Jump to content

Roy Williams (basketball coach)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bottesini (talk | contribs) at 20:06, 3 November 2006 (inline reference). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Roy Williams

Roy Williams (born August 1, 1950 in Spruce Pine, North Carolina) is head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina. After averaging about an 80% win percentage in 15 seasons at the University of Kansas, he became the eighteenth head coach at North Carolina when he replaced Matt Doherty in 2003. He is second all-time for most wins at Kansas behind Phog Allen, and third all-time in the NCAA for winning percentage.[1] He received his 400th win in January 2003, when Kansas beat the University of Wyoming. On April 4, 2005, Williams shed his title as "the most successful coach to never have won a NCAA ring"[2] as his Tar Heels defeated the University of Illinois Fighting Illini in the 2005 NCAA Championship game.

Early years

Williams grew up outside of Asheville, N.C., in the small community of Biltmore. Williams lettered in basketball and baseball at T. C. Roberson High School near Asheville, North Carolina all four years.[3] In basketball, playing for Coach Buddy Baldwin, he was named all-county and all-conference for two years (1967 and 1968), all-western North Carolina in 1968 and served as captain in the North Carolina Blue-White All-Star Game.[4] Williams went on to play junior varsity basketball at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and study the game under legendary coach Dean Smith. Williams graduated in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in education and later received an M.A.T in 1973 from UNC.

Early coaching years

In 1973, Williams began his coaching career at Charles D. Owen High School in Swannanoa, N.C. He coached basketball and boys' golf for five years, ninth-grade football for four years and served as athletic director for two years. Williams first coaching job was as a high school basketball and golf coach at Charles D. Owen High School in Swannanoa, North Carolina. [5]

In 1978, Williams came back to UNC and served as an assistant to Coach Smith. During his tenure as assistant coach, UNC went 275-61 and Williams played a role in recruiting Michael Jordan.

Years as head coach at Kansas

In 1988, Williams left UNC and replaced former UNC assistant Larry Brown as the head coach of the University of Kansas Jayhawks.

Williams coached 15 seasons at Kansas (from 1988-2003). During that time he had a record of 418-101 with a .805 winning percentage. Williams's teams averaged 27.8 wins per season while at Kansas. Except for his first season at Kansas (when the team was on probation), all of Williams' teams made the NCAA tournament. Kansas won the Big 12 conference championship nine years while Williams was head coach.

Kansas won nine regular-season conference championships over his last 13 years. In seven years of Big 12 Conference play, his teams went 94-18, capturing the regular-season title in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 and the postseason tournament crown in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2001-02, KU became the first Big 12 team to go 16-0 in league play. From 1995-98, Kansas was a combined 123-17 - an average of 30.8 wins per season. He was hired just months after the Danny Manning-led Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA championship. Weeks after taking the position, KU was placed on probation for violations that took place prior to his arrival. [6]

Williams' teams went 201-17 (.922) in Allen Fieldhouse, and won 62 consecutive games in Allen from February 1994 to December 1998. Kansas was a regular in the Associated Press Top 25 from 1991 to 1999, placing in the AP poll for 145 consecutive weeks. Williams' teams were ranked in the Top 10 in 194 AP polls since 1990. [7]

Kansas led the nation in field goal percentage and scoring in 2002 and in scoring margin in 2003; held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in the country in 2001 (37.8 percent); led the nation in winning percentage in 1997 and 2002; shot better than 50 percent from the floor seven times and led the country in field goal percentage in 1990 at 53.3 percent and in 2002 at 50.6 percent; shot a combined 49.4 percent from the floor in 15 seasons; led the nation in assists in 2001 and 2002 and was seventh in the nation in 2003; scored 100 or more points 71 times (once every 13 games); averaged 82.7 points per game in 15 years; averaged 90 or more points in two seasons (92.1 in 1990 and 90.9 in 2002). [8]

Williams had Kansas in the AP Top 25 in 242 of 268 weekly polls. Kansas reached the No. 1 ranking in the country in six different seasons and was ranked at least No. 2 in the nation in 11 of the 15 seasons. The Tar Heels finished the 2004-05 season ranked No. 1 in the coaches' poll and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll. Last year, the Tar Heels began the year out of the Top 25, but finished the year ranked No. 10. That was the 11th time in 18 years his teams finished in the Top 10 in the AP poll.

