Wednesday, August 14, 2013

UNC coach Roy Williams 'tired' of reading, talking about P.J. Hairston

GREENSBORO -- Even after making five birdie putts during a nice round of golf with Davis Love III, Roy Williams was in no mood to talk about P.J. Hairston today after Williams finished playing in the pro-am of the Wyndham Championship.

"Not talking about P.J.," Williams said when I asked him how his conversations have gone recently with Hairston, North Carolina's leading scorer whom Williams suspended indefinitely. "I've read about it all damn summer, I'm tired of reading about, tired of talking about it. If you want to talk about anything else, I'll talk about anything."

Indeed, Hairston has created plenty of reading material this summer. There was his arrest in early June in Durham, where police charged him with misdemeanor marijuana possession and driving without a license. Both charges were later dropped, but Hairston at the time of his arrest was driving a 2013 GMC Yukon that had been rented by Haydn "Fats" Thomas, a Durham resident and convicted felon.

Hairston received a speeding ticket in May while driving another rental vehicle, a 2012 Camaro, that has been linked to Thomas. Then, in late July, Hairston was charged with speeding and reckless driving on his way to Charlotte. After that, Williams promptly suspended Hairston, a rising junior who considered entering the NBA draft before deciding to return to school.

"It's been a little hectic," Williams said of his summer, "and some things that make it not as much fun. But I've still got one of the best jobs in the world."

He later said "it's been a hard summer. No question about that."

During the pro-am, Williams played a foursome that included Love III and Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletic director. Williams said he has known Love III since the days when he played golf at UNC.

"I was there the day that Michael Jordan broke his driver on the practice range," Williams said. "So we go back a long ways."

Amid all the stress of the summer, Williams appeared at ease on the course. Between shots he chatted with fans, signed autographs and posed for pictures.

The drama surrounding Hairston, though, remains unsettled. Even before his suspension, Williams in a statement said Hairston would face "serious consequences." If the rental cars Hairston drove are deemed to have been an extra benefit, Hairston would face an NCAA-mandated suspension of three to nine games, depending on the monetary value of the rental cars during the time Hairston drove them. In addition, he'd face additional punishment from Williams.

Williams was in no mood to discuss Hairston on Wednesday, though he said he's "anxious" for the start of the practice.

"With the new rules, we can start as early as Sept. 27, which makes the season even longer," Williams said. "I thought it was long enough beforehand. But I'm anxious. I think we've got a great group of young kids that I'm going to enjoy working with.

"This is a good release right here, getting out on the golf course, and I enjoyed the heck out of it today."

- Andrew Carter

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

** BREAKING NEWS **
Andrew Carter 'tired' constantly showing his NCSU allegiances


...Indeed, Carter has given UNC fans yet another example of his inability to write anything worthwhile about UNC. There was Sam I Am badgering Butch, WRAL reporters chasing Roy on his walk around campus, and now Carter stoops to that level, showing up at charity golf outing badgering him about a topic for which no new information yet exists. Scrambling for another topic, Carter asked Coach Williams if he knew Davis Love III...

Solid follow-up q, solid article-- nailed it. Tell your boss at the N&O to let it go...write a story when new info comes out.

Anonymous said...

^^^^
Yea, right.
Probably, we're all tired of hearing about Hairston. End the discussion, Roy, and do what a coach with integrity would do. Cut him loose. No "indefinite suspension".
"Due to his association with and acceptance of favors from a known felon in violation of NCAA rules, P.J. Hairston will no longer be playing basketball at UNC" See how easy that is, coach.

As far as Carter writing a story about nothing substantive, It's in the tradition of UNC beat writers.
Most of them, however, are filled with gushing admiration for all things Chapel Hill.

BTW, good to know Roy is living up to his rep as "the hardest working coach in America". Guess that's why he's grousing about a few extra basketball practices. Must be interfering with his golf game.


Anonymous said...

Roy-I don't give a shit about Carolina-Why are you ticketholders giving your tickets to the wrong people-get that Presy fan out of my sight-let the scrubs deal with the mob-my ego is more important than Haiti- Williams being a jerk is not news, indeed.

Anonymous said...

tough shi# you are tired of reading about it, Roy. Its your job to manage and address this idiot you recruited. if Hairston wasn't your best player he would have been long gone. so sorry you are bothered by all this.

The Carolina Way said...

That's good stuff. Roy can't be bothered with minor details like why his star player keeps showing up on police blotters driving cars that belong to UNC supporters and/or convicted felons.

Move along, nothing to see here.

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