UNC Basketball: Roy Williams is elite…whether you like it or not
With his third national championship in 13 seasons, Roy Williams moves into elite company in the coaching ranks…whether you like it or not.
On a number of occasions, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams has been referred to as “overrated” or “not a good ‘X’s and O’s’ coach”.
If nothing else, the Hall-of-Fame head coach should now be clear of that narrow-minded thinking.
After winning his third national championship on Monday night, Williams has moved into extremely elite company in the college basketball world.
His three national titles now put him in a three-way tie with Bob Knight and Jim Calhoun. Like Calhoun, Williams has won all three titles within a span of 13 seasons. Knight won his three titles over the course of 12 seasons.
That’s pretty good company to be in.
And keep in mind, there are only three coaches in the history of college basketball with more national titles that the aforementioned group.
Only one of them, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, is still alive, and actively coaching.
So, let me reiterate. This is extremely elite company.
Williams’ nine Final Four appearances rank fourth all-time behind only Wooden, Krzyzewski and his mentor, Dean Smith. Since returning to North Carolina in 2003, Williams’ teams have won the ACC regular season title eight times and advanced to eight Elite 8’s. Both are better than any other ACC coach in that time span, and by a large margin.
And don’t forget about his 816 wins, which put him behind only Krzyzewski and Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. Early in the 2017-18 season, Williams will become the only coach with 400 or more wins at multiple programs. And, oh yeah, he’s already the only coach with 350 or more wins at multiple programs.
You don’t like the fact that he doesn’t call timeouts when you would call them? Forgive me; I forgot to take your stellar record into account when I was ranking him ahead of you on the list of all-time great coaches.
He’s not good with in-game adjustments and “X’s and O’s”? Gosh, that 2-3 zone that he ran in the closing minutes of the Tar Heels’ Elite 8 victory over Kentucky sure seemed to do the trick.
You don’t like him because he “can’t get elite talent to come to UNC anymore”? I’d argue that what he has done over the last few years without getting McDonald’s All-Americans is rather extraordinary.
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For those of you who can’t seem to figure it out, Roy Williams is elite. He’s not just sort-of good or the benefactor of coaching at two great schools.
He’s just really, daggum good.