UNC basketball’s Roy Williams retires. ‘I no longer feel I am the right man for the job.’

North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams said his decision to retire after 33 seasons as a head coach came down to not being able to meet his own standards.

Former players and assistant coaches including Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Zeller, Marvin Williams and C.B. McGrath, lined up against the pushed back stands of the Dean E. Smith Center along with current basketball staff members and guests sitting in the stands to hear Roy Williams address the media on Thursday afternoon. Williams took the podium flanked by UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and athletic director Bubba Cunningham as he said, with tears in his eyes, he’s no longer the right man for the job.

“People always asked me how long I would continue to do this and I always said as long as my health allows me to do it,” Williams said. “Deep down inside I knew that the only thing that could speed that up is if I felt deep down inside I’m not the right man for the job. I no longer feel I am the right man for the job.”

The 70-year-old Williams, a disciple of program patriarch Dean Smith, said that everyday he tried to make Smith proud. But the mistakes he made in coaching last year’s 14-19 squad and the fact that he believed he could have done a better job this year really took a toll on him.

Williams recalled a conversation he had with his mentor years after Smith retired in 1997 at the age of 66. Smith expressed second thoughts at stepping down early, feeling that he still had more years of coaching in him. Williams said he was “scared for what’s next” since he’s been coaching since he graduated from UNC in 1972. But when he thinks about the conversation with Smith, he had no regrets.

“I did think about that conversation coach -- and I made it past 66 because he made me promise not to stop at 66,” Williams said. “And I’m 70 I’m not going up to the senior tees (golfing) yet, so I think I’m okay. But I am very comfortable with the decision.”

Williams said he informed Cunningham of his decision last Tuesday. He then met with Guskiewicz on Sunday and was asked to “take 24 hours to think about it.” Williams said he had a sleepless night and even when he had the chance to get away to play golf for two days at the famed Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia, he couldn’t shake the feeling of what was next. He said his mind was more on how he was going to tell his players and “get through this press conference,” than playing at one of the nation’s most exclusive courses.

Williams informed the current team on a video call early on Thursday morning, but had been telling his staff individually before then. Eric Hoots, the director of player development, said he was the last one at the Smith Center Wednesday night when Williams entered his office and shut the door.

“I didn’t know what was coming next, so I mean that was the farthest thing from my mind,” said Hoots, who added Williams is the only boss he’s ever worked for and to his kids, Williams is Carolina basketball.

The chancellor echoed that sentiment when he addressed the media.

“To our students, he is Carolina basketball, but not just Carolina basketball,” Guskiewicz said. “He’s as much a part of our campus as the Old Well or the low stone walls forever cherished by all of us.”

Shammond Williams, who played at UNC from 1994-98, was in attendance Thursday. He experienced the shock of being informed of Smith’s retirement in 1997 and said it was important that he showed up to represent, “the guys who played for Dean to show that we have solidarity.”

“This was the end of an era, a great era, for Carolina basketball,” Shammond Williams said. “And so it was important for me to be here to show my appreciation, first and foremost, to let him know that he’s held in high regard. And we love him and I love him.”

Williams spent the past 18 seasons as coach of the Tar Heels. He returned to his alma mater at the behest of Smith in 2003 after spending the first 15 seasons of his career at Kansas. Williams led UNC to national championships in 2005, 2009 and 2017.

“I’m so proud of the fact that, in 18 years since we’ve been back, we’re the only school to win three (championships),” Williams said.

Williams said his wife, Wanda, wanted him to retire after winning it all in 2009 then again in 2017. His third and final title culminated what had been a trying time for the university’s reputation. The NCAA investigation into fraudulent classes called into question the academic integrity of the school and specifically the athletic department.

Former UNC athletic director Dick Baddour, who hired Williams, attended the press conference Thursday. He believed that was the toughest period for Williams as a coach because the “very things that he treasures, trust, credibility were drawn into question in some people’s mind.

