CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- Following Saturday's regular season finale, a 91-78 win over Duke, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams went to midcourt and kissed the UNC logo at center court of the Dean E. Smith. Immediately, social media and message boards lit up with comments and conjecture on the meaning behind the Hall of Fame coach's action.
During his postgame press conference, the 70-year-old was asked whether there was any significance to his court kiss. Williams said it was because of how much he valued the home-court advantage the Tar Heels had this season.
"Yeah, we only lost one game there," Williams said. "And I always thought I loved the home arena and what we were doing, and this year, the home court was not fans. It was the familiarity of the basket, familiarity with the floor, familiarity with the backdrop/background...”
During his press conference on Tuesday, a day before UNC tips off in the ACC Tournament, Williams made a lengthy opening statement in an attempt to put to rest any additional rumors or swirling conspiracies tied to the gesture.
“This stuff has gotten a little crazy," Williams started. "I said after the game, I kissed the floor as I started to walk off, and I've had plenty of times in my life I wished I had kissed the floor at Allen Fieldhouse 10-20-30 times. This year we were undefeated in the conference at home. Our last two games, the crowd came in and they were sensational. I didn't know anything about Antawn Jamison kissing the floor (as a goodbye to college basketball at the 1998 Final Four). I'd never heard that story. I knew that we won a lot of games at Kansas and here that I thought the crowd was extremely important to us. I knew it was the last game this season in the Smith Center. And that's all it was. That's all it was."
On Monday it was announced that Williams and his wife, Wanda, donated $3 million to UNC to help support scholarships for athletes, Carolina Covenant Scholars, and Chancellor’s Science Scholars.
"And then all this stuff's come out about our contributions. If you really think about it, guys, come on, one of the things it said in there is that the total is about $5.8 million in the 18 years. So it’s not the first time Wanda and I have ever done this. This is something that we've consistently done and we did it in Kansas as well. And, you know, somebody said I was trying to buy another year from Bubba. I’ve got a dadgum contract through 2028. You think I need to buy another year? I've already got a contract, Jesus Christ. It's something I've done my entire life. It’s just that I hadn't really cared if people knew about it, and I damn sure wish that people didn't know about it now so I didn’t have to listen to all this junk. But it's something that we love doing. I love supporting the university. I love supporting our other sports programs. I've done it since the day I walked on campus."
Williams then took his opening in a somewhat related direction to recall an interaction with Dean Smith after Williams donated to help fund the Smith Center.
"Dean Smith called me in his office many, many years ago and said - and I don’t do his twang in front of most people, I just do it in front of close, close friends - but he said 'I heard you gave money to the fund to build the Smith Center.' And I said yes. And I said, ‘Coach, they gave me seven years to pay it.’ And he said, ‘But still, you don't have to do that.’ I said, ‘Well, Coach, I want my children to have tickets for the rest of their lives.’ And he said, ‘Well, they will,’ and I said, ‘You're not going to live forever.’ And I sort of got a little uppity, to be honest with you, I said, ‘Coach, you’ve given money.’ He said, ‘I didn't give a year’s salary.’ He just jumped all over me. And so you can look it up guys, my name is on the board out there in the concourse, Roy and Wanda Williams. I was making less than $6,000 a year. I gave the University $5,000. So all this junk… I'm coaching my butt off, trying to coach my butt off. And that's what I'm concerned about. I'm not concerned about when I'm going… I'm concerned about when I die, because I keep telling our guards, particularly, I want them to be great players before I'm gone. But let’s put all this other stuff to rest. There's no master plan. There's no minor plan. I'm doing what I've done my whole life.”
The Tar Heels are the No. 6 seed in the ACC Tournament and will take on the winner of No. 11 Notre Dame vs. No. 14 Wake Forest on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in Greensboro.
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