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The Daily Tar Heel

Roy gets real: Williams’ frank words for ?ckle fans were a ?justi?ed response to equally frank criticism

Roy Williams’ controversial remarks after the UNC basketball team’s 55th straight win at home against Clemson were a perfectly justified — if harsh — response to equally harsh criticism.

Coach Williams has taken heat after making remarks, not about the Tuesday night’s victory, but about his radio show conversations with fans last Monday in regard to the loss to Georgia Tech.

After the Clemson game, Coach Williams said, “My radio call (show) last night stunk; everybody was talking about how they were Carolina fans for 9 million years and how bad we are; I don’t give a damn how long you’re a Carolina fan, those are kids in the locker room, and they played their buns off tonight.”

We find nothing wrong with this comment and disagree with the recent criticism.

Roy Williams coaches one of the biggest and most prestigious basketball programs in the country. Therefore he is a public figure that deserves to be criticized by fans after disappointing losses.

But his responses Monday and Tuesday night were perfectly acceptable — he has a right to defend himself and his players from unrealistic “armchair coaches.”

There is a difference between a politician and a coach, and Williams is the latter. We’ve come to expect politicians to pander to their constituents’ interests. Yet in the case of Williams, we see no reason why fans’ frank criticism shouldn’t be matched with frank rebuttals.

Given some fans’ anger of late, we shouldn’t be appalled by his language in responding to them: “Don’t call me next week and say how good we are; just keep your damn phone calls to yourself.”

We should rather applaud his honesty. It shows how much he cares about his players and this team.

Fans have a right to complain after disappointing performances.

But these same fans must realize that they cannot give criticism without the possibility of getting some back.

The media, fans and the coaching staff all believe that critiques can be beneficial. It hardly speaks well of them when they become upset when similarly blunt criticism is returned in kind.

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