It’s been over a year since Roy Williams announced his retirement from coaching but, thanks to this year’s Final Four, the legendary coach has found his name once again at the forefront of college basketball’s biggest game.
With No. 8 UNC and No. 1 Kansas set to square off Monday night for the national title, fans are dubbing the contest the “Roy Williams Bowl” in reference to the 71-year-old’s well-documented relationship with both universities.
Williams, who retired last April after 43 seasons, has been front and center to witness both the Tar Heels, led by his successor Hubert Davis, and Jayhawks make their way back to a level of prominence he’s all too familiar with.
ln fact, it was Williams who last led UNC to the Final Four back in 2017. That trip resulted in the program’s sixth national title, and Williams’s third, placing him in rare company as one of only six D1 coaches to win at least three championships in their career.
He concluded his career with a 903–264 all-time record, earning him the distinction of being the only coach to win at least 400 games with two schools. Of those 903 wins, 485 came during his 18 years in Chapel Hill. The other 418 were earned in his 15 years in Lawrence, his only other head coaching stop.
Williams’s journey to college basketball immortality began in 1978 when the UNC alum returned to his alma mater to work as an assistant under the great Dean Smith. Williams played an integral role on Smith’s staff for 10 seasons, winning a national title in 1982 thanks to a clutch shot from then-freshman Michael Jordan. Williams was instrumental in UNC’s recruitment and signing of the eventual NBA legend.
In 1988, Williams left the school to become the head coach at Kansas where he would spend the next 15 seasons. He took KU to four Final Four appearances, including two title games in 1991 and 2003, but was unable to win it all. Two years after beating UNC in the ’91 national semifinal, the Jayhawks lost on the same stage to Smith’s Tar Heels, who went on to win the national championship.
After falling to Syracuse in ’03, Williams departed Kansas for a dream job at North Carolina, and quickly helped the program re-claim and maintain a level of excellence not seen since Smith’s retirement in 1997. He would reach five Final Fours in 16 NCAA tournament appearances. Ironically, three of those runs ended at the hands of the Jayhawks, whom Williams never beat in his career (0–3).
In all, Williams won a combined 18 regular season championships, six conference tournament championships and multiple Coach of the Year awards. The Hall of Famer’s countless accolades helped make him one of the greatest of all-time and, on Monday night, Williams will have a much different vantage point while watching his former teams duke it out for all the marbles.
