Over the years UNC coach Roy Williams has had his share of media meltdowns with the most famous being during his last days at Kansas when he rebuffed a question about taking the UNC job, which he took a few days later. Then there was his decision to have a fan thrown out of a game for telling one of the UNC players to miss a free throw. Along the way Roy has developed a reputation for a rather short fuse when things don’t go his way, which isn’t unlike many other highly successful coaches. Occasionally he says things that I’m sure that the PR people at UNC wish he hadn’t (comparing last season to the earthquake in Haiti being a prime example).
After the comparison to the earthquake in Haiti, Williams apologized and, while he has stopped comparing a bad season to a natural disaster that essentially destroyed a country, he still has not stopped making controversial statements and flipping out when his team underperforms (as it has this season) or when fans offer suggestions or (gasp) criticism, as happened this Monday on his call-in show. Following an embarrassing 20-point loss at Georgia Tech, Williams was met with a stream of calls that offered suggestions and/or questioned the way the team was being run. According to Williams and the show’s co-host Woody Durham, he mostly laughed off the suggestions and questions, but following the Tar Heels’ victory over Clemson on Tuesday he responded to the suggestions from the callers:
“I’m really proud of those kids. Everybody talked about how poorly they played at Georgia Tech. My radio call [show] last night stunk; everybody was talking about how they were Carolina fans for 9 million years and how bad we are. I don’t give a damn how long you’re a Carolina fan; those are kids in the locker room, and they played their buns off tonight…I can remember working for Coach [Dean] Smith, and we go down to Clemson, and we got beat 93-76, and I thought the world was going to end. … But I didn’t have everybody calling up the TV show, talking about my team. Don’t call me next week and say how good we are; keep your damn phone calls to yourself.”
For the record, Williams gets a meager $400,000 per year for the show where he takes calls that he would want you to keep to yourself. While we can understand some of the frustration that Williams had after a such a poor showing at Georgia Tech, the fact that he waited until after UNC beat Clemson in Chapel Hill for 55th consecutive time exhibits a hubris and a deep-seated resentment of the anybody challenging his authority that borders on the absurd. The fact that Mike Krzyzewski and Duke has taken back Tobacco Road so quickly after it appeared like the Tar Heels had a stranglehold on the area to the point where we even questioned if Coach K had lost it. Now, UNC sits on the verge of failing to make the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year and their archrival is poised to make a run at a repeat national championship. And it clearly isn’t sitting well with Williams. For their part, UNC through spokesman Steve Kirschner deemed the entire incident a non-issue and would not even call Williams for a comment. I guess we will just have to wait for Roy’s next decree from above before we can hear anything about the state of UNC basketball.
[Ed. Note: For the record, if any of you want to pay us $400,000 per year you can criticize us and offer as many suggestions as you want.]
View Comments (8)
I always thought Roy Williams was a class act while at Kansas. He has become insufferable and unbearable though during his stay at North Carolina. Telling the people who call your show (and are your customers!) to shut up reflects a short temper that does not serve the program well.
I can only imagine how this guy behaves at practice.
As to the Presbyterian fan, here's a simple solution. Stop scheduling them.
Blah blah blah. Roy is completely justified in both the "I don't give a shit about UNC" and these most recent remarks. He just happened to not use the best choice of words. I doubt any of you would want to answer questions about anoher coaching job had you just barely lost in the NC. Likewise it would be frustrating to have "fans" making personal attacks at your players due to their poor play. Roy's self editing may need to improve, but I have no problem with either remark. This, just like the Presby fan who was thrown out last year (I was at that game and the guy was clearly drunk and being very obnoxious for an extended period of time) is just another opportunity for UNC haters to get in their shots
John--
(1) The KU/UNC transition wasn't the smoothest and there is still quite a bit of resentment with the way Roy left Lawrence. It wasn't a "Decision"-like move, but Roy left himself open to quite a bit of criticism with how he left the team without prior warning leaving a lot of guys who had committed there without a recourse (not that going to KU without Roy Williams is that awful).
(2) If Roy doesn't want to take the calls, that's fine, but then he doesn't need to do the show. He's getting paid to do the show so do the show and answer the questions. It wasn't like anybody was attacking any of the players personally or being particularly vindictive/vulgar from what I heard.
(3) If that is the case I hope Roy throws out every UNC fan who is obnoxious at every game he is at. I'm sure UNC is pleased with the way that UVA treated their fan who paid for his ticket as well.
If you'd heard the show, you'd realize it was the type of comments, not just the criticism of 18-21 year olds. "I've been a Carolina fan for 20 years ..." does not make you an expert at coaching a UNC team. Nor does watching every game with your favorite UNC pillow give you insider info on the chemistry and pitfalls of building/sustaining a team. For YEARS fans have called in and complained about missed free throws. I'm willing to bet a lot of those comments come from fans who've never laced them up.
I agree with "John's" comments above. Roy isn't a politician. But he's a Hall of Fame Coach who doesn't deserve having "fans" call in and criticize his kids.
I like the blurb in the article about how just a few years ago Coach K had "lost it," and now the media is writing about the downfall of UNC basketball. This too shall pass.
Also, I've noticed over the past couple years this blog has an anti-UNC twinge to any and all commentary therein (with the exception of the ACC reports). This particular article is no exception. As it conspicuously failed to offer any aspects of the viewpoints given by others above. I remembered RTC covering last years Presbyterian incident like it was an attempted Presidential asassination.
That Presbyterian incident was shameful. My guess is the anti-UNC bias you're seeing has more to do with UNC's on-court performance since the end of the 2009 season rather than anything else. If you go back and look at the 2008-09 posts, I'm sure you'll find more than enough praise that you're looking for. The fact of the matter is that Roy deserves criticism in the same way that we were giving it to Coach K during his "down" time from 2007-09. A lot of mistakes have been made and Roy's tendency is to lash out when he feels threatened. This latest incident is yet another example.
Phillip--
I have no problem with Roy getting upset with the callers, but if he wants to act that way then he shouldn't do the show. I'm not a big talk radio fan, but it seems like it is mostly people complaining about something or questioning what the team does. I'm sure you would love it if the entire show was just "Great job, Roy", "You're the best", or "Things will get better, Roy", but frankly that would be awful radio. It's true that UNC will probably turn things around, but I don't remember Coach K struggling to maintain his composure as much as Roy Williams has.
Ryan--
We 've been called anti-Duke (and pro-Duke), anti-Kentucky (pro-Kentucky), and many other things over the past few years. The reason I didn't offer the defense of Roy offered above (people should only be complimentary of Roy on his show) is because I would have just said that such a defense is absurd. As for the "Presbyterian incident" we were not the only establishment that ripped Roy for his handling of it. It seems pretty clear that Roy was in a bad mood last season and made some questionable decisions/statements (see Haiti earthquake). I'm sure you felt the same way about how UVA handled the situation with the UNC fan a week or two ago (an incident that I wanted to post on, but was busy with other stuff to the point that by the time I got to the post it was fairly old news). You're always welcome to question any of posts in the comment section and we will always respond,
BTW - enjoy reading the posts. Gives us all something to talk about!