we had done to get to that point paid off," said McCants. "You sit back and think, all the things we did in practice every day were perfect for us. You have to commend a coach to understand that - he just designed something perfect for a bunch of players who had never won anything and for us to do everything that we've done in this short period of time is amazing." In 2005-06, Carolina lost its top seven scorers, which was unprecedented in ACC history. Sports Illustrated predicted Carolina would miss the NCAA Tournament and the Tar Heels were picked by the media to finish sixth in the ACC. However, Williams earned National and ACC Coach of the Year honors, leading the youngest team in Carolina history to 23 wins, a second-place ACC finish, a win at top-ranked Duke and a No. 3 regional seed in the NCAA Tournament. "UNC's starting lineup consists of two true freshmen, two former walk-ons and a guy who wasn't even first-team all-state in high school," wrote David Glenn at ACCSports.com. "All of this is a tribute to the players, of course, but it's an even bigger tribute to their leader. Williams wasn't the only coach in America who lost all five starters from last season. He's the only one who's winning big anyway." In 2006-07, Carolina went 31-7, won a share of the ACC regular-season title and the ACC Tournament. UNC was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Regional and came within an overtime of advancing to another Final Four. Hansbrough was a consensus first-team All-America and Brandan Wright became the third Tar Heel in as many years to win ACC Rookie of the Year honors. Carolina led the ACC and was second in the nation in scoring at 85.7 points per game. On Dec. 9, 2006, Carolina beat High Point for his 500th win. No coach in history ever had won 500 games in less than 20 seasons. "Roy's really a bright man," says Dean Smith. "He has the whole package of what you want as a college head coach. You want somebody who knows basketball, can judge talent, is a competent leader and can teach it in practice, makes good decisions in the game, is highly organized, and also is honest in recruiting. "He's like Tiger Woods in golf - they have the whole package," Smith adds. "I don't know anyone else who does. I certainly consider him to be the best college coach in the country." Williams became the UNC head coach on April 14, 2003, 10 days after leading Kansas to the NCAA championship game against Syracuse. "Roy Williams is one of the select few of the greatest coaches in the entire game of basketball," says Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player and TV analyst. "His impact on young people's lives throughout this great land will change the course of history." Williams, whose teams are 271-26 at home (70-9 at the Smith Center), has established himself as one of the top coaches and premier program builders in America. He is one of the most respected men in college basketball among coaches, players, parents, administrators and media. It was evident by the number of well-wishes, congratulatory calls and letters Williams received before and after winning the national championship and being elected to the Hall of Fame, including many from former Kansas players and parents. "I know so much more about basketball," said Marvin Williams. "Coach Williams has so much knowledge about the game it is unbelievable. He is a great coach and he loves to teach. He's taught me so much about basketball, especially the little things. I didn't know little things made that big of a difference in a basketball game." Williams has taken six teams to the Final Four, including 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003 at Kansas and 2005 and 2008 at Carolina. Only John Wooden, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski have more Final Four appearances. "He's the best coach in college basketball," says Antawn Jamison. "He reminds me a lot of Coach Smith. Not just in terms of basketball, but as far as knowing the importance of having good people, caring about making sure they are successful after basketball. He'll have a big influence over every player that comes through the program, preparing them for life. That's what it's all about. It's not just about being a coach, but being like a father figure." Williams has won 20 or more games 18 times in 20 years (winning 19 in his first seasons at Kansas and Carolina), including 14 straight seasons at Kansas, a streak that equals the third longest in NCAA history. "He's going to teach you the fundamentals of the game and off the court he cares about his kids," says Jackie Manuel, starting guard on the 2005 national champions. "He wants the best for his kids. He's going to push you; he's trying to bring the best out of you. If I have a