Leaving Kansas for North Carolina

In 2000, Williams was faced with the opportunity to return to North Carolina when Bill Guthridge left the head coaching position vacant.[9] After national media sources such as ESPN prematurely announced Williams would take the position, they quickly backed off as it became clear that Williams's mind was not made up. Carolina media continued to report that he had accepted the position. After a week of this back-and-forth, Williams held a press conference at Memorial Stadium, where he announced that he was staying at Kansas. [10] [11]

Williams took the 2003 Kansas team to the NCAA Championship Game against Syracuse University. Syracuse defeated Kansas, 81-78, to win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship in New Orleans. After the loss, Coach Williams was faced with CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein. Bernstein asked Williams about his interest in taking the head coaching position at UNC since there would be an opening after Matt Doherty's firing. Williams declined to comment on the situation. Bernstein then persisted to ask again about his interest in the UNC head coaching position to which Williams responded:

"The guy in your ear that told you that you had to ask that question ... as a journalist, that's fine ... but as a human being, that's not very nice ... and I've got to think that in tough times that people should be more sensitive. I could give a shit about Carolina right now. I've got 13 kids in that locker room that I love."[12][13]

Although Williams's previous statements had included a promise that he would retire or die as the coach at Kansas [14], he accepted the UNC head coaching position shortly after that championship game.[15]

NCAA violations while at Kansas

In July, 2005, Kansas University released a report stating that Kansas had violated an NCAA extra benefit rule during Williams' tenure.[16] The violations involved Williams' approval of alumni graduation gifts being given to Kansas basketball players after their eligibility was exhausted. [17] In at least one case [18] the gift was cash included with a congratulatory greeting card.

"Other violations in men's basketball related to two boosters sending financial gifts to graduating student-athletes. One booster, an elderly woman, had been sending cards and gifts of $50 to $100 to graduating men's basketball student-athletes since 1988". "The booster claimed that the former men's basketball head coach told him it was permissible to provide modest amounts of money to student-athletes who had graduated or exhausted their eligibility". " ... the former head coach said he checked with the compliance office and "was of the opinion that such gifts were allowable." But he could not recall with whom he spoke, and compliance office staff could not remember ever having a conversation with him about the gifts".

Williams responded to the charges by issuing a statement admitting he made a mistake in telling a donor he could mail small graduation gifts to players leaving the program. "I personally felt this was not a problem and evidently a communication problem led me to believe this was OK with our compliance department. Therefore, I told the alum a small ‘gift' would be OK. I also stated the ‘gift' shouldn't be extravagant and there should be no campaign for this -- just a personal graduation ‘gift'...I did not know the rule that, ‘Once you are a student-athlete, you are a student-athlete until death,'" Williams said. [19] Williams said he never approved gifts provided by boosters and instead directed them to the compliance department for clarification of rules. Williams said that the gifts in the three specific instances were for purchasing lifetime memberships to the university alumni association and the purchase in one instance of a suit of clothes for an individual.[20]

When asked whether there was any thought to imposing penalties on former coach Roy Williams for approving small cash gifts to graduating seniors, Gene Marsh, chair of the NCAA infractions committee, said that there was not. “There is testimony from the coach who said, ‘I believe I checked with compliance (to see if graduating gifts were allowed). It’s my understanding this is OK.’ There are people in compliance who can’t recall the call and so I would say that is more or less where we left it (with) some confusion,” Marsh said. “Clearly the former coaches weren’t the only ones who had some confusion whether those kind of gifts were permissible. It seems to be a belief that existed in the department among several people who knew that those gifts were being made..." [21]

"Asked if the present coaching staff was at fault for any violations, Marsh responded: “I don’t think so, not that I can recall.”"[22] On October 12th, 2006 the NCAA announced that KU men's basketball would be losing one scholarship player for each of two seasons. [23]

Years as head coach at North Carolina

Roy Williams has been the head coach of UNC since 2003. When Williams arrived at UNC, the Tar Heels were struggling but the team had top talent including McDonald's All Americans Sean May, Rashad McCants, and Raymond Felton. In his first season, UNC finished 19-11 and were knocked out in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Texas. Williams was able to turn the team around in his second season. With the arrival of freshman phenom Marvin Williams and a more focused Tar Heel squad, Williams was able to coach Carolina to a National Championship in 2005. [24]

Awards

Williams has won the AP Coach of the Year award twice. He was first honored in 1992 with the Kansas Jayhawks. He was recognized at North Carolina in 2006, as he had a surprisingly successful season after losing 96% of the 2005 championship squad's scoring productivity. He is only the seventh coach in history to win the award twice and the second to do it at two different schools.[25]

Williams received the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award from the Los Angeles Athletic Club in April 2003.

