Roy Williams speaks at tip-off dinner for UNC-Wilmington

On Thursday, Roy Williams traveled to Wilmington to speak at the UNCW basketball team’s tip-off dinner.

As most already know, C.B. McGrath, a long-time assistant under Roy Williams, accepted a head coaching job for the Seahawks just days before the Tar Heels won their sixth national championship.

McGrath began coaching alongside Williams at Kansas in 1999, and he followed the Hall of Fame coach to Chapel Hill in 2003 when Williams decided to return to his alma mater. McGrath was also a player for Williams at Kansas from 1994-1998.

This was the second-annual tip-off banquet for UNCW. The event is a fundraiser with the purpose of raising money to fill some of the needs of the basketball program. There were roughly 400 people in attendance.

When asked to be the primary speaker at the function, Roy Williams took the offer without hesitation. Williams thinks of McGrath almost like a son, so the decision was a no-brainer for him.

When asked about losing his assistant before his speech, Williams said, “He is a part of my family.” He was very complimentary of McGrath, claiming that he will do big things for the UNCW program.

Roy addressed the fans and people of the program when he got up to speak, stressing the importance of their support to the team’s success. He let them know impressive their new head coach is and even challenged them to fill up the stands each and every game. Clearly honored by his decision to speak, the crowd was very receptive of what Williams had to say.

Now that McGrath is coaching at another Division 1 school, it begs the question: Will the Tar Heels schedule a series with UNCW? We saw Roy Williams do this with Jerod Haase when he was coaching at UAB. When asked about potentially going head-to-head with his former player and assistant, Williams seemed to hint that something is in the works. It’s likely that we’ll see UNCW make an appearance on Carolina’s schedule in the near future.