Poor Roy Williams just can’t win. Five years on, some University of Kansas fans can’t find it in their hearts to forgive him for leaving KU basketball for North Carolina — not even after KU’s drubbing of North Carolina in the Final Four game. Now some North Carolina fans are howling mad at Williams for his gracious gesture of wearing a KU logo sticker on his shirt during Kansas’ championship game Monday against Memphis. Williams’ critics need to cut him some slack.
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13 Comments
Agreed. Kansas fans were out of line for hating him in the first place (he DID turn down UNC once before taking them up on their second offer, and that one was realy backed by Dean Smith) and he gave KU 15 years that made them a consistent top program (and for that I hate him, but that’s because I am a K-State fan and grad ;-) ). Now, he shows some loyalty to his old school and UNC fans are up in arms about him wearing a KU emblem on his shirt…
1) He did coach at KU for 15 years.
2) UNC lost to KU, and it always looks better to lose to the eventual champion.
3) It’s not like he never won a championship for UNC.
4) It was probably a peace gesture for those KU fans whose noses are still out of joint (and frankly, they don’t deserve one).
5) Yeah, KU and UNC, whine about Roy Williams’ loyalties when there is a school where, oh, some coach left them high and dry after one year and went to his ala mater. And if you can’t guess, you win a virtual “Huggieville” t-shirt.
I thought sitting in the stands wearing the Jayhawk sticker on his shirt was the first classy thing he has done since slinking out of Lawrence to hold his press conference in Chapel Hill. He bowed to Dean Smith and North Carolina’s AD way back then, he wasn’t gentleman enough to leave with grace which was totally in his control. Finally, last Monday night he behaved as a gentleman would toward the school that not only he gave 15 good years to but gave him back in kind.
i think roy’s gesture with the KU logo on his shirt shows what many loyal fans (myself included) have chosen to ignore since Roy left. he was sincere when he said he loved KU and lawrence and did give his heart and soul to the program. i was one of those who called for his ouster before he left because i did not think he would ever win “the game”. what this last KU run has taught me and hopefully others is it takes talent and determination but also a lot of luck to win a national championship. ku fans should make peace with roy and thank him for his yrs of service. i agree with the previous comments about mr. huggins. what he did and how he did it showed a lot less class. but anyone who has watched the two coach over the yrs should not suprised by that.
“i agree with the previous comments about mr. huggins. what he did and how he did it showed a lot less class. but anyone who has watched the two coach over the yrs should not suprised by that.”
That, unfortunately, is for sure. Huggins is a proven good coach (painfully so, West Virginia went father in the NCAA than K-State did), but I had a bad feeling when K-State hired him. Then again, I go way back to Tex Winter, Cotton Fitzsimmons and most of all, the late, great Jack Hartman. He did not win a national title, but he ran a class program that won more than it lost (and really, that’s all that most fans can ask for-Roy didn’t win a national title? Heck, only three KU coaches have, and Roy Williams is probably a better coach than two of them).
I mean, there are only two coaches who have routinely won national titles; John Wooden and Pat Summitt.
The thing about Roy Williams is: his only championship came with a team he did not recruit. As with other seasons, the guy who built the program gets fired after rebuilding years and the successor reaps the rewards.
Self won this year’s championship with a team he recruited. And he built a team!
All season long we heard from Kansas critics that the Jayhawks didn’t have a “go-to” man.
And it turned out every kid on the court for Kansas had the potentional for being the go-to man depending on game circumstances.
Defend that!
But here’s a situation: After Self deals with the Pickens lure and, probably, gets his salary doubled along with committments for improving basketball facilities at KU, and reestablishes the basketball coach as the best-paid coach on Mt. Oread…. can he recruit the players who are already on his team?
Rush and others most certainly should consider the NBA draft, but there are scads of undergraduates who are bolting for NBA money. This might not be the best year to opt for the pro draft.
Beasley will go before you… one or two of the Memphis guys will, too… the big kid from UCLA, Love< is going…
Yeah, it’s always a risk to play another year, to risk a career-ending injury or whatever…
But so many college basketball “experts” talk like next year every NBA team will be fielded by rookies.
Uhm. No.
Williams is a crock.
Face it the only reason UNC lost to Kansas is because Roy threw the game. So you could say Roy finally won a championship with Kansas
He held timeouts when they needed to be taken and just sat there like Johnny Bench.
I hope he is fired
Perhaps Kansas will take him back when Self leaves
Some fans are so petty. Roy went back home to Carolina. Big deal. His decision. Turned out well for everyone.
Showed a lot of class wearing the Jayhawk.
Why is this a story?
ksagnostic,
Here’s another NOT KU fan. I think the neighbors down the street must have heard me screaming at the TV, cheering on UNC Monday night. Alas, it didn’t help. :( And I’m not an alumnus! I’ve had it in for KU basketball since the late 70’s-early 80’s and the grudge continues.
Still, I say congratulations to KU. They did a great job of picking up the slack when Memphis mentally left that game. :)
Sorry, cheering on Memphis Monday night. I live in the past…
Leave the man alone! God you people get riled about things like where Roy Williams wants to coach and who he cheers for while the Republicans are ass raping all of us and our children with Iraq, recession, high gas prices and deficits as far as the eye can see.
FACT: Bill Self is as good a coach as Williams. FACT: Williams is a damn good coach
FACT: I would rather have Self than Williams. Williams is getting old, Self has alot more years.
My, some seriously petty bitching going on – I am not even a native Kansan and I have rooted for KU for years.
Williams did a great job, then he went home to his alma mater.
Bill Self has done a great job, four of his five seniors are on pace to graduate, the fifth has already graduated.
He wins, he behaves in a classy manner, he recruits good young men. He will be returning to KU.
He finally won a National Championship.
We should be applauding not only the accomplishments of Bill Self, but those of Roy Williams, also.
Both Bill Self and Roy Williams should be congratulated for the great jobs they have done as coaches at KU.
There is way too much whining going on.
I do not blame Roy for going to UNC. It was his Alma Mater.
KU and UNC (as well as many other universities) are linked together throughout history in their coaching staffs.
Some people obviously don’t have a life if they have the luxury to waste their time, energy, and emotions negatively on a good guy for trivial reasons.
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