Trivia

  • Williams won more games in the first 15 seasons of his coaching career than anyone else in NCAA history. [26]
  • Williams is the 12th coach to lead two schools to the Final Four and the third (with Larry Brown and Frank McGuire) to direct two schools to the championship game. [27]
  • Williams is tied for sixth all-time in NCAA Tournament wins with 42 and has an NCAA postseason win percentage of .724, fourth-best among active coaches. Six of his teams have been seeded No. 1 in a region in NCAA play. [28]
  • Williams has coached a team to 30 or more wins six times, which equals the second-most in NCAA history. He has won 20 or more games 16 times in 18 years (winning 19 in his first seasons at Kansas and Carolina), including 14 straight seasons at Kansas, a streak that equaled the third longest in NCAA history. [29]
  • He was the third-fastest coach in history to reach 300 wins and fourth fastest to 400. He has won more games than any coach after eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 seasons as a head coach. He is the second-winningest Jayhawk coach in history behind Smith's college coach, Phog Allen. [30]
  • Williams earned National Coach of the Year honors at Kansas in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1997 and was Big Eight/Big 12 Coach of the Year seven times (1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2003). The New York Athletic Club presented him with its National Coach of the Year award in 2005. He received the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2003 from the Los Angeles Athletic Club. [31]
  • Williams helped coach Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece with other UNC alumni Larry Brown(coach). [32]

Coaching History

School Year Record Postseason
Kansas 1988-89 19-12 (Probation)
Kansas 1989-90 30-5 NCAA 2nd round
Kansas 1990-91 27-8 National Runner-Up
Kansas 1991-92 27-5 2nd round
Kansas 1992-93 29-7 Final Four
Kansas 1993-94 27-8 Sweet 16
Kansas 1994-95 25-6 Sweet 16
Kansas 1995-96 29-5 Elite 8
Kansas 1996-97 34-2 Sweet 16
Kansas 1997-98 35-4 2nd round
Kansas 1998-99 23-10 2nd round
Kansas 1999-2000 24-10 2nd round
Kansas 2000-01 26-7 Sweet 16
Kansas 2001-02 33-4 Final Four
Kansas 2002-03 30-8 National Runner-Up
UNC 2003-04 19-11 2nd round
UNC 2004-05 33-4 National Champions
UNC 2005-06 23-8 2nd round

[8] [9] [10][11] [12]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/tourney05/2005-04-04-unc-illinois_x.htm
  3. ^ Offical Bio
  4. ^ Offical Bio
  5. ^ Offical Bio
  6. ^ Offical Bio
  7. ^ Offical Bio
  8. ^ Offical Bio
  9. ^ Sports Illustrated article, Should I stay or should I go?
  10. ^ [2]
  11. ^ [3]
  12. ^ [4]
  13. ^ Audio and Video related to the incident at KU Sports
  14. ^ [5]
  15. ^ Interview with Roy Williams over his decision to go to UNC
  16. ^ http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/story/11481
  17. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8586946
  18. ^ http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/story/114811
  19. ^ http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/story/114816
  20. ^ http://www.kusports.com/news/mens_basketball/story/114816
  21. ^ [6]
  22. ^ http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/oct/13/lost_scholarship_surprises_self/
  23. ^ http://www2.kusports.com/news/2006/oct/12/press_release_ncaa_committee_infractions_penalizes/?mens_basketball
  24. ^ [7]
  25. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2391450
  26. ^ USA basketball bio
  27. ^ Offical Bio
  28. ^ Official Bio
  29. ^ Official Bio
  30. ^ Official Bio
  31. ^ Official Bio
  32. ^ Official Bio

See also

Preceded by Kansas Basketball Head Coach
1988–2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UNC Basketball Head Coach
2003–  		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roy_Williams_(basketball_coach)&oldid=85533349"