• Campus
    • Campus
    • Student Life
    • Administration
    • Faculty
    • Higher Education
  • City & County
    • City & County
    • Chapel Hill
    • Carrboro
    • Education
    • Public Safety
  • Politics
    • Politics
    • North Carolina
    • National
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Football
    • Men's Basketball
    • Women's Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Golf
    • Men's Soccer
    • Women's Soccer
    • Swimming and Diving
    • Men's Tennis
    • Women's Tennis
    • Field Hockey
    • Rowing
    • Volleyball
  • Culture
    • Culture
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Food
  • Opinion
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Cartoons
    • Columns
    • Letters
    • Kvetching Board
  • Multimedia
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Galleries
    • Audio
  • About
    • About
    • Hiring
    • Board of Directors
    • Alumni
    • Corrections
    • Contact
    • Meet the editors
    • Policies & Bylaws
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Events Calendar
    • Celebrations
    • Obituaries
  • Donate
  • Story Collections

  • HeelsHousing
  • Offline Chapel Hill
  • Shop
  • Buy Photos
  • 1893 Brand Studio
  • Alumni
  • Events Calendar
  • Celebrations/Obits
    • Celebrations
    • Obituaries
  • Southern Neighbor
  • Newsletter
  • Classifieds
  • Campus
  • City & County
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Culture
  • Opinion
  • Donate
  • HeelsHousing
  • Search
The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893.

The Daily Tar Heel
    • Campus
      • Campus
      • Student Life
      • Administration
      • Faculty
      • Higher Education
    • City & County
      • City & County
      • Chapel Hill
      • Carrboro
      • Education
      • Public Safety
    • Politics
      • Politics
      • North Carolina
      • National
    • Sports
      • Sports
      • Football
      • Men's Basketball
      • Women's Basketball
      • Cross Country
      • Golf
      • Men's Soccer
      • Women's Soccer
      • Swimming and Diving
      • Men's Tennis
      • Women's Tennis
      • Field Hockey
      • Rowing
      • Volleyball
    • Culture
      • Culture
      • Arts & Entertainment
      • Food
    • Opinion
      • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Cartoons
      • Columns
      • Letters
      • Kvetching Board
    • Multimedia
      • Multimedia
      • Video
      • Galleries
      • Audio
    • About
      • About
      • Hiring
      • Board of Directors
      • Alumni
      • Corrections
      • Contact
      • Meet the editors
      • Policies & Bylaws
    • Advertise
      • Advertise
      • Policies
      • Events Calendar
      • Celebrations
      • Obituaries
    • Donate
    • Story Collections

    • HeelsHousing
    • Offline Chapel Hill
    • Shop
    • Buy Photos
    • 1893 Brand Studio
    • Alumni
    • Events Calendar
    • Celebrations/Obits
      • Celebrations
      • Obituaries
    • Southern Neighbor
    • Newsletter
    • Classifieds
  • In the News
  • Men's basketball
  • The OC Report
  • Football
  • Business
  • Franklin Street

4/4/2017, 1:09am

Column: Third national title is Roy Williams' greatest achievement

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Mail
  • Print
BY Jeremy Vernon

GLENDALE, ARIZ. — This moment deserves something spectacular. Grandiose. Orchestral — an “Ode to Roy,” if you will. But the man behind it warrants a more measured approach.

In this story, a perennial All-American and the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player are rascals and tough little nuts. Boxing out is mandatory and timeouts are optional. And another national championship — his third in 13 seasons — well, that’s just “sweet.”

There’s no room for long-winded assertions or exhaustive debates. Just one dadgum truth.

Roy Williams has won more games with different teams, coached better players and claimed other titles. But this is his greatest triumph.

It was no more than 14 years ago that he said he “could give a shit about North Carolina” after his Kansas team lost to Syracuse in the 2003 NCAA national title game. Of course, we know that wasn’t true. He needed to be there for his players.


Editors Picks

‘We have made progress’: How UNC has advanced women on campus this past decade


Here's how studying has evolved throughout the decade


The Campaign for Carolina initiative allowed for fundraising growth over the decade



Thirteen years later, he found himself in a similar position, but nothing could quite prepare him for this. When your team claws back and hits one of the most incredible shots in tournament history, only to have it effaced by an even bigger one 4.7 seconds later, how do you handle it?

