Williams, Roy (1950-…), ranks among the most successful coaches in the history of American college basketball. He coached the University of North Carolina teams that won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in 2005, 2009, and 2017. In 2007, Williams was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Roy Allen Williams was born on Aug. 1, 1950, in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina, earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 1972 and a master’s degree in teaching in 1973. From 1973 to 1978, Williams coached basketball, football, and golf at a high school in Swannanoa, North Carolina.
In 1978, Williams became an assistant basketball coach at the University of North Carolina under Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith. Williams was hired as head coach of the University of Kansas in 1988. He moved to the University of North Carolina in 2003, where he remained until he retired from coaching in 2021. Williams wrote an autobiography, Hard Work: My Life On and Off the Court (2009).
