Roy Williams reveals reason behind retirement

Roy Williams spent North Carolina’s magical run to the Final Four as a member of the audience.

In a recent interview with the Sporting News, the former North Carolina head basketball coach gave further insight into exactly why he retired when he did, which turned out to be one season before Coach K at Duke.

Ahead of the Tar Heels’ for their Final Four showdown against their bitter rivals, the former UNC front man alluded to the decision being just as much about giving Hubert Davis a chance to take his place than the reasons he originally listed when he made the decision.

“The more I delayed it, it made all of those things more difficult,” Roy Williams told The Sporting News. “I really wanted to wait and do it a little later myself, for me personally. But if you’re talking about the next guy coming, it wasn’t going to be nearly as smooth if I waited longer.”

Roy Williams admits he never wanted to retire

Williams announced his retirement on April 1, 2021, just weeks removed from his team’s first-round 85-62 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2021 NCAA Tournament — the only first-round defeat a Williams-coached team ever suffered in 30 trips to March Madness.

In explaining his decision, Williams said his health was not a factor — only that he no longer felt he was “the right man” for the job:

“But deep down inside, I knew that the only thing that would speed that up (was) if I did not feel that I was any longer the right man for the job,” he explained in his retirement news conference (via the Associated Press). “I’m not going say the best man because I never thought I was the best at anything. But for 15 years at Kansas, I thought I was the right man. In this time at North Carolina, I thought I was the right man. I no longer feel that I am the right man for the job.”.”

Roy Williams attributed COVID-19’s interference with normal operating procedures as a reason he thought he wasn’t the right man for the job in a September 2021 appearance on UNC’s “Carolina Insider” podcast.

“There’s no question, deep down inside, I really never wanted to retire,” Williams said at the time.

“I wanted to win a championship and croak the next day and let that be it. People keep asking me why you did that and everything, and it’s exactly what I said: that I just didn’t feel like I was the right man for the job. Because I didn’t think I was doing as good a job as I’ve done in the past and I’ve had a hard time getting past that.”

Nearly one year later, it seems like there were several factors in play for Williams stepping away when he did. While he may still want to be on the sidelines with Davis and his squad, it appears Williams unselfishly stepped away at just the right time.