(Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
By Anthony Payero
(CHAPEL HILL, N.C.) Roy Williams is retiring as head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels after 33 years of coaching college basketball, the school announced Thursday, according to ESPN.
Williams, 70, who coached basketball for 48 years, is scheduled for a news conference on the UNC court — which was named after him — at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday.
Williams worked at his alma mater, UNC, for 18 seasons and finishes with a record of 485-163. He led the Tar Heels to three national titles — 2005, 2009 and 2017, per ESPN. Before North Carolina, he coached the Kansas Jayhawks for 15 seasons and brought them to the Final Four four times.
His last game with UNC was in the 2021 NCAA men's tournament when the Tar Heels lost to Wisconsin in the first round. According to ESPN, it was the first time Williams lost in the first-round after 30 tournament appearances.
Williams ranks third all-time among Division I coaches with a 903-264 winning record (.774 winning percentage), per ESPN. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. He is the only coach to achieve 400 wins at two different schools in the NCAA.
While at Kansas, Williams' Jayhawks earned nine regular-season conference titles, 14 NCAA tournament appearances and two national championship game appearances.
He coached for five years at Charles D. Owen High School in Swannanoa, North Carolina, and transitioned to a college career as an assistant under Dean Smith at North Carolina. Williams spent 10 years as a UNC assistant before taking the Kansas opening after Larry Brown's departure in 1988.
Williams and the Jayhawks failed to win the national championship in 2003, after which he decided to take the Chapel Hill head coach position.
He led the Tar Heels to the NCAA tournament 16 times during his 18-year tenure with the university. UNC won nine regular-season ACC championships and three conference tournament titles with Williams. He reportedly made a total of five Final Four appearances with North Carolina.