Head coach Roy Williams
I have yet to do my recap from Sunday’s game between Virginia and North Carolina, and when I do write it I won’t hold back there either, as there is plenty to be said. But this post, or maybe, better said, this rant of mine, is about something else. Something that has really gotten on my nerves, and something that the so-called fans that are saying/writing/thinking this should reflect about it a long while before uttering such things on public forums. What am I talking about? Simple, the beginning of all of this was during the three game losing stretch the coaching staff was attacked on several threads, one that went as far as saying that head coach Roy Williams should fire all the assistants. Oh, don’t worry, if you think the theory is maddening, wait until you hear the thought behind it.
The reasoning behind the firing of the assistant coaches, and bringing back ex head coach Bill Guthridge and ex assistant coach Phil Ford along with Wes Miller and Bobby Frasor in their place is going to make you scratch your head for a while. The poster’s theory is that UNC should cut ties with Kansas, and just have Carolina ties on the coaching staff. Let me repeat that, cut ties with Kansas, you know the same university that gave us Dean Smith, the same college where Roy Williams coached before coming back home. I mean, are we so desperate as a fan base that we would want to bring back an ex head coach who retired a decade ago and that many, including myself, thought he was not too good at recruiting to fix things? I mean, c’mon, are we so spoiled and forgetful that we do not remember why coach Williams and the present coaching staff was brought to Chapel Hill? And just for the record wouldn’t cutting all ties with Kansas mean firing coach Williams as well?
I could go on and on about all of this, but folks, it gets worst! Yes, after the loss to Virginia, which by all means no one is defending, I read the following: “thanks to Roy’s coaching we are going to lose more and more” (paraphrasing it a bit) and something to the affect of “I am a fan of national championships” coming from someone who says to be a true Carolina fan. I am sorry, these take the cake, heck they take the whole meal. We are now going to blame the coaching style of a Hall of Famer that has brought, not one, but two national titles in five years to UNC? I mean this is becoming cry baby city, where a bad season, which if you look at all the teams in the Top 25 have had as well, makes everyone just forget about the good times/seasons/years. This is utterly ridiculous and wrong on all levels! And please, do not call yourself a fan if you are just looking for national championships, or else in the story of UNC basketball you have been a fan for a very small time.
It’s the total practice. The day before, we go crazy about not getting great defensive balance, but last night in the game, we didn’t have defensive balance. We’ve had 61 practices now, and the things I’ve preached the previous 21 years seemed to work, and the things I preach this year that are the same as those 21 haven’t worked. So I’ve got to find a different way to do it; find something different. I think every year, you make different changes. Some of them subtle, some of them bigger changes. We’re not runnin the ball like I like to run it. We’re playing zone, we’ve changed three or four different offenses that we’ve tried to use, rather than sticking with one that I’ve done most of my career. Right now, it hasn’t worked as well as we’d like for it to work. I’m at my wit’s end, but at the same time, I still have to keep trying to thing of something; I still have to keep working, and I still have to make sure they keep working. If not, we don’t have any chance whatsoever. So we’re going to twink around with it a little bit, and see if we can change a few other things, and get kids to buy into it a little more, and take it from the practice court to game night.
As you can see it’s clear that the head coach (and his staff) know there are problems. They do not need anyone to tell them that. But is a coach going to change everything after doing what he has done for over two decades? Are you going to re-invent the strategy after having a 80%+ winning percentage? Are you going to start over because some might not be “buying into the program” or not getting along? No, what you are going to do is adjust a bit here and there and continue to do what has brought you to the Hall of Fame and to being one of (if not the) best coaches in the sport.
I know that fans have the right to say what they want, etc etc, but I also think that it’s wrong to go overboard on a coach like we have, a staff like ours and a team that hasn’t gelled and maybe isn’t getting along. As I have said plenty of times this season “it is what it is”, we are Tar Heels, not we are Tar Heels when we win. I loved my school for over a quarter of a century. I seen the ups and downs, especially when it comes to the gridiron. We root for our team when it’s winning, we stand behind them and support it when it’s losing, or else what fan base are we? The fact that this team is probably destined to the NIT does not make it right for the fan base to “eat their own”, especially when, for the most part, the fans tune in to watch the game for two hours, while the people involved (coaches and players) put way much more into a game/season.
Again, I finish by saying, I am not defending the loss(es), what I am doing is not condoning the pot shots taken at the people that have brought us two national championships. Because, say all you want, but the day that head coach Roy Williams decides to hang ‘em up we will be a sad fan base and will have a hard time replacing him.
