2003 Roy Williams leaves Kansas for North Carolina

ESPN coverage of Roy Williams leaving Kansas for North Carolina 04/15/2003.

[@claybailey3909]

And now he’s won 3 national championships

[@rickfrye7238]

Roy did an oustading job at Kansas. He is Tarheel alumnus and former assistant coach. I was not surprised he went back to UNC. You can't turn Dean Smith down twice. I am a Tarhawk Jayheels fan!

[@Cristalack]

That last sentence is the stupidest thing I have read all week. Roy Williams is a clown.

[@DylanReturned]

@@Cristalack he’d fuck your wife

[@mattneal5257]

I didn’t mind Roy leaving - he went home to his dream job. What bothered me - and would have bothered Roy had any other coach done it - was talking about the incoming recruits for Kansas

[@tomace4898]

The most difficult part for UNC fans was three years of Matt Doherty...

[@markadams2619]

He has always been a Carolina guy, l felt bad for Kansas, but he wasn’t going to leave UNC hanging a 2nd time...

[@Alex-ss4bk]

Totally get it now, I was pissed off at the time but as I have gotten older I realized that's his home, he was going home, totally get it.

[@GammaNu955]

Alex Huang he could not tell Dean Smith no twice

[@IWantToMature85]

@@Alex-ss4bk you shouldn't be happy at your coach leaving your school

[@IWantToMature85]

@@GammaNu955 he told Dean before that he was happy at Kansas. Dean should have respected that and not ask him again.

[@IWantToMature85]

@Wilt Chamberlain is the GOAT I had no clue that Dean went to KU. It sucks that he ended up forgetting about it bc of Carolina. Like you said, Roy loved UNC because he went there. Dean treated UNC like Roy would have if he stayed at Kansas.

[@johnhenryNC]

it ended up working out well for both UNC & Kansas. Williams won 3 national championships for UNC; Bill Self has won 2 for Kansas, and Kansas has defeated UNC every time they have played since Roy left. With Self's 1st championship, Kansas defeated Carolina in the semifinals, and for Self's 2nd, they defeated Carolina in the championship game.

[@coreymcarthur8960]

It hurt like hell for KU fans but it ended up working out pretty good for both of us.

[@SuperPuffProductions]

Rock Chalk Roy! Glad we had you as our coach before you went home to UNC.

[@GammaNu955]

superpuff84 pure class.best comment

[@RockSmith-rl9qr]

Class act

[@martinward3084]

Very classy

[@IWantToMature85]

@@GammaNu955 I hope that you aren't a UNC fan because it's easy to say this when he goes to your squad.

[@Cristalack]

Glad you had a coach who didn’t try to win anything at Kansas and didn’t give a damn about the team? Okay? At least Coach Self doesn’t put his alma mater over his TEAM.

[@letsgomets07]

Wow that trivia question music brought back some strong memories

[@mattreynolds3503]

I agree I didn't lose respect for Roy he couldn't win a title with us . Anyway we got bill and 2 national championships with him.

[@christschool]

How ridiculous. Roy went home. It's not like he went to NC State, he went to UNC!

[@michaelyoung9628]

he didn't owe nobody apology

[@cherrypickingcards2413]

I’m from Lawrence & a die hard Jayhawk fan.. this one hurt big time. It didn’t seem like anyone in the world could replace Roy and make it better... there were even rumors Larry Bird was coming here... and when Self was announced as the new hire, I almost puked because I didn’t care for his Illinois teams at all... even though Roy has 3 and Self only 1, time healed all wounds and everything happened the way it was supposed to.

[@PaulWall620]

One more to go

[@Cristalack]

Time didn’t heal anything. Roy Williams is a two faced clown.

[@jerrywatson8587]

I'm a diehard Tarheel fan and I did feel bad for Kansas but the legendary Dean Smith had alot to do with Roy finally coming back home and no offense but he never got it done in Kansas for a reason once a Tarheel always a Tarheel not a bad choice for Roy 3 National championships since coming back home!!! # Go Heels

[@IWantToMature85]

You're basically bragging since you are a Heels fan and got him. KU ended up beating him in the tournament a couple of times. Carolina could win tomorrow, but Roy won't be coaching.

