UNC coach Roy Williams says he should not have criticized his radio show callers last week who phoned in to criticize his team.
"I wish I had not said one word," Williams said during this week's radio show on Monday night, according to a transcript on insidecarolina.com.
Last Tuesday after UNC's win over Clemson, Williams was trying to defend his players when he said during the post-game news conference: "My radio call [show] last night stunk; everybody was talking about how they were Carolina fans for 9 million years and how bad we are. I don't give a damn how long you're a Carolina fan, those are kids in the locker room, and they played their buns off tonight. ... Don't call me next week and say how good we are; keep your damn phone calls to yourself."
Monday, however, he said he should have kept his mouth shut.
-- Robbi Pickeral
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
UNC's Roy Williams retracts criticism of radio show callers
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20 comments:
I don't blame Coach Williams. This has been his POV for quite some time. I agree with him, many fans think they know enough about the game to make suggestions to a HOF coach. I don't think WATCHING games for 30 years should give you that type of confidence.
I am a huge fan of Roy and UNC. Have been my whole life. But he was WAY off base, in my opinion. Nobody was even rude or ugly to him, they were just concerned fans. Does Roy really not want fans to call his show? I don't think so. Watching the games for 30 (longer in my case) years may not make us experts, but it does give us a right to our opinion, especially since during those years we have also made alot of donations, bought an awful lot of t-shirts, hats, and tickets. We are not his enemies, or his player's enemies, and shouldn't be treated as such. We are why he's famous and wealthy. It's okay, I guess, if he learns to keep his mouth shut or whatever, but it would be a whole lot better if he learned a little humility.
You can't take it back, Roy. You said it. You meant it. I'm sure you hurt some people. Just apologize and move on. You can still live and learn.
It's obvious that Roy is a horrible coach by these comments and should be fired immediately. Tarheel fans (what few of them are left) are rallying around the candidates who could potentially replace Roy. The question is whether he'll make it through the end of the season or be fired before then. Could hurt recruiting if the fire him too early...
Um... I just read the entire transcript and there were two words missing from the whole thing: I'M and SORRY. If you see them, let me know.
I agree Anon at 7:13... I think it's time for Roy to go. I agree with 7:06. The program is obviously on a downslope, and Coach Williams has some personal issues he needs to deal with. That should not be at the expense of these kids. I say let him go now, rather than wait.
Anon at 7:06: Thanks for the laugh. Are you serious? You think they are considering firing a coach with two national titles in the last six years? You think fans (what little are left, as you say) are "rallying around potential candidates"?? Care to inform us who those are?
I do agree that it would hurt recruiting - way to go out on a limb there...
Ridiculous
Anon at 7:15. You would probably have personal issues too if the eight McDonalds All-American you recruited shot 30% at Georgia Tech. I think Roy will probably be just fine.
Here is a question/answer from Coach Williams' call-in show that followed...
"Hey Coach. I just wanted to clarify something. I was one of the callers last week that you lambasted on your postgame show for criticizing your team. I wasn’t criticizing your team; I was more criticizing you and giving you my opinion on who I thought should be in the starting rotation. But I thought it was very uncharacteristic for you to act that way in the postgame press conference.
“Alright, I have no problem with that, Larry… I’m naive. You’ve got to understand this. I’m naïve as all get out. I’m corny as all get out. I think North Carolina fans ought to cheer for North Carolina people and not criticize. I was just crushed when T.J. Yates’s picture went up in the Smith Center and they booed that kid. I didn’t like that. And the thing is, I thought last week I sat here and took it very well. No one knows our team like our coaching staff. No one. If Dean Smith were to come in and watch practice every day, he wouldn’t know my team as well as I know the team.
“Whether it was uncharacteristic or not for me to do that, everybody has got to realize that I’m human. That if you say something that upsets me and that I don’t think is fair, then I’ll try to swallow it for 24 hours and then somebody said something at the press conference.. Do I wish that I would have just let it go and not said a word? You’re darn right I do. I wish I had not said one word. I wish that I would have just kept swallowing it. I hate that I said that. What I hate even more is that I categorized people when I said fans, because our fans don’t upset me. My gosh, the fans in the Smith Center this year have been unbelievable. They’ve helped us in games. North Carolina fans have just been phenomenal.
“But it is, and people have just got to accept it, I’m not perfect. Never will be and never have been. But if somebody says something that is not fair… Somebody told me Mack Brown used to say, ‘Well, how many times have you been to practice?’ But was I wrong, Larry? You’re darn right."
HAHA WOW. anon at 7:06, I don't know what it is you're smoking but I would LOVE to buy some! You are insane if you believe what you wrote.
The ABCers just love to take anything Roy says and make it seem worse than it is. Yeah, he says dumb stuff. So does every other coach in America. Including Mr. Perfect over there in Durham, who is known to have quite the foul mouth I might add.
To all you UNC CHeat fans, and this is coming from a Non Duke fan.
Dean + Roy = K
You are just jealous that K is a much, much better Coach than either your beloved Dean or Huckleberry Hound Roy. For the record Roy one a Championship with Matt's spoiled players. And Sidney Lowe could have coached that second team to a title. So get off your high horses and accept it.
Wow, some really stupid comments on here; of course, it's probably just some people trolling.
There's no way UNC lets Roy go; people need to realize that right after the championship UNC was decimated by graduation and underclassman who departed. He lost 8 players!
What if Duke had let Coach K go when Duke started the season 0-10 that year he had the back surgery? Where would Duke be now?
UNC will come back; Roy has good recruits in the pipeline and there are some good players here. UNC is two years away from being back in the ACC/National hunt.
Standy ABC'rs...Roy's here to stay; so is Butch.
Roy's comments were out of line; but people need to understand that he's not Dean Smith and Roy wears his emotions on his sleeve. He defended his players and I can live with that.
Coach k was 9-3 the year he had surgery...for the basketball illiterate
This trail of messages is idiotic. There is less than a 10% chance Roy is still coach after this season. I've been a Ram's Club supporter for 10 years, and even I see the writing on the wall. He has led this program into the ground the past two years - and he has no discipline. Calling out us fans for expressing our two cents is shameful. I welcome a non-Carolina alum as the next coach who can be even keeled.
"I could give a $h!t about North Carolina."
"If I knew...that, you still think we'd be F**K!N' stinkin' at it?"
"It feels like [Haiti] to me, because it is my life."
"Throw that guy outta here."
"How could you go any lower?"
"Those kids played their dadgum friggin' BUNS off tonight."
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