North Carolina’s Roy Williams intends to coach ‘another six to 10 years’
In the wake of the surgery he underwent Sept. 19 to remove a tumor from his right kidney, North Carolina coach Roy Williams had to spend a week or two away from basketball in order to recuperate.
The time off is not something he wants to make permanent anytime soon.
Williams, 62, told an audience of 500 at a speaking appearance in Wilmington on Monday that he could see himself coaching at North Carolina for up to a decade.
"If I stay healthy, I'd like to coach for another six to 10 years," Williams said, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. "I don't want to garden. I don't want to go to work. [As UNC basketball coach] every day I get to do what I want to do."
If Williams were to coach into his 70s and North Carolina remains a national power under his leadership, he could make a serious assault on the record books.
Williams has won 675 games in 24 seasons as head coach at Kansas and North Carolina. At that 28-wins-per-year pace, Williams would need eight years to be on the verge of joining Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight as the only Division I coaches to eclipse the 900-win plateau.
Surely Williams is sandbagging a bit, but it doesn't sound as though he's confident next season's North Carolina team will keep up that 28-win pace. Asked how he expects the ACC preseason poll to look, Williams said, "I think Duke will be No. 1, and State will be No. 2. [North Carolina] will probably be No. 4 or 5."
Fourth or fifth? Even with four first-round draft picks off to the NBA and some youthful replacements who still need to prove themselves, it's hard to see North Carolina finishing outside the ACC's top three.