son, I would definitely let him play for Coach Williams." "Roy is as good as it gets in a person," says Hall of Fame guard and NBA executive Jerry West. "There's nothing deceptive about him. He is what he is - a wonderful person and a great coach. If you watch his teams, you know they've been coached. If you go to his practices, you know why his teams are successful. His players play the right way. They're team-oriented. They play a fun way offensively. They're aggressive. He changes defenses. He does it all. He's just a wonderful coach." Williams spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Smith at Carolina. From 1978-88, he helped coach such Tar Heel standouts as Mike O'Koren, Al Wood, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith, Joe Wolf, Steve Hale, Jeff Lebo, J.R. Reid and Scott Williams. The Tar Heels played in the NCAA Tournament in each of his 10 seasons as an assistant. Carolina won the NCAA title in 1982, finished second in 1981 and won or shared six ACC regular-season titles and three ACC Tournament championships (1979, 1981, 1982). "When I think of him, I think of his honesty, integrity and tremendous work ethic," says Daugherty, a five-time NBA All-Star with the Cleveland Cavaliers. "He is a classy, classy individual. But he is also one of the toughest people I have ever met in my life. No one is tougher than Roy Williams, but he is fair. That's why the kids love him so much. When you have played four years for him he will be a friend for life and you will be a better man, and appreciate every ounce of the experience when you are gone. "If I had to go to war, I'd grab him for my foxhole without question." Williams was named head coach at Kansas on July 8, 1988, replacing another former Tar Heel, Larry Brown. "He's as good a coach as our sport has," says Brown. "If you ask people around the country, they'll say there's no better college coach than Roy Williams." He has earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2005 and 2006. He was Big Eight/Big 12 Coach of the Year seven times (1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2003) and ACC Coach of the Year in 2006. Williams coached a number of the finest Kansas players in history, including Mark Randall, Adonis Jordan, Rex Walters, Greg Ostertag, Scot Pollard, Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and Wayne Simien. The Jayhawks averaged 27.9 wins per season with a high of 35 in 1997-98. He also won 30 in 1989-90, 34 in 1996-97, 33 in 2001-02 and 30 in 2002-03. The Jayhawks reached the Sweet 16 nine times and the Final Eight on five occasions. Kansas went 30-8 in 2002-03, his final year in Lawrence. Led by Collison, the NABC National Player of the Year, and Hinrich, another All-America, the Jayhawks reached the national championship game. It was KU's first back-to-back appearance in the Final Four since 1952-53. In seven years of Big 12 Conference play, his teams went 94-18, capturing the regular-season title in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 and the postseason tournament crown in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2001-02, KU became the first Big 12 team to go 16-0 in league play. From 1995-98, Kansas was a combined 123-17 - an average of 30.8 wins per season. Kansas was a regular in the AP Top 25 from 1991 to 1999, placing in the AP poll for 145 consecutive weeks. Overall, Williams had Kansas in the AP Top 25 in 242 of 268 weekly polls. Kansas reached the No. 1 ranking in the country in six different seasons and was ranked at least No. 2 in the nation in 11 of the 15 seasons. The Jayhawks went 201-17 (92.2) in Allen Fieldhouse, and won 62 consecutive games in Allen from February 1994 to December 1998. Williams has coached players to 23 first-team all-conference honors, including six UNC selections (McCants in 2003-04, Felton and May in 2004-05 and Hansbrough in each of the last three seasons). Hansbrough became the first freshman in league history to be selected unanimously to the All-ACC team, and last year became only the third player in ACC history to be unanimously selected three times. Six players - five Jayhawks and Hansbrough - have won conference player of the year honors. Hansbrough, who will finish his career as one of the most decorated players in ACC history, was a repeat All-America last year, the 11th first-team All-America season by one of Williams' players. It marked the fourth straight year that Carolina's top inside threat earned first-team All-America honors (May in 2005, Hansbrough in 2006, 2007 and 2008). Gooden (2002), Collison (2003), May (2005) and Hansbrough (2008) were National Players of the Year and LaFrentz (1997 and 1998), Pierce (1998), Gooden (2002), Collison (2003) and Hansbrough (2007 and 2008) have earned