Roy Williams is mired in the worst stretch of his North Carolina basketball coaching career. Is this the beginning of the end for the Hall of Famer?
This is the worst stretch of basketball for North Carolina in the Roy Williams era.
Following Monday night’s last-second loss at Notre Dame, North Carolina has now lost six straight games. And each of the six has been more heartbreaking than the next with the Tar Heels propensity to lose games at the buzzer.
North Carolina basketball hasn’t lost six straight games since 2001-2002 when Matt Doherty oversaw an 8-20 team. College freshmen weren’t alive to witness that horror show but they’re living a horror show now.
Williams hasn’t lost this many games in his career since the eight straight he dropped in his second year with Kansas in 1989. Could this be the beginning of the end for Williams, 69, and could he consider retirement? It’s been more than 30 years since Williams experienced a season like this and the frustration is mounting.
“You got two choices: You can compete your butt off, or you can get in the fetal position and curl up and start crying,” Williams said after Monday night’s 77-76 loss at Notre Dame. “I’m not going to freaking do that. We’re going to f***ing — excuse me, I apologize to everybody — we’re going to freaking compete. That’s what we’re going to do. We play Saturday. You feel sorry for yourself, and you’re going to do that the rest of your freaking life. I apologize. I don’t know what I’m doing right now the way I’m cursing.”
That doesn’t sound like a coach who is ready to call it a career and enjoy his senior years with a newspaper and a glass of lemonade on the porch.
Has this been a tough year? Of course.
Has Williams forgotten how to be a great coach? Of course not.
This season is an outlier on his Hall of Fame career. This is not the start of a new trend where North Carolina loses more than they win and are near the bottom of the ACC standings.
Yes, the injury to Cole Anthony is a big reason for the team struggling so mightily this year, but UNC has also lost six straight games since his return, so it doesn’t all lie with him either. In short, this is a year where everything that could go wrong, went wrong. They didn’t have the abundance of talent to make up for a star player getting injured. They weren’t able to overcome some of the mental mistakes they make on the court. They didn’t have the edge to pull out close games like they have in the past.
It’s just one of those years.
Sometimes you can’t explain it. Sometimes it’s difficult to face the truth.
The truth is Williams isn’t getting ready to walk into the sunset and retire. This is just a bad season that can’t end soon enough.
“You’ve got to be all-in, or you’ve got to leave,” Williams said. “Come on. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but you’ve still got to compete. It’s frustrating, it makes you angry, and every little mistake you wonder why, but the bottom line is we’re going to play a game on Saturday and see what happens.”
This is the type of attacking mindset and relentless pursuit of perfection that made Williams so successful. He hasn’t lot one bit of his coaching acumen or his ability to recruit and develop players.
Suggesting Williams is going to retire after one poor season would be silly. Do you really think Williams would choose to walk away on his own volition after a season like this?
There’s a greater chance of getting an iced tea in hell than Williams retiring after this year.
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