[@Cristalack]

Happy KU stomped your loser team in 2008 and 2022. Welcome to irrelevancy when that Roy Williams recruiting class dries up. “No offense” but I LOVED witnessing Roy watch his team’s failure in his hideous baby blue outfit.

[@sickofitall8486]

Indeed. I definitely appreciate Self’s and KU’s record against UNC since Roy left 😬.

[@sugarcrisp7]

Be nice if Hubert Davis takes over as head coach when Ole Roy retires.

[@IWantToMature85]

How did you know?

[@sugarcrisp7]

@@IWantToMature85 Pure mathematics my friend. After all he has a lot of things going on for him that made him the right choice. What might that be you ask? First of all he was the nephew of Walter Davis a superstar in his own rights who played for Dean Smith. Dean Smith who was one of the winningest coaches of all time with 879 victories! In a 36 year period he averaged nearly 78 percent wins over his career! Coach Smith won 2 NCAA Championships. Coach Davis played 12 years in the NBA and most likely was a student of the game and decided to become a coach one day. Coach Davis was hired by Roy Williams as an assistant coach and by the God's grace was chosen to be UNC's head Coach after Roy Williams left UNC. Roy Williams was a great college coach at Kansas and UNC. He won three NCAA Basketball titles at UNC and came in second place twice! So, it makes since that Coach Davis has learned a lot from every Coach he played for and that has helped UNC to get to the Championship game. However I believe Coach Davis' greatest asset is his belief in Jesus Christ. He has prayed for his team each and every game. Of that I'm sure of because I am a Christian and I pray too. That is why I said pure mathematics. God and Coach Davis' faith in God! Thanks!

[@zionisgone]

18 years later, and he’s retired:(

[@dylanhicks201]

I wish Roy came back sooner so the Doherty era would not have happened

[@ThePhog]

The best thing that ever happened to the Kansas basketball was when Roy left.

[@DX5555555]

He won 3 titles at UNC with a bunch of kids that said they would've went to Kansas if Roy was still the coach.

[@sjohnson3407]

Yes worked out for UNC too

[@guitarlicksiam4860]

Best coach in the college game...GO TARHEELS

[@fallguye6011]

Outdoes Coach K? Not sure he's any better than Roy's successor. Man did all he could for us and certainly is one of the greatest the game's had. I have no hard feelings towards Roy and I go for him once we're done. He's certainly a top 5 among active.

[@guitarlicksiam4860]

Has a higher winning pct than K...since he joined the ACC , he has more ACC titles, and more National titles than K

[@fallguye6011]

@@guitarlicksiam4860 Outside +2 in national titles, how's he stack up against his successor?

[@guitarlicksiam4860]

different era my friend...cant compare

[@bluesteele6665]

Easy to win at UNC, when going to a class is not a problem.

[@sugarcrisp7]

He's not. Don't go to a college because of a certain coach but go because you want to get an education at that school. Sports should come second to what Education can give you.

[@jacksonvann8146]

On this date he has retired

[@GETole]

Class act.

[@maximummax9851]

He said he was going to stay then he turned his back

[@derekmathews1818]

And Dean Smith was wrong to even recruit Williams during the middle of a final four run. I will never forget that. You could have done that in the offseason though. But it all turned out good. Ku has Self; UNC has Williams.

[@lharris2633]

Yeap turned out good. UNC with Roy has three National Titles, KU with Self has one National Title. It's been 15years, it's beyond time to let go of any hurt that fans may have for an individual taking a different job.

[@derekmathews1818]

L Harris, I’m way over it. I just didn’t like the way it went down, and if you were a legit UNC fan, never would you. Technically what Dean Smith did asking Williams while Ku was in the middle of the final four is called tampering. I don’t know the NCAA situation was.

[@derekmathews1818]

L Harris, but what really surprised me is how you UNC fans treated us Ku fans when you got Williams. You gave us nothing but hell, there was no compassion, there was no I’m sorry, there was no empathy, there was nothing. And considering all our history between our programs, we expected a lot more from UNC fans, and we didn’t get it. Now after you got Williams, you UNC fans trolled us for five years. Now you may not have been the one doing it, but you are a UNC fan, that means you are responsible for that hell your fan base put us Ku fans through.