consensus first-team All-America honors. "I was just coming (to Kansas) to play basketball for a man I knew I could trust and a man I hoped would make my dreams a reality," said LaFrentz, a two-time Big 12 Player of the Year. "Thanks to Coach Williams for doing that. Thanks to him for always being there, for always being an example for every player who has come into his program and, most importantly, thanks for being a friend." Sixteen of his players have been selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, including the four Tar Heels who were selected in the first 14 picks in the 2005 draft. Academic priority is an important characteristic of Williams' program. Each Carolina senior in his tenure has either received his degree or is on track to do so. Three of his players have earned first-team Academic All-America honors - Vaughn (twice), Haase and Ryan Robertson - and 33 have earned first-team academic all-conference honors. "He will win with class and dignity because that's what the man is about," says Joe Posnanski, who covered the Jayhawks for the Kansas City Star. "He will have the Tar Heels running fast and scoring in bunches, and he will build on the legacy of the man he admires most." Williams grew up outside of Asheville, N.C., in the small community of Biltmore. He attended T. C. Roberson High School, where he earned letters in basketball and baseball for four seasons. In basketball, playing for Coach Buddy Baldwin, he was named all-county and all-conference for two years (1967 and 1968), all-western North Carolina in 1968 and served as captain in the North Carolina Blue-White All-Star Game. Much of Williams' coaching style comes from spending so many years observing and then coaching with Smith. Williams played on Carolina's freshman team in 1968-69 under Bill Guthridge. Williams often sat in on Smith's varsity practice sessions taking notes and furthering his knowledge of the game, notes Williams maintains even today. Williams' practices are intense, instructive and precise. "Practices are very intense, you get a lot done in a small amount of time," says 2005 Tar Heel tri-captain Jawad Williams. "When you put fun and hard work together, that's very nice. We get a lot more accomplished." Roy Williams earned two degrees from Carolina -- a bachelor's degree in education in 1972 and an M.A.T. in 1973. In 1973, Williams began his coaching career at Owen High School in Swannanoa, N.C. He coached basketball and boys' golf for five years, ninth-grade football for four years and served as athletic director for two years. He joined Smith's staff as an assistant coach in 1978, adding to his income by traveling all over the state selling basketball team calendars and delivering Smith's weekly TV show to affiliates. While a member of Smith's staff, the Tar Heels went 275-61. He coached for USA Basketball teams in the 1991 World University Games in England, the 1992 U.S. Olympic Development Team, a U-22 tournament in Argentina in 1993, and the 2004 Olympics in Greece. He was NABC president in 2001-02 and served on the NCAA rules committee for six years, chairing the committee in 2000-01. Several of his staff and players have gone on to head coaching positions, including Matt Doherty (the former head coach at Notre Dame, UNC and Florida Atlantic, now in his third year at SMU), Neil Dougherty (six years at TCU), Jerry Green (at Oregon and Tennessee), Steve Robinson (two years at Tulsa and five at Florida State and now an assistant at UNC), Kevin Stallings (in his 10th season at Vanderbilt), Mark Turgeon (in his ninth year overall and second at Texas A&M) and Rex Walters (second year overall and first at San Francisco). Williams (born August 1, 1950) and his wife, Wanda, a 1972 Carolina graduate, have a son, Scott, and a daughter, Kimberly. Scott earned a business degree from UNC and played point guard on the basketball team in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He and his wife, Katie (Wolford), live in Charlotte. Katie is a 2001 Carolina graduate and former cheerleader. She earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University. Kimberly, who lives in Charlotte, is a 2002 Carolina graduate with a degree in English and a former member of the UNC dance team. The Williams family has contributed more than $250,000 to the Carolina Covenant, an initiative at UNC that allows low-income students to attend the University debt free. Roy and Wanda serve as honorary co-chairs of a $10 million campaign to endow the program. The Williams also have hosted an annual Coaches vs. Cancer breakfast that has raised more than $500,000 and directed the autograph basketball drive that has contributed more than $400,000 to local charities. |
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