Where were you 10 years ago today, the day Roy Williams was named men’s basketball coach at Kansas University?
I was sitting at my desk during the early morning hours of Friday, July 8, 1988, when KU athletics director Bob Frederick gave me a call.
“Be at the Holidome in 30 minutes,” Frederick instructed, “and you will meet our new basketball coach.”
“OK,” I said, “But who is it I’ll be meeting there?”
Secretive about the search for Larry Brown’s successor ’til the bitter end, Frederick didn’t respond, merely indicating, “You’ll see him in the lobby.”
Details have become sketchy, but I do remember driving to the Holidome assuming Brown’s successor at Kansas would be Williams, Dean Smith’s assistant of 10 years at North Carolina.
I wasn’t 100 percent sure of that, however.
Frederick kept his search for a coach pretty well under wraps, and though Williams was believed to be the choice, I wouldn’t have bet a trip to Maui on it.
Anyhow, as I walked into the Holidome, I saw an unfamiliar face approaching from a hallway. Brown’s successor was not Gary Williams or Charlie Spoonhour, two familiar faces who had some interest in the KU job.
It was indeed Roy Williams.
A pleasant-enough guy with an inner-ear infection, the new coach was gearing for a late morning press conference where he’d field questions about following in the footsteps of a fellow Carolina graduate, Brown.
I don’t remember what Williams and I talked about. I do remember leaving the Dome shaking my head at the irony of it all — KU went from having one of the most recognizable head coaches in the land to one of the most unknown.
Ten years ago, some KU fans — you know who you are — were against Williams’ hiring. But for the most part, people were genuinely excited about what this 37-year-old Dean Smith disciple would bring to the table.
“Roy has so many of the good characteristics of Larry and he will be there,” UNC coach Dean Smith said, aware of the Brown’s reputation as a job-hopper.
“My hope,” Williams noted, “is you don’t have to go to another press conference to hire a new head coach for the next 30 years.”
Well, it’s been 10 years and counting since that session.
And Williams, college basketball’s winningest coach through 10 years of a career, still is here working as hard as ever.
“I don’t know if I can last 20 more,” Williams said, laughing, on Tuessday before embarking on his month-long tour of high school all-star camps and AAU Tournaments during the July recruiting period.
Seriously, folks, the 47-year-old coach quickly added he’s in coaching for the long haul.
“Some of my peers have reminded me of how many coaches have taken a long, long time to win one,” he said of his passion, a national title. “They reminded me of some who have won one and fallen off the map. I don’t want that. I want to be one of the marathon guys, one of the survivors, on eof the guys to do it over a long time and be successful.”
He’s already coached a long time at Kansas.
Some, however, continue to worry about a few years down the road, when North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge decides to retire. Williams is the logical choice to return to his alma mater to replace his former freshman coach.
Guthridge has four years left on his contract.
“When it comes time…when coach Guthridge is ready to retire they (questions) may come back,” Williams said. “But that would mean a good thing as far as I’m concerned. It would mean we’d be successful at Kansas the next three to four years. If people have interest in what we’re doing here, it means we’ve remained successful.”
Williams won’t say if he’ll someday coach at UNC. Like any sane person, he refuses to comment on a job that’s yet been offered.
He calls himself a “Tarhawk,” half-Jayhawk and half-Tar Heel.
“A bunch of guys here in Kansas I take to North Carolina every May for a trip. We call it the ‘Tarhawk Open,'” Williams said. “That’s probably the best way to put it. I am a Kansan. I love it here. It’s far, far better than I imagined it could ever be. Yet you’ll always have roots where you were born.
“The fight song says, ‘I’m a Tar Heel born, Tar Heel bred. When I die I’m a Tar Heel dead.’ That part, plus the fact Scott is on the team at North Carolina and Kimberly will be a freshman there too,” he said of his son and daughter. “I don’t think those ties will ever go away. It’s something I’m very comfortable with. I hope the Kansas people are comfortable with, too.”
