Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Top 15 moments under Roy Williams

By Zack Pearson

DURHAM, NC - MARCH 04: Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates after defeating the Duke Blue Devils 83-76 during their game on March 4, 2006 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - MARCH 04: Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels celebrates after defeating the Duke Blue Devils 83-76 during their game on March 4, 2006 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Feb 11, 2020; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams looks on during the second half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2020; Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams looks on during the second half against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

Roy Williams picks UNC

By Zack Pearson

We start off with the moment where it all began. After turning down the North Carolina job in 2000 to remain at Kansas, the head coach would later receive the opportunity again and this time it was too good to turn down.

Kansas fell in the 2003 national championship game to Syracuse, and with UNC having an opening after the firing of Matt Doherty, it was time for Roy to come home. The head coach famously said “I could give a s*** about North Carolina right now” in an interview following the tough loss but it wouldn’t be long before he did give a crap about the program. Williams officially accepted the job on April 14th, 2003, marking the start of one of the greatest eras of UNC basketball in program history.

It was a huge day for Tar Heel Nation, getting a homegrown coach to come back and take over the program at a time when things weren’t going so well. UNC was coming off a 19-16 season overall and 6-10 in the ACC, losing to Georgetown in the NIT and then firing Doherty. They did have a top recruiting class from 2002 that would help them win the national title just a few years later but without Roy, the program doesn’t have the success it’s had over the past 18 years.

We are sure as hell glad Roy eventually gave a s*** about North Carolina.

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