Roy Williams insists dizzy spells are no big deal
TV cameras caught Roy Williams with his head in his hands and a look of anguish on his face after a brief dizzy spell late in Saturday's 77-68 victory over Wake Forest, but the North Carolina coach insisted it's nothing to worry about.
"It started when I was a teenager, 14, 15 years old, playing Babe Ruth baseball," Williams told reporters after the game. "It's a little bit of a rush, things get a little black, you feel some pressure for two or three seconds, and if I don't fall on my face, I'm going to be OK."
This is not the first time Williams has been asked to address these dizzy spells. Even way back in 1995, the then-Kansas coach received letters from concerned fans and fielded calls on his radio show after experiencing similar vertigo in a high-profile game against Connecticut.
In a 1995 interview with the Lawrence Journal-World, Williams acknowledged the dizzy spells sometimes happen away from the court as well, describing one instance when he leapt up too quickly when the phone rang and had to brace himself against a bannister. At that time, Williams also insisted he was unconcerned because his yearly physicals had never revealed any health problems.
"As long as I can jog at lunch and play golf in the spring, I don't think Roy Williams will ever be a burnout candidate," Williams told the Journal-World "If they ever tell me I can't play golf, that's when you should start worrying about me."
Williams has shown more signs of stress than usual this season with defending national champion North Carolina fighting to stay out of last place in the ACC. Still, with the Tar Heels delivering their best performance in weeks in a road victory at Wake Forest, this seemed an unlikely time for circumstances to overcome him.
