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'I'm staying' Williams turns down UNC job to remain at Kansas
Posted: Friday July 07, 2000 07:21 AM
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Roy Williams found it harder to say no to his players than to Dean Smith. So Williams, ending an agonizing week that kept two states and two great college basketball programs in suspense, gave up a chance to coach his beloved North Carolina and decided to remain at Kansas. "I'm staying," Williams said Thursday night at a news conference as more than 16,000 fans sitting in the football bleachers screamed and cheered. "The decision here I've made came after the toughest seven days of my life. I couldn't trade my players. That became more important than my dream of being at North Carolina." Calling Smith to say he wasn't going to succeed Bill Guthridge was "as painful an experience I could have." "I apologized to him, and just those words weren't enough," said Williams, who was an assistant to Smith for 10 years. "Coach Guthridge was another hard call. He and Coach Smith are the reasons I'm here today. I can't help but a part of me feeling I've let them down." Williams, a North Carolina native who went from his alma mater to Kansas in 1988, admitted he changed his mind several times and cried often while trying to decide if he would replace Guthridge as coach of the Tar Heels. He said he came to a final decision Thursday afternoon while walking alone through the Kansas campus. On buildings and walls everywhere were signs and banners urging him to stay. "I did what Coach Smith taught me to do. I made the decision based on the most important thing, my players. I could not leave them," Williams said. Several times during the nearly half-hour news conference, Williams became misty-eyed and hoarse. Wearing shoes with no socks, he sat with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick as a crowd estimated at 16,300 watched the news conference on a giant video screen in the football stadium and cheered almost every word. After the news conference, he walked outside to speak to the happy, festive crowd. As he emerged, one woman yelled, "If you think those kids played hard for you before, Roy, just wait till you see how hard they play for you now." North Carolina has been without a coach since Guthridge unexpectedly retired last Friday. "We in the Carolina family are tremendously disappointed," North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour said at a news conference in Chapel Hill on Thursday night. "We are the University of North Carolina and we will move forward. I know our fans are disappointed because of their love for Roy. "Roy never told us in a definite way he was coming," Baddour said. Guthridge will act as interim coach of the Tar Heels and there was no timetable set for hiring his replacement even though the crucial summer recruiting period starts Saturday. Earlier Thursday as he walked the campus, Williams wore the haggard look of a man who just lost his job, not a man struggling to pick between two great ones. "My decision, as I said, is the most difficult time period I've ever had," Williams said.
Williams has a 329-82 record in 12 seasons at Kansas, the winningest record for a coach in that many seasons. He has taken the Jayhawks to two Final Fours and won seven conference championships. Williams' wait gripped both states for a week. Kansas officials said almost 2,000 e-mails had arrived addressed to Williams urging him to stay. "My mentors taught me that loyalty is most important. I couldn't leave my players," said Williams, who mingled with crowd after the news conference. "I couldn't trade my players. That became more important than my dream of being at North Carolina. "I still want to win it all, that hasn't changed." But even as a throng of journalists waited outside Allen Fieldhouse for word Thursday, Williams walked alone across the grounds, silently and unsuccessfully groping for his own answer. He finally left the campus Thursday afternoon, driving off alone after telling reporters that he was going to his Lawrence home to 'do some thinking.' Friday, the day before summer recruiting begins, was Williams' self-imposed deadline. Williams said Baddour "recruited me harder than I've ever been recruited." "I sincerely apologize to him ... just those words aren't enough," Williams said. After flying back from the Carolinas on Wednesday evening, Williams met for several hours Thursday with athletic director Bob Frederick, Chancellor Robert Hemenway and members of his coaching staff. Williams returned from a vacation at his South Carolina beach home Wednesday night, denying reports that he had accepted a multiyear contract to coach North Carolina.
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