CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Wake Forest men’s basketball coach Dave Odom and Kansas mentor Roy Williams have been buddies a long time.
“As a wild hair, I tried to hire Roy when I was head coach at East Carolina,” said the 57-year-old Odom, who led East Carolina’s program from 1979 to ’82.
“I needed a strong assistant. I called Roy up and he was nice as he could be. He talked to coach (Dean) Smith about it. Coach Smith said, ‘Stay where you are, buddy.’ So the rascal turned me down.
“I don’t know if coach Smith or Roy made the decision,” he added, chuckling.
Williams like Odom a native of North Carolina worked as an assistant on Smith’s North Carolina basketball staff from 1978 to ’88. Now he is debating whether to follow in Smith’s and Bill Guthridge’s footsteps as UNC head coach.
Smith again is a major player in Williams’ future, with the KU coach obviously Smith’s hand-picked successor to Guthridge.
Odom has no insight on Williams’ final decision. However, he can sympathize when Williams says it would be difficult to tell his KU players he’s bolting.
“I am amazed at Roy’s ability to keep his arms wrapped around his players,” Odom said. “Raef LaFrentz I’m sure is feeling like Kansas is his family. In truth, right now, coach Williams’ attention is on the current players. It’s hard to say goodbye to them.”
Odom is similar to Williams, not in age Odom is 57, Williams 49 but in experience. Odom will begin his 12th year at the Winston-Salem school. Williams has finished 12 years at KU.
“The longer you are at a place, the more difficult it is to leave,” Odom said. “You put more of yourself in a place. We build a cocoon so to speak. You go to work and everything is just like you want it after 12 years.
“He has it that way. And that is hard to give up. It’s so hard to say goodbye to people you care so much about and love deeply.”
Obviously beloved in Kansas, Williams did face some criticism on talk shows. He criticized KU’s fans for being too passive at the Colorado game and some fans in turn ripped Williams.
Odom can understand.
“Sometimes calls like that motivate you,” Odom said. “I think people are well intentioned. They are just frustrated. They want to win every game.
“As coaches we expect a fair amount of criticism. Where I try to draw the line is when it affects my family. If they are bothered you give a more stern response.
“Fans don’t realize you will not have a perfect season. Last year we went through two horrendous weeks. We played pitiful, horrendous basketball. Nobody knows it more than me. At that point, they are almost embarrassed to be a Wake Forest fan. They go to the coffee pot on Monday morning and get criticized by Duke fans.
“At Kansas it would be Oklahoma or Oklahoma State fans. They get embarrassed so they may want to embarrass the coach on the radio show.”
Odom, coincidentally, will play Williams next season. Right now, it’s just a matter of how many times. KU is scheduled to travel to Wake for a non-conference game. As members of the ACC, Wake will play North Carolina twice or three times next year.
“Maybe he can coach Kansas when he comes here, then switch over and coach North Carolina a game,” Odom quipped.
Odom is sure Kansas will survive if Williams departs.
“Roy truly is one of the great names in basketball. (But) Kansas, they always are going to have a great coach and a great team. Tradition demands it. As far as playing Roy … I enjoy competing against great coaches.
“If Roy coaches down the road, I’d see more of him than I probably care to, but we’ll have fun with that, too. Roy will find things have changed. The proximity of our schools (Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Wake are all within 2 hours of one another) means you are forced to be friends or enemies.
“The group now chooses to compete like crazy on game day, then be friendly. If he chooses to come back, it’ll be different for him. Years ago, when I was assistant at Virginia, Terry Holland (UVA head coach) went to the conference meetings and told us stories about Lefty Driesell (Maryland), Norm Sloan or Jim Valvano (N.C. State), Tates Locke (Clemson) and coach Smith at North Carolina. It was, shall we say, a little more colorful back then.
“Coaches would holler at each other and stomp around. We still stomp, but it’s less colorful.”
New Hat in Ring: Throw another name in the mix if Williams leaves KU. It’s believed former Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo, who has coached two NBA teams, might be interested. Carlesimo is a good buddy of Williams. Athletics director Bob Frederick, however, might prefer a former Williams assistant like Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt), Steve Robinson (Florida State), Matt Doherty (Notre Dame) or Jerry Green (Tennessee).
Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino probably would be interested in the job, since he reportedly made inquiries into the Notre Dame job a year ago.
Pitino is one of those high-dollar guys in the Larry Brown mold who would likely to be tied to many job openings yearly. KU fans obviously do not like worrying about coaches possibly heading to other programs.
Stallings, Robinson and Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon may be coaches who would make KU their final stopping point.
Rumor Mill: The Internet had something happening regarding Williams, perhaps as early as today. One Internet site said ESPN was predicting a press conference to introduce Williams today in Chapel Hill, N.C. However, ESPN had issued no such report as of mid Sunday night.
