CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Roy Williams, head men’s basketball coach at The University of North Carolina for the past 18 seasons, announced his retirement Thursday.
Williams retires after 48 seasons of coaching, including 33 as a head coach. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2007.
Williams will retire as the second-winningest coach in North Carolina Tar Heels history behind Dean Smith. Williams reached 900 victories in fewer games and seasons than any other coach in NCAA history. His 903 career wins are the third-most in NCAA Division I history and is the only coach in NCAA history to accumulate at least 400 wins at two schools.
Williams, a 1972 graduate from UNC, played under iconic head coach Dean Smith before giving up the game as a player to become a coach. After his freshman year, Williams asked Smith if he could sit in the bleachers during practices to learn the game of basketball from him. In 1973, Williams earned his first career coaching job at Charles D. Owen High School in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
He returned to UNC in 1978 as an assistant under Smith, a role he served until becoming the head coach at Kansas in 1988. He coached the Jayhawks until 2003, when he was hired by his alma mater to replace Matt Doherty. He quickly turned the Tar Heels around and won the NCAA Championship in his second season.
Looking back: legendary UNC basketball coach Roy Williams retires
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In 18 seasons at his alma mater, Williams led the Tar Heels to a 485-163 record. His team reached the Final Four five times, won nine regular-season ACC championships and three ACC Tournament championships.
During a news conference held Thursday afternoon, Williams said he was stepping away at 70 years old saying he now felt he was no longer the right person to lead the team. But he fondly remembers the memories made, admitting that seeing former players in the lounge before his announcement in Chapel Hill was hard for him. However, he jokingly noted he had a golf trip arranged, and was ready to spend more time with his family, including his wife Wanda who he lightheartedly revealed discussed retirement with him earlier.
Officials with the team noted the afternoon press conference would not be the point where they would discuss how the university would move forward with finding a new coach; that was reserved for an evening conference online.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips issued the following statement:
“On behalf of the ACC, we extend a heartfelt congratulations to Roy Williams on a remarkable career. His resume of accomplishments speaks for itself. More importantly, the countless lives he positively affected surpasses all of the individual honors and awards. Roy’s fingerprints will forever be on the sport of college basketball, and specifically the Atlantic Coast Conference. We wish him, Wanda and his entire family all the best as he begins this next chapter of an amazing life.”
Prior to taking the North Carolina job, Williams led Kansas to four Final Four appearances, including back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004. While at Kansas, Williams led the Jayhawks to two NCAA Championship Game appearances.