So, what would have happened if Roy Williams had decided to return to his alma mater?
Where would Kansas have looked for its next men’s basketball coach if Williams had said “yes” to Dean Smith and North Carolina?
Vanderbilt athletics director Todd Turner was prepared for an all-out KU assault on first-year Commodore coach Kevin Stallings, a former Williams aide.
Meanwhile, new UNC coach Matt Doherty, formerly of Notre Dame, admits he might have been a candidate for the Jayhawk job.
“I knew coach Williams was going to get it (Tar Heel post). Then maybe I thought I’d get a call from Kansas, which would have been someone I would have talked to,” Doherty said.
Instead, Williams stayed at Kansas, and Doherty out of nowhere has landed as coach of the Tar Heels.
Other candidates at KU may have included former Seton Hall and NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo, who is a buddy of Williams’, plus former KU aides Steve Robinson and Jerry Green. Illinois’ Bill Self, Seton Hall’s Tommy Amaker, Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson and Stanford’s Mike Montgomery might have been mentioned, though it’s believed Montgomery would not have been interested in leaving the Pac-10 school.