About Roy Williams

22nd season overall, seventh season at Carolina

When the Tar Heels cut down the nets in Detroit after winning the 2009 NCAA championship, they put an exclamation point on the most successful five-year stretch in the history of North Carolina Basketball — two national titles … three Final Fours … four Final Eights … four NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds … five Top 10 Associated Press final rankings (four in the Top 4) … four Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles … two ACC Tournament crowns … four 30-win seasons … eight NBA first-round draft picks.

The man at the center of it all is Roy Williams, a 1972 UNC graduate and member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Tar Heels beat Michigan State, 89-72, to capture UNC’s fifth NCAA Tournament title and second in the last five years. In 2005, Carolina beat Illinois to win Williams’ first national title. He is one of 13 coaches to win multiple national championships, joining an illustrious list that includes only two other ACC coaches – Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski.

Over the last eight years, Williams has won 239 games, including 30 in the NCAA Tournament, and led Kansas and UNC to the Final Four five times. That’s more wins, more NCAA Tournament victories and more Final Fours than any coach in the nation. He also coached National Players of the Year in four of the eight seasons.

The Sporting News and Lindy’s named the Asheville, N.C., native the Coach of the Decade for 2000-2009. Williams led the Jayhawks and Tar Heels to 33 NCAA Tournament wins in the 2000s, eight more than any other coach (Tom Izzo was second with 25). His teams’ winning percentage in the NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years was .805. No other coach whose teams played in at least 10 NCAA Tournament games won at least 80 percent of them.

“For him to bring Carolina back to what it was and take it even beyond that, it just shows you what type of coach and person and mentor he is,” says NBA All-Star Antawn Jamison. “It’s that same philosophy Coach Smith has. It’s not about basketball – it’s about life and doing what’s expected of you. Live life to the fullest.”

He has led Carolina to a 176-37 mark in six seasons, a win percentage of .826. His teams have set UNC records for most wins for one year (36 in 2007-08), two years (70 in 2008-09), three years (101 from 2007-09), four years (124 from 2006-09), five years (157 from 2005-09) and six years (176 from 2004-09).

“Williams is building a new monument to Carolina, which now sets the standard for every other program in the country,” wrote New York Daily News columnist Dick Weiss after the Tar Heels set NCAA records by scoring 55 points and building a 21-point halftime lead in the 2009 national championship game.

In his tenure at Carolina, Williams has already coached two National Players of the Year (Sean May in 2005 and Tyler Hansbrough in 2008), two Bob Cousy Award recipients as the best point guard in the country (Raymond Felton in 2005 and Ty Lawson in 2009), two ACC Players of the Year (Hansbrough in 2008 and Lawson in 2009), an ACC Athlete of the Year (May in 2005), three ACC Rookies of the Year (Marvin Williams in 2005, Hansbrough in 2006 and Brandan Wright in 2007), two Final Four MOPs (May in 2005 and Wayne Ellington in 2009) and 11 NBA Draft picks.

Hansbrough set the all-time ACC scoring record and became the first player in league history to earn first-team All-America and first-team All-ACC honors in each of his four seasons. He also became Carolina’s all-time leading rebounder and set the NCAA record for made free throws.

“Coach’s philosophy every day in practice is that you get a little bit better every time you walk on the court,” says Hansbrough, who was named the National Player of the Decade by The Sporting News and Lindy’s. “That’s the same kind of mentality I have. He helped me so much in becoming better every day.”

Williams has a 594-138 record in 21 seasons as a college head coach. His winning percentage of 81.1 is the highest among active coaches and the third-best in history behind only Clair Bee and Adolph Rupp. He also has the third-highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament history (75.3) among coaches whose teams have played at least 30 games.

Senior forward Deon Thompson says Coach Williams is like a second father to him.

“I love honesty and Coach Williams is going to give you that every time you talk to him about any subject,” says Thompson, a starter on the 2009 national championship team. “He is absolutely what he was when he came in my house to recruit me. I got lucky for someone to come into my house who is a great person, a great man and is still the same person today.”

Williams prides himself on a work ethic that helped lead a small-town boy to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He is one of nine Tar Heels to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, joining an elite group that includes Dean Smith, Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham, James Worthy and Bob McAdoo.

Twenty-three of his former players from Carolina and Kansas joined him in Springfield, Mass., for the induction ceremony in 2007.

“Coach Williams helped me become a man,” said Marvin Williams, who was the second player selected in the 2005 NBA Draft. “He always held me accountable for my actions on the court. He’s a father figure and he’s my coach. He’ll always be my coach.”

Williams has led Carolina to more wins in the last six years than any other program in the ACC and over the last three years the Tar Heels are 101-14.

The NBA has selected 19 of his players in the first round, including Hansbrough (13th), Lawson (18th) and Ellington (28th) in 2009. In 2005, UNC became the first program to have four players chosen in the NBA Lottery.

Williams emphasizes academic development, as well. Every Carolina senior in his tenure has either received his degree or is on track to do so. Sean May, the 2005 Final Four MVP, entered the NBA Draft after his junior year but earned his degree this past summer. Marvin Williams, who went to the NBA in 2005 after just one season, has taken summer classes in Chapel Hill each year since and is now a junior in academic standing.

Three players have earned first-team Academic All-America honors – Vaughn (twice), Haase and Ryan Robertson – and 34 have earned first-team academic all-conference honors, including Tyler Zeller in 2009.

Williams grew up in Biltmore, in south Asheville. He attended Roberson High, where he played basketball and baseball. He played basketball for Coach Buddy Baldwin, was named all-county and all-conference in 1967 and 1968, all-region in 1968 and served as captain in the North Carolina Blue-White All-Star Game.

Williams played on Carolina’s freshman team in 1968-69 under Bill Guthridge and earned two degrees from Carolina — a bachelor’s in education in 1972 and a master’s in teaching in 1973.

He began his coaching career in 1973 at Owen High School in Swannanoa, N.C., coached for USA Basketball teams in the 1991 World University Games, the 1992 U.S. Olympic Development Team, a U-22 tournament in Argentina in 1993, and the 2004 Olympics in Greece. He was NABC president in 2001-02 and served on the NCAA rules committee for six years.

Several of his staff and players have gone on to head coaching positions, including Matt Doherty, Neil Dougherty, Jerry Green, Steve Robinson, Kevin Stallings, Mark Turgeon and Rex Walters.

Born August 1, 1950, he and his wife, Wanda, a 1972 Carolina graduate, have a son, Scott, and a daughter, Kimberly. Scott earned a business degree from UNC and played point guard on the basketball team in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He and his wife, Katie (Wolford), live in Charlotte. Katie is a 2001 Carolina graduate and former cheerleader. She earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University. Kimberly, who also lives in Charlotte, is a 2002 Carolina graduate with a degree in English and a former member of the UNC dance team.

The Williams family has contributed more than $250,000 to the Carolina Covenant, an initiative at UNC that allows low-income students to attend the University debt free. Roy and Wanda serve as honorary chairs of a $10 million campaign to endow the program. Coach Williams hosts an annual Coaches vs. Cancer breakfast that has raised more than $750,000 and direct the autographed basketball program that has contributed more than $500,000 to local charities.