Co-author discusses Williams’ autobiography

Tim Crothers co-authored “Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court,” the autobiography of North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams.

Assistant SportSaturday Editor Anna Kim sat down with Crothers to discuss some of the book’s content and Williams’ feelings on it.

Anna Kim: So how did this book come about?

Tim Crothers: For many years I have thought that Coach Williams should do a book. I was aware of how good a backstory he had, how interesting his childhood was … So we spent a total of 64 hours together this summer doing interviews, collaborating, piecing it together.

AK: You mentioned he had reservations about writing this book when you first approached him about it. Did he still have reservations?

TC: He still has reservations to this day.  I think he’s anxious to see what the reaction is going to be. I’m anxious to see what the reaction is going to be. Any one of us could understand how nervous he might be about sharing the intimate details of your life with the world for the first time.

AK: Were you surprised by the intimate details he shared for the book?

TC: One thing that I’ve learned is he doesn’t do anything halfway. The big issue for him, was that he knew if he did it, he wanted a fullblown no-secrets kind of book. And he told me right up front, if we are going to do this, we are going to do it. I’m going to tell everything I can tell.

AK: Coach Williams goes in depth about his tumultuous relationship with his father. Was that difficult for him to share?

TC: I think the key for him was he wanted to tell the full story of his father for the first time. There have been a few stories along the way that have told about the fact that his father was an alcoholic. The fact  that there was some abuse in his family. His father comes off in a really negative way. What he wanted to do in this book was to make his father a real person for the first time.

AK: What’s something you were surprised to learn about Coach?

TC: I think one of the things I found so interesting is one of the things he did learn from his father. Toward the end his father and he had a discussion, and his father said, “I could have taught you so many more things.” And he said, “Well Dad, you did teach me a lot of things. I watched you and whatever you did, I did the opposite.” That extends to the fact that Roy Williams does not drink. So whenever everyone else is celebrating this national championship with champagne, he’s celebrating with a Coke or Sprite Zero.

AK: You covered sports here as a student, and now you teach here. Could you ever have imagined you might be back here years later helping to write a book about the UNC basketball coach?

TC: Absolutely not. It’s really interesting that when he started, he was here as an assistant coach. I distinctly remember interviewing him at a high school gym in Raleigh about a recruit in the mid-80s. At that time we were both very young and at the beginning of our careers. I remember just being struck at the time by how nice and accommodating he was to a young reporter that he could have easily told to buzz off. I never forgot that. So yes, to have us then meet up again more than 20 years later and for me to help him write his autobiography is absolutely surreal.