Roy Williams tears up about ovation at Kansas Jayhawks game: ‘It was pretty dang nice’
Former Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Roy Williams returned to Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night — the first game he’d attended in the building since he was KU’s coach in 2003.
At the first media timeout, KU played a tribute video to him, and fans gave him a standing ovation as he stood and thanked the crowd.
Williams became emotional when discussing that moment with reporters at halftime.
“It was pretty dang nice. It really was,” Williams said, tears welling in his eyes. “Fifteen years here and I loved it. I really did,” he added of coaching at KU. “It was hard to leave. I still get emotional about it. At the time I feel I made the right decision (to leave KU for North Carolina where he coached 18 seasons before retiring last April). I still believe that. Coming in here and people making you feel like this is pretty important, because I happen to believe basketball is pretty important.”
WIlliams said he experienced some firsts regarding the fieldhouse on Tuesday.
“It was a thrill,” he said of the evening, which ended with KU defeating Iowa State in a tense Big 12 battle, 62-61. “I’m sitting there tonight. The crowd was phenomenal. They did the Rock Chalk Chant. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen it. All the years I coached here I was a little busy during that time doing something or thinking about something.
“I never walked through the crowd. I was hearing people say nice things. I remember game days I felt a lot of times the crowd was not going to let us lose. That’s a darn good feeling to have. I’ve thought of some great memories the last four or five hours.”
Williams from his courtside seat waved to KU coach Bill Self prior to the tip.
“I asked Greg Gurley (KU radio color announcer and former KU player in Williams era) if he saw Bill to tell him to look over here. I want to wish him good luck,” Williams said. “He’s done a magnificent job. My gosh he doesn’t have enough room in his office for all the conference championships they’ve won. I enjoy watching him coach. I’ve watched him coach many times not just because it was Kansas but because I enjoy watching Bill coach.”
Williams had a busy Tuesday. He and his wife flew from North Carolina to Kansas. He met with a group of former KU players for a meal during the afternoon. The group included former KU All-American Nick Collison as well as Wayne Simien and many others.
“I was a little emotional,” Williams said. “We had 10, 15 players in the area, some local kids who played for me here. I wanted to see those kids and got a little emotional because I appreciate them. When I came here in 1988 I was not the people’s choice to say the least (he was third assistant at North Carolina and was to replace Larry Brown). The players took care of me. They really did. The first two years for sure, those kids believed what we were trying to do. They made Roy Williams feel I could coach. Those two teams were the whole key to me continuing to coach 33 years as a head coach (15 at KU, 18 at UNC).”
WIlliams, who said he missed practices and things like bus rides with his teams much more than the games, was asked if he’d like to return to see more KU games in the future.
“I hope I live enough to do those things,” the 71-year-old coach said. “I’m 38 days from total knee replacement on my left knee. I did the other one five years ago and it’s darn near perfect. I thought I’d coach forever,” he added. “I thought I’d go home one night and win a big championship and croak the next day. I’d not thought that much about retiring. People thought I was sick of name, image, likeness, the portal. It’s what I said. I didn’t feel I was getting the kids to buy in as much. I couldn’t handle that part of it.
“I didn’t want them to feel I was cheating the kids or school or whoever. Nobody I think who has ever coached has loved it any more than I did.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 8:24 PM with the headline "Roy Williams tears up about ovation at Kansas Jayhawks game: ‘It was pretty dang nice’."
