Roy Williams is still pretty dadgum good doing it his way.
We all know about the Hall of Famer’s more-than-modest background, from almost poverty to all-star status as an undersized athlete. “A country bumpkin from the mountains of North Carolina and probably still am,” Williams calls himself.
He was a high school coach, hired by Dean Smith and stayed 10 years before Smith helped him get the job at Kansas. He started head coaching when he was 38 (11 years later than Mike Krzyzewski) and became the fastest to 900 wins in the history of college basketball.
And in his 33rd season, 18th at UNC, Ol’ Roy is as natural as the kid who learned to love golf by mowing grass on the course and caddying for his high school coach. Yes, he’s admittedly stubborn but sticks with what he learned from Smith and other mentors and it is still working out at 70.
He claims the he and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are the only coaches left who play two big men all the time. The high-post spread, screen-and-roll offense has become the rage and is hard to defend, but so is stopping two bigs who dominate the paint and the glass. And this is the season for that.
When the NCAA tournament is played in a half-empty stadium with bad sight lines and cavernous backgrounds, shooting from inside will yield a higher percentage than jacking up 3-pointers. And no team in America has a better quartet of bigs than Williams’ Tar Heels.
And in recruiting, his odds are getting better all the time. They still make them the size and weight of Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe. With low-post bangers becoming less of a priority for most programs, those kids will see Carolina as a better opportunity to play. Twice as good, in fact.
When it comes to advertising, Williams follows Smith in choosing charities (and now social media messaging) instead of using Amex commercials as recruiting tools or the Aflac duck to pad his pockets. When you see him in a car commercial, it’s tied to a fund-raiser. His Ol’ Roy Dunkin’ Donut debuts this weekend, 50 cents of every Boston Creme with blue icing sold going to UNC Children’s Hospital and a statewide food bank.
He and Wanda don’t live in a mansion, and his vacations are usually around the beach with his grandchildren or his goal of playing the 100 most famous golf courses in the world. So, with an annual income exceeding $4 million, the Williamses can afford to give the more than $3.5 million back to their alma mater during the pandemic. Wanda suggested that a small part of the money go toward endowing the 13th man scholarship on the basketball team because, in his heart, that’s how Roy sees himself.
He tells the story of Smith yelling at him for pledging $5,000 to building the new basketball arena when he barely made that as a part-time assistant coach. “Coach, they give you like seven years to pay it off,” he told his boss, who retorted, “You still don’t have to give away your whole salary!”
Williams is tough on his players in practice and sometimes with the media, but he usually takes most of the blame after his team stinks it up. It was refreshing to see the role reversal after the Tar Heels spanked Duke on Senior night, when Coach K said he did a lousy job preparing his team and that Roy beat him in that regard, too.
UNC has done an amazing job on the courts and fields during the pandemic, and currently has the No.1-ranked teams in men’s tennis, women’s tennis, women’s lacrosse and men’s lacrosse. Field hockey is the two-time defending national champion and will go for a third straight in May at Karen Shelton Stadium, named for UNC’s Hall of Fame coach. Women’s soccer has been a perennial power for decades under Anson Dorrance, another HoFer.
Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham talks about the strength of Carolina’s broad-based program through the lens of his coaches and is determined not to cut any of the 28 varsity teams due to the COVID crunch. He has maintained what is arguably the best athletic program in the country.
Who knows what college sports will look like on the other side, but at this pace 2021-22 could be the greatest year a D1 school has ever had? Mack Brown’s football team will be a legitimate contender for the Hall of Famer’s second national championship, and depending on who stays and comes, Ol’ Roy may be positioned to make a serious run at his fourth NCAA title.
Sure, his young Tar Heels bungled the last four minutes of their comeback against Florida State, shot their way out of the ACC tournament and will have a tough draw no matter their seeding on Selection Sunday.
But in the long run, the light at the end of the tunnel has a blue glint.
Photo via Mike Olivella/ACC Media.
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Art
Great point how seems every team wants to run that high pick and roll
When is the last time you saw UNC get hurt by the high pick and roll? We used to get murdered by it …teams knew they could run it at will
Roy changed our defense 2 years ago in a unique way
Roy now attacks the pick and roll instead of letting it attack rhe defense
I am serious when have you seen the pick and roll be used against us even last year
And has nothing to do with us having two bigs
🙂
PS at least have the courtesy to respond to a.comment written on your article