Without Roy Williams, the North Carolina Tar Heels aren’t anywhere close to the household name in college basketball they are today.
Williams, who coached at UNC from his hiring in 2003 to his retirement in 2021, helped continue a long run of storied success under Dean Smith. North Carolina made the NCAA Tournament in all but one season under Williams’ guidance, when it lost in the 2010 NIT final to Dayton.
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The Tar Heels won the 2005, 2009 and 2017 National Championships with Williams at the helm, nearly adding the 2016 title, but Kris Jenkins had other plans. There aren’t enough words to describe Williams’ impact on UNC – and college basketball as a whole.
In The Athletic’s rankings of its Top 25 college basketball coaches of the 2000’s, Williams lands at second overall, one spot ahead of longtime Duke leader Coach K.
The only person ahead of Roy? His successor at Kansas, Bill Self, who helped the Jayhawks win the 2008 and 2022 National Championships.
Though Williams is no longer coaching in Chapel Hill, he’s still a fixture at North Carolina games. When Williams retired, he passed the torch to Hubert Davis, who has mixed results in four seasons as head coach.
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The Tar Heels shocked college basketball in 2022, when they made a run to the National Championship game and lost to Kansas. UNC missed the NCAA Tournament in 2023, ran to the Sweet 16 in 2024 and snuck in last season, dominating San Diego State before another disappointing showing against Ole Miss.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Roy Williams ranked second amongst Top 25 coaches of the 2000’s
