| | Associated Press
LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Roy Williams found it harder to say no to
his players than to Dean Smith.
So Williams, ending an agonizing week that kept two states and
two great college basketball programs in suspense, gave up a chance
to coach his beloved North Carolina and decided to remain at
Kansas.
|  | | More than 16,000 Jayhawks fans watched and applauded Roy Williams' news conference at the football stadium. |
"I'm staying," Williams said Thursday night at a news
conference as more than 16,000 fans sitting in the football
bleachers screamed and cheered.
"The decision here I've made came after the toughest seven days
of my life. I couldn't trade my players. That became more important
than my dream of being at North Carolina."
Calling Smith to say he wasn't going to succeed Bill Guthridge
was "as painful an experience I could have."
"I apologized to him, and just those words weren't enough, said
Williams, who was an assistant to Smith for 10 years. "Coach
Guthridge was another hard call. He and coach Smith are the reasons
I'm here today. I can't help but a part of me feeling I've let them
down."
Williams, a North Carolina native who went from his alma mater
to Kansas in 1988, admitted he changed his mind several times and
cried often while trying to decide if he would replace Guthidge as
coach of the Tar Heels.
He said he came to a final decision Thursday afternoon while
walking alone through the Kansas campus. On buildings and walls
everywhere were signs and banners urging him to stay.
"I did what coach Smith taught me to do. I made the decision
based on the most important thing, my players. I could not leave
them," Williams said.
Several times during the nearly half-hour news conference,
Williams became misty-eyed and hoarse. Wearing shoes with no socks,
he sat with Kansas athletics director Bob Frederick as a crowd
estimated at 16,300 watched the news conference on a giant video
screen in the football stadium and cheered almost every word.
After the news conference, he walked outside to speak to the
happy, festive crowd. As he emerged, one woman yelled, "If you
think those kids played hard for you before, Roy, just wait till
you see how hard they play for you now."
North Carolina has been without a coach since Guthridge
unexpectedly retired last Friday.
"We in the Carolina family are tremendously disappointed,"
North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour said at a news
conference in Chapel Hill on Thursday night. "We are the
University of North Carolina and we will move forward. I know our
fans are disappointed because of their love for Roy.
"Roy never told us in a definite way he was coming," Baddour
said.
Guthridge will act as interim coach of the Tar Heels and there
was no timetable set for hiring his replacement even though the
crucial summer recruiting period starts Saturday.
Earlier Thursday as he walked the campus, Williams wore the
haggard look of a man who just lost his job, not a man struggling
to pick between two great ones.
"My decision, as I said, is the most difficult time period I've
ever had," Williams said.
Williams has a 329-82 record in 12 seasons at Kansas, the
winningest record for a coach in that many seasons. He has taken
the Jayhawks to two Final Fours and won seven conference
championships.
Williams' wait gripped both states for a week. Kansas officials
said almost 2,000 e-mails had arrived addressed to Williams urging
him to stay.
"My mentors taught me that loyalty is most important. I
couldn't leave my players," said Williams, who mingled with crowd
after the news conference. "I couldn't trade my players. That
became more important than my dream of being at North Carolina.
| |
“ |
My mentors taught me that loyalty is most important. I
couldn't leave my players. I couldn't trade my players. That
became more important than my dream of being at North Carolina.
” |
|
|
—
Roy Williams
|
"I still want to win it all, that hasn't changed."
But even as a throng of journalists waited outside Allen
Fieldhouse for word Thursday, Williams walked alone across the
grounds, silently and unsuccessfully groping for his own answer.
He finally left the campus Thursday afternoon, driving off alone
after telling reporters that he was going to his Lawrence home to
"do some thinking."
Friday, the day before summer recruiting begins, was Williams'
self-imposed deadline.
Williams said Baddour "recruited me harder than I've ever been
recruited."
"I sincerely apologize to him ... just those words aren't
enough," Williams said. After flying back from the Carolinas on
Wednesday evening, Williams met for several hours Thursday with
athletic director Bob Frederick, Chancellor Robert Hemenway and
members of his coaching staff.
Williams returned from a vacation at his South Carolina beach
home Wednesday night, denying reports that he had accepted a
multiyear contract to coach North Carolina. | |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Watching from the stadium video screen, the Kansas faithful celebrate Roy Williams' decision.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
ESPN's Dick Vitale comments on possible coaching candidates at UNC.
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 76ers' president Pat Croce talks about Larry Brown being a candidate at UNC.
wav: 264 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN.com's Andy Katz discusses the coaching situation at UNC.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Drew Gooden is glad Roy Williams is staying at Kansas.
wav: 153 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Joseph Forte comments on Roy Williams' decision not to move to UNC.
wav: 75 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
With his players in mind, Roy Williams decides Kansas is where he should be.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Jay Bilas saw Roy Williams' loyalty to his players as the deciding factor.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Jay Bilas looks at several other head coaching candidates for the Tar Heels.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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