The crowd at Thursday night’s basketball awards ceremony didn’t run former Jayhawk coach Roy Williams out of town.

Instead, they clapped — and sounded pretty sincere in their appreciation for Williams.

But outside the Lied Center, site of the ceremony, it was clear that the clapping didn’t necessarily mean unanimous support for Williams, who this week announced he would leave Kansas University to coach at the University of North Carolina.

“The city is like a bunch of jilted lovers,” said Lawrence resident Jim Knight, who stood watching as Williams and his wife, Wanda, both with red eyes, were swarmed by the media as they headed inside to the festivities.

Knight compared Williams’ 2000 statement that he was “stayin'” in Kansas to former President Bill Clinton emphasizing that he “did not have sex with that woman.”

If Williams “had left three years ago, the whole city would have said, ‘Thanks for everything,'” Knight said.

But by going back on his word Williams hurt Lawrence, Knight said, and by attending Thursday’s ceremony he hurt his former players by stealing the spotlight.

“Who would have believed Roy Williams would have been someone you couldn’t trust?” Knight asked.

Others were not so harsh.

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Carla Ingraham and her 14-year-old daughter, Emily, stood outside the Lied Center before the ceremony holding a sign that read “Thanks for 15 great years, Roy.”

Ingraham, a Prairie Village resident, said she was pleased to have Williams back for the season-ending ceremony.

“I truly believe that coach Williams is still the honest, ethical, devoted coach that he ever was,” she said. “How could you just not love your coach all of a sudden?”

Although many of her friends and co-workers had been surprised by her support for Williams, Ingraham said she thought a silent majority understood and respected Williams’ decision to return to coach at his alma mater.

After the ceremony, attendees — 95 percent of whom were Williams Fund members — expressed mixed feelings.

Ryan Eoannou said he was glad Williams returned for the ceremony. But he wasn’t sure what he thought of Williams’ speech.

“I’m still really mad that he left,” the 17-year-old Lawrence resident said.

Phyllis Satterfield said she was pleased with the courtesy most attendees afforded the former coach.

“It showed what we really are,” she said. “I think it helped him. It helped us all.”

And it was good for the players to have their coach attend, said Paula Baum, a Lawrence resident who wore an “I don’t give a s about North Carolina” T-shirt to the event.

Williams made that statement on national television when fielding questions after losing the NCAA title game.

Baum was clearly disappointed in Williams’ decision to leave Kansas but conceded it was brave of him to return for the ceremony.

Did she think the applause for him was sincere?

“I think it was respectful,” she said.