Former Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams to attend Tuesday’s game vs. Iowa State

By Matt Tait     Jan 10, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self, and former coaches Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Ted Owens have a laugh while talking shop in preparation for the 60th Anniversary celebration of Allen Fieldhouse on Monday, Oct. 27, 2014.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self said Monday that his predecessor, longtime KU coach Roy Williams, will be in attendance at Tuesday’s top-15 battle between No. 9 Kansas and No. 15 Iowa State.

Williams will attend the game as a fan with his wife Wanda. It will mark his first time at a KU game in Allen Fieldhouse since he left for North Carolina following the 2002-03 season.

Williams was back in the building on Oct. 27, 2014 to join Self, Larry Brown and Ted Owens for a celebration of the venue’s 60th anniversary. And he made waves with folks at UNC in 2008 by wearing a Jayhawk sticker and sitting in the stands for the 2008 national title game when Kansas defeated Memphis.

The opportunity to come to this game surfaced when Williams announced his retirement from coaching on April 1, 2021, exactly 14 years after Williams was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Self said Williams reached out to a couple of guys within the KU athletic department a couple of weeks ago to inquire about attending a game.

“He’s more than welcome,” Self said. “And (I think) it’s a given that our fans will pay homage and tribute him when he’s announced the way that he deserves for the 15 great years of service he gave this institution.”

After taking over at Kansas following Brown’s departure after the 1988 national title, the little-known assistant out of North Carolina led the Jayhawks to four Final Fours and two national title games from 1988-2003. He guided the Jayhawks to an overall record of 418-101 and his .805 winning percentage ranks second all-time to Self (.817) at Kansas.

At UNC, where Williams coached his alma mater from 2003-2021, the former KU coach won 485 games and three national titles in 18 seasons.

Self said Monday that Williams’ responsibilities and requirements with running the Tar Heels were the biggest reason he had not been back to Lawrence for a game until this season.

“As a head coach, or a coach in our profession, it’s hard to go back and watch somebody else play when you’re coaching a team,” Self said. “So, there’s nothing negative with that.

Upon retiring, Williams gushed about his time at Kansas, the honor of coaching the Jayhawks and the people he met and coached while at KU.

“This is the first (game back),” Self said. “But hopefully it won’t be the last and he’ll be very much like Coach Brown and Coach Owens (and) always feel welcome to come back whenever he wants to.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.