Williams has done it all as a coach, but he's still a humble man.
Coach Roy Williams, 62, remains as involved and dedicated as ever as the leader of North Carolina's storied program. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Twenty-five years ago Roy Williams accepted the job as head coach of the Kansas men's basketball team. Today, the man who is now in is 10th season at North Carolina has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame, has two NCAA titles and a winning percentage of .802, fourth best all-time and tops among active Division I coaches.
Even Williams, who spoke with humility during a telephone interview Tuesday, is impressed.
"Well, I never look back because I'm too busy working," said Williams, who will bring his Tar Heels (2-0) to town Friday to play Long Beach State (1-1) at 8:10 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid (on ESPNU). "But the way you said that, it does blow me away. But then I better make sure that I don't think about it too much because I've gotta coach my team."
Williams, 62, was laughing. Then he got serious.
"Honestly, when I got to Kansas I was no-name Roy Williams and that was OK," he said. "I had great training with coach (Dean) Smith and I was comfortable with what I was doing. It's been a great ride for 25 years. I know I can't last another 25, but I'd like to last another 10 or so.
"Those numbers, they do sound pretty neat. What it means is just a great staff that I've had and kids who have played their tails off and tried to do what we asked them to do."
It's been an interesting road, and not always a smooth one for Williams, who attended North Carolina and played
freshman basketball there. Williams eventually assisted the aforementioned Smith at North Carolina, then ended up coaching Kansas for 15 years. His teams there compiled a record of 418-101 (.805) and made four Final Four appearances, playing in two championship games.The Jayhawks lost both times, and Williams found himself wearing the label of the most successful coach without an NCAA ring. That's what some had said about Smith.
He began coaching the Tar Heels in 1961 and did not win a championship until 1982 - his seventh Final Four - with a victory over Georgetown in New Orleans.
Williams finally won his first title in 2005 in his fifth Final Four when he guided North Carolina to a 75-70 victory over Illinois in St. Louis. To an outsider, it must have seemed like a huge weight had been lifted off Williams' shoulders. Williams said it wasn't as bad as all that.
"It wasn't really that rough because they had said that about coach Smith when I was on the staff here as an assistant," he said.
"So I had seen what had happened and I remember hugging him on the floor in 1982 and I said, `I'm so happy for you.' And he said, `You know, I'm not really that much better than I was 2<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 hours ago.'
"And so in St. Louis I said the same thing, because it didn't change me. But, you know, the perception was there."
It's not like Williams doesn't take any pride in what he did at Kansas even though both of his titles - in 2005 and 2009 - came at North Carolina. He harkened back to the 1990-91 season at Kansas. It was Williams' third season and first trip to the Final Four, which resulted in a 72-65 loss to Duke in the title game.
"We had Adonis Jordan from L.A., we had Terry Brown, we had Alonzo Jamison from California, we had Mike Maddox and we had Mark Randall," Williams said. "That was our starting five and we played for the national championship and only one of those guys was drafted and Mark Randall was the last player picked in the first round. Duke had three players in the lottery - Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and Christian Laettner.
"The national championships that came later were really satisfying. But boy, it was satisfying even early on to take ... you know, the typical basketball fan wouldn't have recognized maybe any of those five. And yet those kids gave me a chance and trusted in what I said."
Long Beach State coach Dan Monson is more than impressed by his comrade.
"There are guys that have won national championships that you don't respect and then there are guys like him who you're happy for because you respect them," Monson said. "And I think that's the biggest thing in coaching, is that for him he's earned those championships and he's done it the right way. I don't think there's anybody in the profession that's any more first-class than he is."
Williams assisted his mentor at the school he attended, went out on his own to Kansas to become a man, so to speak, then came back to leave his own stamp on his alma mater. Quite the cool journey, said Vic Cegles, Long Beach State athletics director.
"He knows how to build a program," Cegles said. "He came from a great program as an assistant, he goes to Kansas and establishes himself as an individual as a coach and then he goes back to North Carolina. He's coached at two of the best possible places he could coach, but he certainly knows what it takes to win at that level."
Williams, 677-169 overall, also knows how to butter up opposing coaches.
"He's just one of those guys that you don't out-coach him," Williams said of Monson, whose teams lost by just five and six points, respectively, the past two seasons at North Carolina. "If we win the game (Friday), it's not going to be because Roy Williams out-coached Dan.
"I can tell you that because he is just really good. I'm not trying to be humble. I really am not. I'm just being truthful."
robert.morales@presstelegram.com
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