Roy Williams will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend. On one level it is fairly amazing that UNC has had not just one HOF coach but three in the persons of Frank McGuire, Dean Smith and now Roy Williams. Among those three coaches there are four NCAA titles, 1132 wins and more ACC titles than I am inclined to look up right now. Pretty lofty company and indicative of an incredible streak of success dating back to the early 1950s. Roy sat down with Dean today and they talked about Roy's pending HOF induction with the media. Adam Lucas adds his always insightful thoughts here. Inside Carolina has a transcript of some quotes including this one:
Coach Williams, has your relationship with Coach Smith grown since you took the head coaching job at UNC?
"... It has grown, but I think it's grown every year. I love during practice seeing him sitting over there and watching. He'll come by once a week or so and stick his head in. I love that part of it. ... I love getting his notes from what he sees, because I think he's the best that's ever been. He knows what I want and what I want to do and having that insight is extremely important."
It is interesting that as much as Roy is successful in his own right he still appreciates getting insight from Dean Smith and it also a great benefit, in my opinion, that Roy has one of the best coaches to ever sit on a college basketball bench as a resource. So many coaches searches now revolve around finding the next great coach and in many cases coaches who become great feel the need to test the NBA waters. What is interesting is the next great coach is often found in the least likely person which I think can be said of many of the top level coaches in college basketball.
At any rate it is always nice to see these two together.
Source: Inside Carolina