NCAA Tournament: Ranking the Final Four coaches

The Dadgum Best Coach Ever

Born: August 1st, 1950 in Marion, North Carolina

College: Graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1972

Coaching Record: 814-216 in 29 seasons.

Coaching Career: Williams started his coaching career in 1973 as head coach of Charles D. Owen High School in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Five years later he returned to his alma mater, the University of North Carolina as an assistant coach under the legendary Dean Smith.

During his time as an assistant, the team won 275 games and a National Championship. In 1988, Roy Williams left to follow fellow North Carolina alum, Larry Brown, at Kansas. Williams coached there for 15 seasons and won 418 games.

After turning down the head coaching job at North Carolina in 2000, Williams returned once again to the University of North Carolina in 2003. He has been there the past 14 seasons and has won 398 games.

Coaching Honors: In his 28 seasons as a college head coach, Williams has won at least 20 games 26 times and has made the NCAA tournament 26 times.

He has been named conference Coach of the Year nine times and National Coach of the Year six times by four different voting bodies.

He has won 17 regular season championships, seven conference tournament championships, nine NCAA Regional Championships, and two NCAA National Championships.

Strength: Rebounding. In the past five seasons, North Carolina has ranked 11th on average nationally in rebounding, ranking in the top 15 in all five seasons. In three of those seasons, they have ranked in the top ten, and in two of those seasons, the top two.

The Tar Heels have continued to dominate the boards in the NCAA tournament. They are averaging over 45 rebounds per game which is nearly two more than they did during the regular season. Additionally, they are outrebounding teams by more than 15 per game.

Weakness: Stubbornness. Roy Williams does things his way. He always has and he always will. If the game is moving more to a four-shooter one-post, Williams will continue to play two posts. It doesn’t matter what the matchup is. It is one of the reasons his teams are so good at rebounding.

Williams usually only makes changes when his hand is forced. In 2013 he went to a four guard lineup because none of his big men would step up. He has also shown a willingness to do it based on matchups and flow of the game.

He is also not going to use his timeouts to slow down a run by the other team. He hoards them for the end of games, even if that means they do not get used.

Roy William’s stubbornness is known to drive Tar Heels fans crazy. It has also probably cost him some wins in some close games, where he needed to change things up.

Williams has shown an ability to change when needed, like in the Kentucky game when he changed his defense to zone. The Kentucky game also showed why he doesn’t call timeouts, as it led to a game winning shot.

In the end, Williams has won two National titles and over 800 career games, so he may be stubborn, but it works.

Well, that is how the four coaches rank. Of course, all it takes is two wins to win a championship and all of these coaches have teams more than capable of doing so.

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