CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Ten months after his sudden and somber spring departure in an empty building, Roy Williams stood at center court at the Smith Center, bathed not only in a spotlight, but the applause of an arena filled with happy fans.
He waited almost a year for this, doing it Saturday at the suggestion of two of his most loyal staffers, and this was a far more appropriate farewell. Not that North Carolina has failed to appropriately recognize Williams over the years — he and his family had to walk across his own name as they entered the court — but there was clearly a need for something more than that afternoon of tears and self-deprecation.
Even with a new coach and several new players on the bench and, shortly, a new banner, there was still also something so familiar seeing him out there and hearing Williams speak. Almost as familiar as North Carolina holding a giant halftime lead on N.C. State.
“I loved being your coach,” Williams said. “I loved it.”
The emotion was familiar, too. His entire tenure was so wrapped in emotion, his own and everyone else’s, that one-way street when he retired in April could never handle the traffic. This was his chance to say goodbye to everyone and everyone’s chance to say goodbye to him, whether they had screamed his name in victory or cursed it on message boards — in some cases, probably a mix of both.
At any rate, he was always one of them, as a student and assistant coach and coach and now, as a retiree-slash-booster.
“Folks, from the bottom of my heart and deep into my soul, I am a Tar Heel, and I will always be a Tar Heel,” Williams said, even if it was always a little more complicated than that.
Williams was already honored at Kansas this month, naturally in a black mock turtleneck, albeit sans sticker. That evening at Allen Fieldhouse was a long time coming, even if the wounds of his departure had long ago healed. “It’s not immoral to love two institutions,” Williams often said of his ties to Lawrence and Chapel Hill, and this was really the first chance for all of those feelings to be truly and honestly reciprocated.
He was also honored at Michigan State, where the sentiment surrounding his retirement was probably relief as much as valediction. The Spartans actually won that night with Williams in the building, something that happened quite rarely when Williams was on the opposing bench. Nevertheless, it was unquestionably a genuine gesture of profound respect from Tom Izzo, as it was from Kansas, and as it was again in Chapel Hill on Saturday.
Of course it was against N.C. State, and amid a blowout of N.C. State to boot, the rivalry that burned as strong in Williams’ heart as any other, and one in which he so often found some way to coax the Tar Heels to victory 33 times in 38 tries (and another five times at Kansas for good measure). State and Senior Night, you could almost always count on Roy then, just like the first round of the NCAA tournament.
“Let’s beat these guys in red a hell of a lot more,” Williams said Saturday, a true believer through and through.
And doing it while honoring the 40th anniversary of Dean Smith’s first national title — most of the old familiar faces were there, not James or Sam, but Michael and all the rest — brought the spirit of Williams’ mentor into his eponymous arena, not that it was ever very far from Williams when he was coaching. Jordan sat watching from the scorer’s table; later, Williams stood next to him when the 1982 champions were honored.
“I do like the shoes, too, Michael,” Williams said, wearing what looked like a pair of Jordan 13s with his suit. “I like those.”
After the ceremony, Williams returned to his new seats, slightly above and behind the North Carolina bench, only feet from where he would stand to hurl T-shirts among the students, as the Tar Heels honored his call to run their lead from 25 to 35 in the opening minutes of the second half on their way to a 100-80 win.
John Edwards once sat about there for UNC games, plowing through giant buckets of popcorn. Now Roy and Wanda Williams sit below the banner recognizing Williams’ two stints at the university, first alongside Smith, then on his own, standing alone.
