UNC to name playing court at Dean E. Smith Center after Roy Williams

UNC is planning to honor legendary head coach Roy Williams with a special court dedication on August 24

When it’s all said and done, Roy Williams will go down as not only one of the best coaches at the University of North Carolina but in all of college basketball.

As he enters another season as head coach of the Tar Heels, Williams will look to take this team to another Final Four which would be the third in four years.

But before he begins the season, the program has decided to honor Williams in a very special way.

The athletic department announced on Thursday that they will name the playing court at the Dean E. Smith Center after Roy Williams with a special ceremony on August 24th during a basketball reunion.

The official name will be the “Roy Williams Court at the Dean E. Smith Center” according to the release:

Since Williams joined the Tar Heels program back in 2003 the Tar Heels have won the national championship three times and have reached the Final Four five times. After some disappointing seasons prior to Williams arrival, the head coach help the program return to prominence.

He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and then the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Williams graduated from UNC and then began his coaching career at Charles D. Owen High School from  1973-1978. He returned to UNC to serve as an assistant under Dean Smith in 1978 and was part of the coaching staff that helped lead the Tar Heels to the 1982 National Championship. He left to take the Kansas job in 1988 where he served as head coach until 2003.

UNC is 424-126 under Williams in his first 15 years as head coach and 210-30 at the Dean E. Smith Center.

For more information on the special ceremony, please check back with Keeping It Heel.