“He’s a guy whose integrity is at the highest level and so for that to be even hinted at would have would have hurt him right to his core,” Baddour said. “I don’t think there were many coaches who could have gotten through with the class in dignity that he did during that time. I’ve so much appreciated him for that.”

The past two seasons in Chapel Hill have been tough for Williams and the Heels. He suffered his first losing season ever in 2019-20. He admitted this past season was as challenging as any he had in coaching trying to navigate COVID-19 protocols while trying to help a young team with seven freshmen mature.

Williams said the last two seasons convinced him he should step aside because he felt he made coaching mistakes that contributed to the team’s struggles.

“I just never got the team this year where I wanted them to go,” Williams said. “I just didn’t get it done.”

After Carolina’s senior night win over Duke on March 6, Williams kissed the court named after him which prompted much speculation that he did it because he wasn’t planning on returning to the sidelines. Williams tried to quell talk of his retirement saying, “There’s no master plan. There’s no minor plan. I’m doing what I’ve done my whole life.”

Williams was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2007 and finished with 903 career wins. His final one, an 81-73 victory over Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, moved him past former Indiana coach Bobby Knight for fourth all-time among NCAA Division I men’s basketball coaches.

Williams, 70, leaves behind a rapidly changing college basketball landscape that he said didn’t push him out, but rather confirmed he was making the right decision. Between players turning pro and the NCAA’s transfer portal, which has passed 1,000 players and is still growing, building a roster is a volatile situation.

Freshman Walker Kessler, a 7-1 center from Georgia, was expected to be a major player next season for UNC. But just days after the Heels lost to Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament, Kessler announced he was entering the transfer portal. It wasn’t entirely a surprise, but freshman forward Day’Ron Sharpe announced he’d enter the NBA draft. Forwards Sterling Manley and Walker Miller weren’t in the rotation, but they are transferring too.

Through his first 15 seasons at Carolina, Williams had just four players transfer and three one-and-dones enter the NBA draft. The past three seasons have produced six transfers and four one-and-dones.

Former UNC forward Luke Maye, whose game-winning shot against Kentucky launched the Heels into the 2017 Final Four, said in a text to The News & Observer that the timing of Williams’ announcement brought out a wealth of emotions.

“At first, obviously I was shocked, surprised and sad to hear the news because I know how much he loves Carolina and the game,” Maye said. “But once you think bigger picture and think about all the things he has done, you realize how incredible his career was as a coach and how many lives he impacted. I’m also honored thankful and happy for him and for me because of how much he taught me on and off the court!”

There is no coach-in-waiting to replace Williams, but many believe Cunningham will look to candidates with UNC ties. That list could include assistant coach Hubert Davis, who was working for ESPN as a basketball analyst when Williams hand-picked him to join the staff. Davis played under Smith from 1987-91; Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse, who played two seasons also under Smith from 1993-95; UNC Greensboro head coach Wes Miller, who played under Williams from 2005-07 and was present at his announcement Thursday; and Stanford head coach Jerod Haase, who played under Williams at Kansas before joining Williams’ UNC staff from 2003-09.

From North Carolina to Kansas

Williams got his start as a basketball head coach at Charles D. Owen High School in Swannanoa, N.C., where he also was on the football staff. This season began with him revisiting his roots while the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Maui Invitational to be moved to Asheville.

“The biggest thing that I learned from five years there is you’ve got to do everything you can to get the kids to buy in,” Williams said in November before the start of the Maui Invitational. “And I think with each and every year at Owen we bought in a little bit more and a little bit more. And we tried to build a program and not just coach a team that I was coaching that year.”

The pullback to Chapel Hill was too strong for Williams to stay in preps. When then-coach Smith had an opening for a limited earnings assistant coach, Williams jumped at the chance to join his staff -- even though it meant he needed to supplement his income by selling UNC calendars throughout the state.

Williams served as an assistant for 10 seasons before Smith recommended him for the opening at Kansas in 1988, well before Williams knew he was prepared to be a head coach. Williams replaced Larry Brown, another UNC alum, and had immediate success.