“It was the most difficult time I’ve ever had as a coach because I felt so inadequate,” he said. “What was I going to say to my guys?”

Roy got through the night. Then the next. By the time he invited the team over to his place one August afternoon, 140 days had passed since Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater.

The sting was still there, but he knew what he had. Those 15, they were ready to make right what went so, so wrong in Houston earlier that year.

“I told them ...” he said, “that I thought I had in front of me the kind of guys that could win a national championship.”

From there, the Villanova defeat was not just a memory of pain, but fuel for the fire. The feeling of having your heart ripped out of your body? They never wanted to experience that again.

This was as much for Roy as it was for his players. Sure, the loss was bad enough, but what preceded it was enough to break any person’s spirit.

In December 2014, Roy lost his best friend, Ted Seagroves, to pancreatic cancer. Two months later, he lost his mentor, Dean Smith. Three months after that, his colleague and dear friend, Bill Guthridge, died at the age of 77.

Three instrumental figures in Roy’s life were gone in six months. It was enough to make him want to quit coaching. But he found solace in his players. They became as big a part of his family as those three were, which made it that much more difficult when he had to tell them it would all be OK. And that much more important that he gave them another chance — one they made sure to capitalize on.

“Us playing together has been Coach’s outlet ...” senior Nate Britt said. “There’s nothing more we wanted than to go get him another national title.”

There were times this season when North Carolina looked more frightened than fierce, but what remained constant was Roy’s commitment to his game plan and belief that his players would figure things out.

When Kentucky tied the game with less than 10 seconds left in the Elite Eight, he trusted they wouldn’t need a timeout to get a good look. When they almost let Oregon come back in the Final Four, his constant emphasis on offensive rebounding helped them escape.

And when his team led by just two at the final media timeout against Gonzaga, he reminded them of that August day.

“If you would have told us that we were going to be in this situation the first day of school, meeting at my house,” Roy told them, “we would have all taken it.”

Many will wonder how in the blankety-blank Roy did it. How, in the weight of this moment, with so much on the line, he led his team to redemption. And if you were to ask him, he’d point you to his players.

“That’s all Roy Williams did,” he said of that final media timeout. “I didn’t do one other dadgum thing.”

No, Roy, you had everything to do with this.

@jbo_vernon

sports@dailytarheel.com


Next up in Sports

  • 3-point struggles against UVa. are a microcosm of UNC's season-long slump from deep

  • Cole Anthony’s shooting struggles epitomize UNC's day in loss to Virginia

  • Lilly Higgs leads UNC swim team, qualifies for finals twice at Toyota U.S. Open


Next up in Men's basketball

  • 3-point struggles against UVa. are a microcosm of UNC's season-long slump from deep

  • Cole Anthony’s shooting struggles epitomize UNC's day in loss to Virginia

  • Recap: North Carolina basketball falls on the road to Virginia, 56-47


Next up in March Madness 2017

  • NCAA awards North Carolina championship bids following partial HB2 repeal

  • Fans petition to get Kennedy Meeks' jersey up in Smith Center rafters

  • White House visit uncertain for championship team, Williams says


The Daily Tar Heel welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic.

Latest Print Edition

Print Edition Print Archive

Decade in Review

Special Print Edition

Start the Presses!

Thank you for reading! You are someone who appreciates independent student journalism, support that work with your tax-deductible donation today!

Donate Now!
    • Front Page
    • Campus
    • City & County
    • Politics
    • Sports
    • Culture
    • Opinion
    • Donate
    • HeelsHousing
Daily Tar Heel To Homepage
109 E. Franklin St. Suite 210, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Shop
  • Buy Photos
  • 1893 Brand Studio
  • Alumni
  • Events Calendar
  • Celebrations/Obituaries
  • Southern Neighbor
  • Offline Chapel Hill
  • Newsletter
  • RSS
  • Classifieds

All Rights Reserved

© Copyright 2019 The Daily Tar Heel

Powered by Solutions by The State News.

A Century of Champions

The perfect gift for the UNC fan in your life. Celebrate UNC basketball's years of success with "A Century of Champions," a keepsake poster from The Daily Tar Heel and 1893 Brand Studio.

Buy Now