The University of North Carolina announced Thursday that Hall of Fame basketball coach Roy Williams is retiring after a 33-year career that includes three national championships, per the AP. The decision comes two weeks after the 70-year-old Williams closed his 18th season with the Tar Heels after a highly successful run at Kansas. Williams won 903 games in a career that included those three titles, all with the Tar Heels, in 2005, 2009, and 2017. He's the only coach to win 400 games at two schools, notes USA Today. UNC lost to Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in his final game, which was Williams' only first-round loss in 30 tournaments.
After spending 10 seasons at UNC as an assistant coach to late mentor Dean Smith, Williams became head coach at Kansas in 1988 and spent 15 seasons there, taking the Jayhawks to four Final Fours and two national title games. He passed on taking over at UNC in 2000 after the retirement of Bill Guthridge, but he ultimately couldn't say no a second time and returned as coach in 2003 after the tumultuous Matt Doherty era that included an 8-20 season. Williams immediately stabilized the program and broke through for his first national championship in his second season with a win against Illinois. Along the way, Williams had just one losing season—an injury-plagued 14-19 year in 2019-20—and otherwise missed the NCAA Tournament only in his first season at Kansas.
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