About Roy Williams

24th season overall, ninth season at Carolina

Owner of two NCAA championships and the best winning percentage of any active coach in the nation, Roy Williams in 2012-13 will begin his 10th season at Carolina and his 25th overall as one of the best college coaches of all time.

Over the last 11 years, Williams has won 320 games, second-most in the country, and coached four National Players of the Year. He won 36 NCAA Tournament games and led Kansas and UNC to the Final Four five times. That’s more NCAA Tournament victories and more Final Fours than any coach in the nation during that span.

Last season, the Tar Heels advanced to the NCAA Tournament regional finals for the second year in a row and the fifth time in the last six years. Carolina won its record 29th ACC regular season title and produced four NBA first-round draft picks in Harrison Barnes, Kendall Marshall, John Henson and Tyler Zeller (who also was named the national Academic All-America of the Year).

In 2009, Williams led UNC to the NCAA title and its second consecu­tive Final Four. The Tar Heels also won their fourth ACC regular season championship in five years and finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation for the second year in a row.

It was Williams’ seventh appearance in the NCAA Final Four and third in his first five seasons at UNC. His Kansas teams advanced to the Final Four in 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003.

On April 2, 2007, Williams was named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2007.

On Nov. 29, 2009, he won his 600th game as a head coach, reaching the milestone in fewer seasons (22) than any other head coach in NCAA Division I history.

He was named the 2006 National and ACC Coach of the Year after losing the team’s top seven scorers from the previous season and leading UNC to a 12-4 ACC record and No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. It was the sixth season after which Williams has been named National Coach of the Year.

Carolina ended the 2004-05 season with a national title and a 33-4 overall record. The Tar Heels won the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 14-2 record.

Williams became the UNC coach on April 14, 2003, just one week after leading the Kansas Jayhawks to the NCAA championship game.

The 1972 Carolina graduate was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2004 Olympics. Williams has coached teams that have won 80 percent of its games, his players have been exemplary student-athletes and his programs have been first-class in all aspects.

Williams enters the 2011-12 season with a 643-163 record — a winning percentage of 79.8. His win percentage is best among active coaches and fourth-best in history.

He has won more games than any coach after eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 seasons as a head coach. He is the second-winningest coach in Kansas and UNC history.

Williams spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Smith at Carolina, helping the Tar Heels win the 1982 NCAA championship. At Kansas, Williams earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1997 and was Big Eight/Big 12 Coach of the Year seven times. In 2003 he received the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.