Roy Williams owns part of two golf course communities in North Carolina, and invests in a company ready to build a new youth recreation center in North Carolina.
But that doesn’t mean the Kansas University men’s basketball coach wants to work there.
Roy Williams does more than bet a few dollars on golf. He also invests in it.Williams — along with Carolina pals Dean Smith and Eddie Fogler — is a partner in two Kenmure Enterprises golf communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, N.C., his hometown.The projects:Kenmure Country Club in Flat Rock, about 25 miles south of Asheville. The 1,400-acre development is a gated community, with room for 900 homes starting around $350,000 and going past $1 million. Cottages and condos also are available.Reems Creek Golf Club, a 262-acre community and 18-hole course in Weaverville, about 15 miles north of Asheville. It has 188 single-family lots, for homes starting at $270,000.
“He’s in it (the courses) from a monetary standpoint,” said Randy Towner, a Williams golfing buddy and head golf pro at Alvamar Country Club, who has played the two Williams-backed courses near Asheville, N.C. “He doesn’t have anything to do with the day-to-day operations.
“That will have absolutely nothing to do with it.”
“It” is the business of Williams’ coaching future, a matter of intense interest this week as Williams mulls whether to remain in Lawrence or become the head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The 49-year-old coach has business interests in both areas, either as a selective corporate pitchman or quiet real estate investor.
In Lawrence, Williams is a partner in Sport 2 Sport, a youth recreational complex that is preparing to expand into Raleigh, N.C. Williams also has done a handful of ads for Lawrence businesses, including Pohl & Dobbins, University National Bank and Coldwell Banker McGrew Real Estate.
Mike McGrew, vice chairman for Coldwell Banker McGrew, considers Williams’ print and radio ads a matter of “intense pride” at the company, which handled the 1988 purchase of the Williams home on El Dorado Drive.
He isn’t ready to list it for sale.
“It’s a trade I’d just as soon not make,” McGrew said. “From a community standpoint — forget his testimonials for us and a listing we might get — it’d be a big loss for the community.
“But we’d survive and advance, just like he’s always told us we need to do in the tournament: Survive and advance.”
At Pohl & Dobbins, a downtown optical business, people come in all the time to buy glasses and get eye exams. They figure that what’s good enough for Roy must be good enough for them.
“There’s no way you can gauge how much business that means,” said Mickie Nodolf, office manager. “It was out of the goodness of his heart that he did those commercials. He wasn’t paid one dime. He’s a good friend.”
Roger Morningstar, general partner of Sport 2 Sport in Lawrence, said construction could begin this fall on a new $4 million recreation center in Raleigh, in conjunction with a Carolina investment group. Williams is one of 13 partners in Sport 2 Sport.
Back in Carolina, Williams’ investments are on the golf course.
He is a part owner of two golf communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, his hometown. Also investing is Dean Smith, the former North Carolina coach for whom Williams served 10 years as an assistant before coming to Kansas.
About 75 percent of Kenmure Country Club’s 900 residential lots have been sold. Williams doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day operations of the development, other than to play golf occasionally on its 18-hole course.
“He doesn’t own a (residential) lot,” said Kathy Drake, rental administrator for the project. “He really just wants to get the property sold. He doesn’t live here.”
At least not yet.