For 15 seasons, he led the Jayhawks to nine Big 8/12 regular-season titles. He made four Final Fours and advanced twice to the national title game. His first appearance in 1991, he had to beat UNC and Smith to reach the championship.

Williams’ success at Kansas made him a no-brainer to be the eventual replacement for Smith when he retired. But Smith did it so close to the start of the 1997-98 season, that he set up longtime assistant coach Bill Guthridge to be the head coach. Guthridge coached three seasons, reaching two Final Fours, before stepping down in 2000.

Williams, having built a national title contender at Kansas, declined the opportunity to return to UNC at that point. Matt Doherty, who played on UNC’s 1982 national championship team, was then hired to lead the Tar Heels’ program.

When things turned bad for Doherty and ended in an 8-20 season in 2002-03, Williams couldn’t say no a second time, when Smith personally asked him to return.

Winning a national title

It only took two seasons before Williams and the Tar Heels captured the 2005 national championship, his first as a head coach. Sean May, who played on that team and currently serves as UNC’s director of basketball operations, called Williams’ retirement, “an extremely sad day.”

“Coach inherited me, he didn’t recruit me, but the relationship we have been able to build has been truly amazing,” May told The News & Observer in a text. “...He is one of the greatest people I have ever met. I’m lucky to call him a mentor. I am truly happy he gets to go out on his own terms! I love him and I appreciate everything he has done for me. He will forever be MY COACH.”

Williams didn’t stop with one title, putting together a team that dominated the 2009 NCAA tournament, with every win by 12 or more points. It took a Kris Jenkins buzzer-beater for the ages in the 2016 national title game against Villanova, from preventing overtime in pursuing a third banner. That title was delayed for just a season, as Williams led the ‘redemption tour’ in 2016-17 before beating Gonzaga in the finals.

Williams’ 485 wins at UNC, coupled with 418 at Kansas makes him the only Division I men’s basketball coach in history to have more than 400 wins at two schools. Carolina renamed the floor in the Dean E. Smith Center, “Roy Williams Court,” in August of 2018.

What Roy Williams’ former players are saying about his retirement

▪ Marvin Williams (Retired NBA player): “When he came out to Bremerton (Washington) he stressed to my mother that I would be safe and I would be fed and I would get an education. That made her feel better. Obviously, my dad and I cared about the basketball side and he made us feel very comfortable about that.

“He never promised me anything other than that I would get an education at that university. That’s what I appreciated the most: The man that he is, and the example he sets for the young men who play for him — long after we leave there, how much he cares for us.”

▪ Michael Jordan (Charlotte Hornets owner): “To choose your own path, to walk away from the game when he wants. It’s great he now gets to spend more time with his children and grandchildren. I’m sad that he’s leaving because he has meant so much to basketball. He and my father formed an unbelievable bond that meant so much to me.”

▪ Mitch Kupchak (Charlotte Hornets GM): “Roy is pretty simple actually — it’s basketball, golf and family. Not in that order — it’s family and basketball, and then probably golf. But out on the golf course, he is something — talking to himself, calling himself, ‘Roy,’ If he’s not swinging the club well, he’s still finding some way to turn in a good score by grinding.”

▪ Buzz Peterson (former Tar Heel, Hornets assistant GM): “He has a caring for others — so loyal. But also his toughness. When we play golf, he is such a grinder. ... A furious competitor. Every once in a while he gets upset. And he plays extremely fast.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2021 at 10:32 AM with the headline "UNC basketball’s Roy Williams retires. ‘I no longer feel I am the right man for the job.’."

C.L. Brown

The News & Observer

C.L. Brown covers the University of North Carolina for The News & Observer. Brown brings more than two decades of reporting experience including stints as the beat writer on Indiana University and the University of Louisville. After a long stay at the Louisville Courier-Journal, where he earned an APSE award, he’s had stops at ESPN.com, The Athletic and even tried his hand at running his own website, clbrownhoops.com.