Roy Williams (coach) - Head Coach at North Carolina

Head Coach At North Carolina

When Williams came to North Carolina, it was hoped that he would restore a measure of stability to the program. He was the school's third coach in six years; the previous two coaches--Frank McGuire and Dean Smith--covered a 45-year period.

The Tar Heels were coming off of a mediocre season and two years before had suffered the worst season in school history. Nevertheless, the team still had top talent, including McDonald's All Americans Sean May, Rashad McCants, and Raymond Felton. In his first season, North Carolina finished 19–11 and returned to the national rankings for the first time since the early part of the 2001–02 season. They were knocked out in the second round of the NCAA tournament by Texas.

In Williams' second year, the Tar Heels returned to national prominence. With the arrival of freshman Marvin Williams, Williams was able to coach North Carolina to a National Championship in 2005. After winning the championship, the team's top seven scorers all left. Despite such a massive loss of talent, the Tar Heels proved to be surprisingly successful in 2005–06, in part due to freshman Tyler Hansbrough. Williams was named Coach of the Year for his ability to turn around such a new team to such a high level of success.

Williams quickly reloaded the team with top talent, bringing in recruits like Brandan Wright, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Deon Thompson. The 2006–07 team tied as ACC regular season champions, earning the tiebreak over the Virginia Cavaliers. With the #1 seed, the Tar Heels won the ACC Tournament. After earning a #1 seed in the East Region in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Williams' team won its first round game against Eastern Kentucky Colonels 86–65 and its second against Michigan State 81–67. North Carolina then defeated the USC Trojans 74–64 to advance to the Elite Eight. On March 24, 2007, North Carolina fell to the Georgetown Hoyas in overtime in the East Regional, ending its post-season run. Following the 2006–2007 season, Williams announced on July 18, 2007 that he has vertigo, a condition that occasionally forces him to sit down suddenly during games.

The 2007–08 season was just as successful, culminating in another ACC regular season and tournament championship. Williams led the Tar Heels to a school-record 36 wins, the #1 overall ranking in the final AP poll, a #1 seed in the East Region of the tournament, the tournament's overall #1 seed, and the 2008 Final Four. The Tar Heels' run ended with an 84–66 loss in the Final Four to Kansas, Williams' former team. Two days after the defeat, he attended the tournament final between Kansas and Memphis, sporting a Jayhawk sticker on his shirt, which sparked controversy among Tar Heel fans.

With Tyler Hansbrough returning to Chapel Hill for his senior season, they were tipped by numerous prognosticators as the favorites to win the NCAA championship. The Heels started the season #1 in the polls, becoming the first team to have back-to-back preseason #1 rankings since UNLV in 1991. They won their first 13 games before being upset by Boston College 85–78. Two games later, they fell at ACC rival Wake Forest 92–89, but went on a winning streak, including a defeat of archrival Duke by 101–87, Williams' fourth straight victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In defeating Duke 79–71 in the season finale, the Tar Heels secured their third straight ACC regular season title and fourth in Williams' six seasons as head coach at UNC. Although they lost in the second round of the ACC Tournament to Florida State, they still garnered the top seed in the NCAA South Region—the fourth time in Williams' six-year tenure in Chapel Hill that the Tar Heels have been a #1 seed. North Carolina defeated Radford in the first round of the NCAA tournament, then LSU in the second round, and Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 round, followed by a 72–60 defeat of the Oklahoma Sooners in the Elite 8 that gave North Carolina its second straight berth into the Final Four in Detroit, Michigan. A 83–69 victory over Villanova vaulted the Tar Heels into the national championship game. They played the Michigan State Spartans in the National Championship game and Williams won his second title with an 89–72 victory.

The 2009–2010 season was disappointing for North Carolina. They finished the regular season at 16–15, dropped to #3 in all-time wins, and bowed out in the First Round of the ACC tournament. The Tar Heels did not receive a post-season tournament bid by the NCAA--only the second time in Williams' coaching career that he didn't take part in that tournament (the first being his rookie season at Kansas). However, they did receive a bid to the NIT. Tar Heels made it all the way to the NIT Championship game which was played on April 1, 2010 at Madison Square Garden versus Dayton. Tar Heels lost with the score of 79–68 bringing their overall tally at 20–17 for 2009–10 season. This 20-win season however kept Roy's streak of 20 win seasons alive. Roy Williams stated that the season was "the biggest frustration and the biggest disappointment of my professional life.". In addition to frustrating play, Roy Williams was criticized for comparing the 2009–10 season to the disaster in Haiti by stating, "Our massage therapist told me, she said 'You know, Coach, what happened in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you're having is a disappointment.' And I told her that depends on which chair she was sitting in, because it does feel like a catastrophe to me, and that's because it is my life." Roy Williams later apologized for his comments, stating that he misspoke and "neglected to say that it puts basketball in perspective."

The Tar Heels started out slow during the 2010–11 season, dropping early games to Minnesota, Vanderbilt, and Illinois, and also being blown out by twenty points at Georgia Tech. It was not until Williams made the difficult decision to start freshman point guard Kendall Marshall over junior Larry Drew II that the Tar Heels returned to their dominant winning ways. The Heels won the ACC Regular Season Championship after beating Duke in their final regular season game in Chapel Hill. It was Carolina's fifth ACC Regular Season title in eight years under Coach Williams. However, Carolina lost to Duke a week later in the ACC Tournament Championship game. Coach Williams was selected as the ACC Coach of the Year for the second time since becoming head coach at North Carolina for overcoming the adversity of losing some players to transfer and dismissal and winning the ACC regular season title. After defeating Long Island, Washington, and Marquette, the Heels (29–8, 14–2) lost to the Kentucky Wildcats in the Elite 8.

The 2011–12 season for the Tar Heels was more successful despite numerous injuries to key players. With losses to UNLV, Kentucky as well as a 33-point defeat against Florida State, Williams guided his Heels to another ACC Regular Season Championship after defeating Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium to close out the regular season (Duke won the first meeting in Chapel Hill). UNC entered the 2012 ACC Tournament as the #1 seed. The Heels beat Maryland in the quarterfinals and NC State in the semifinals. John Henson injured his wrist in the Maryland game and did not play in the semifinals or championship game where UNC lost to Florida State, 85-83. UNC was then awarded the #1 seed in the Midwest bracket of the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Without Henson, Dexter Strickland and sixth-man Leslie McDonald (who were both sidelined with season-ending injuries) Carolina beat Vermont in the second round of the Tournament. Henson returned to the lineup for the third-round game against Creighton. The Heels defeated Creighton, however starting PG Kendall Marshall injured his wrist in the second half of that game. Marshall had to undergo surgery and was unable to play for the rest of the season. Carolina turned to first-year PG Stilman White who helped lead the Heels to an OT win over the Ohio Bobcats in the Sweet 16. Carolina then faced #2 seed Kansas in the Elite 8. Greatly undermanned, the Heels played Kansas close but Kansas pulled ahead late for the win. Roy Williams' 2011-2012 team finished the season with a record of 32-6, 14-2 in the ACC.