[@lharris2633]

One thing I tell any and everybody on social sites is that I can only speak for myself. If you or any KU fans had problems with UNC fans, then you've got to hold those individuals responsible. As for me, people leave jobs to take new jobs every day. Some times its above board, other times it may not be. Unfortunately, that's the working world that we live in.

[@derekmathews1818]

L Harris, I know people leave jobs, but I wish Dean Smith and UNC had been it a little differently that’s all. This was easily the highest profile coaching change in college basketball history because of the programs history between each other. But I’m sorry if I came down on you harshly. You are right, the individuals that trolled the Ku fans at the time should be held accountable for their actions. And you shouldn’t be held responsible for other people’s actions. I no longer have any ill will towards UNC fans anymore. Roy Williams neither. I understand he just wanted to go home, but I wish he had said it in person to his kids before he left. They deserved that at the end of the day.

[@jerrywatson8587]

Carolina tarheels and Dean Smith built Roy Williams not Kansas that's why he came back home since his departure from Kansas we have 3 National championships Kansas has 1!!!

[@gunsNmoses]

KU has 3 NCAA championships and 2 Helms moron

[@GammaNu955]

Oscar Butts fair point. And we have 7 including the helms. Not sure Jerry went to UNC but I did and nothing but respect for Kansas. It brought us Dean.

[@stephenboykin4958]

@@gunsNmoses Clearly he means since Rory left ku has one championship and unc has three . idiot

[@cowboysfan096]

He’s also never beat Kansas at unc. 0-3!!!

[@slaygadethicide]

Oh look it’s Lincoln Riley. Except Lincoln is taking his recruits and fucking OU

[@mohit4679]

Nothing like Riley roy left for North Carolina because he was an alum and coached there for 10 years. Riley had no connection to USC

[@CollectingSoles]

I was today years old when I found out Roy Williams coached Kansas ☹️😂

[@derekmathews1818]

Loved kicking Carolinas ass in the 2008 final four. That was for five years of hell these Carolina fans put us Ku fans through. What really surprised me is how Carolina fans treated Kansas fans once this coaching change went down. They didn’t say they were sorry, they just gave us a really hard time, and threw Williams in our fans. I will never forget that at the end of the day; something! Considering our fan bases have all this history between us, I expected something different.

[@DX5555555]

Roy has won UNC as many tournaments as Kansas had won period. Kansas is the worst of the "blue bloods." Duke, UNC, Kentucky, UCLA, UConn are all better than Kansas and you're equal to Louisville and Villanova.... Ouch.

[@jameslaughinghouse3473]

Riiiight because Kansas fans were so classy and didn't make asses of themselves after Roy left....but cool enjoy the 3 wins over Roy and we'll enjoy the 3 titles he brought to UNC .

[@bigtarheelfan]

My question there would be how many UNC fans do you actually know? Your probably taking a handful of fans and criticizing all of us. Roy turned UNC down once and it would have been hard to do so again. You should understand as well that a lot of UNC fans were mad at him in 2000, then of course KU fans were mad in 2003. Just like Illinois fans were mad at Bill Self when he left there after only 2 years. I'm not criticizing Bill either (I respect Bill), just saying you all criticize Roy for leaving after 15 years, but not Bill for coaching somewhere 2 years. It's worked well for both schools, Roy is 0-3 against Kansas but we can live with that because we have 3 Championships in that time frame.

[@Nyfancam01]

We have WON THREE National titles lmao we're fine. trust me. fuck off!

[@jasonnichols6164]

5 Years of hell UNC put Kansas fans thru after he left? Are you referring to 5 bad seasons? If so, that makes no sense considering Kansas went 24-9 and 12-4 in conf with an Elite Eight , 23-7 and 12-4 in conf, 25-8 and 13-3 in conf, and 33-5 and 14-2 in conf with another Elite Eight prior to the 07, 08 season when they won the title and beat UNC in the FF.

[@maximummax9851]

But we have the best coach better than this liar and betrayed KU That my opinion

[@Iconhulk]

F Roy

[@fallguye6011]

Why? Self's done fine.

[@Nyfancam01]

Fuck you BITCH

[@sugarcrisp7]

Yes Coach Williams is Faithful to UNC. Ole Faithful Roy!