Roy Williams: That Dadgum Legend

Two years after retiring, former North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams opens up about his views on the current state of the game, his potential return to coaching, and some of his fondest memories from his illustrious coaching career. 

On April 1st, 2021, Roy Williams said he wasn’t the right man to lead North Carolina any longer. Seemingly the last time we might hear from Williams, it turns out he got the proper retirement tour he deserved after a legendary career. Between visiting friends and former players, to witnessing an incredible Final Four run by the ’21-’22 North Carolina Tar Heels lead by his chosen successor, Williams’ next chapter in life got off to a fantastic start.

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Favorite ACC official? The one Duke player he wanted to coach? Did the Dream Team purposely lose to a college squad ahead of the ’92 Olympics? In the final episode of “That Dadgum Legend”, Roy Williams answers a series of rapid fire questions.

Roy Williams is the last connection to a time that was on Tobacco Road. Despite modern rivalry dynamics, where North Carolina and Duke dominate the discussion, Williams never lost his passion for beating NC State. However, as much as he enjoyed winning, Williams has always cherished the camaraderie of his coaching peers.

Dadgum. Frick. Frip. Doggone. Blankety-blank. Roy Williams has made a conscious effort not to curse and has famously incorporated substitute words that FCC censors would approve. But when Williams does use an actual “bad word"? He makes it count, including the time he cursed in response to a question about taking the North Carolina job following a loss in the NCAA National Championship in 2003. Williams’ love for that Kansas squad and the pull of coming home to Chapel Hill came through in a very human moment on national television. If only Williams was on social media, maybe he could've promoted this episode of the podcast.

The easiest way to pick a fight with former North Carolina head basketball coach Roy Williams is to simply say “Roy knew.” That was a go-to insult for “Anybody But Carolina” fans during an NCAA investigation into a nearly two decade academic irregularity within UNC’s AFAM department. Ultimately, North Carolina avoided any serious punishments for the scandal. Of course, Williams never used the word “scandal”, and would always substitute it with the word “junk” during those years. The junk did take its toll on North Carolina and Williams, but in the aftermath, a special team emerged to win it all in 2017.

How do you know when it’s over? There are signs, but they aren’t always easy to decipher. Coaches, even the best, get pushed out all the time before they actually want to go. North Carolina head basketball coach Dean Smith was able to leave on his terms, and later admitted he probably had a few more years left in him. The decision for Roy Williams to leave the Tar Heels wasn’t easy, and actually considered shutting it down after the 2019-2020 season and was eventually talked out of it. Williams’ wife, Wanda, tried to convince him to retire after the 2009 NCAA Championship. But all great coaches think they still have one more left in them, and getting North Carolina back to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 was enough for Williams to read the signs and call it a career.

When North Carolina head basketball coach Roy Williams retired on April 1st, 2021, with the third most victories in NCAA history, three NCAA Championships, and nine Final Four trips, he described his career as “OK.” Williams should’ve used a thesaurus when he retired because he did a little more than “OK” in his 33 years as a head coach. Ol’ Roy constantly undersold his savvy and leadership. It’s worth noting Williams’ place in North Carolina history, and that of college basketball. 99.9FM The Fan’s Joe Giglio and Joe Ovies sat down with that dadgum legend in order to tell his story with his own insight in a way only he could tell it. So how did Williams end up going from cut from the UNC varsity squad to title winning coach? Like with all college basketball stories, it began with recruiting. However, in this case, it was Dean Smith trusting an intramural official to help the Tar Heels program catch up on Tobacco Road.

Roy Williams was quick with names and good with the whistle. If he wasn’t, who knows if he ever would have caught Dean Smith’s attention. The sequel to Smith’s dynasty at North Carolina — the five trips to the Final Four and the three national titles with the Tar Heels — never would have happened. Roy Williams ended his hall-of-fame career on April 1, 2021. The story of how he made it to the top with two of the blue blood programs in college basketball, UNC and Kansas, has been told but not like this and not with this type of honesty and insight from That Dadgum Legend himself. ROY is produced by 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh, North Carolina and hosted by Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio.