14 years of Roy watching

Bob Davis, radio voice of Kansas University, ribbed both Roy Williams and the Journal-World while emceeing the KU men’s basketball banquet five or six years ago.

“I knew Roy Williams was the most important person in Kansas, maybe even more important than the president, when I read this story in the paper: ‘Williams has head cold,'” the loquacious, golden-voiced Davis said, holding up the paper as both proof and a prop.

Like Davis, Williams and the 2,000 fans at that season-ending affair at Williams’ much-beloved Allen Fieldhouse, I also had to shake my head and chuckle in amazement at the extensive coverage Williams received during his years here.

Williams received so much pub, he is probably giddy he’s getting away from yours truly, who tracked the coach like a hound dog chasing a fallen pheasant during 14 of his 15 years at Kansas. Why 14 years? Remember, Williams didn’t explode onto the local and national scene until November of his second season, when the Jayhawks shocked Louisiana State and Shaq, plus UNLV and St. John’s, in the 1989 Preseason NIT.

After that 30-5 season, there was no looking back as “Roy” became the most recognizable first name in the Sunflower State.

As somebody who has written the word “Roy” more than anybody in the history of mankind, I now get the last word on Williams, who Monday accepted the head-coaching position at his alma mater, North Carolina.

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Top moments in Williams era: With all due respect to four Final Fours and nine league titles, I point to the 1989-90 season, in which Kevin Pritchard, Mark Randall, Rick Calloway, Terry Brown and Jeff Gueldner helped the Jayhawks slice teams with their pinpoint passing and unselfish play.

That’s the season in which KU pounded Kentucky 150-95 at Allen Fieldhouse with ESPN’s Dick Vitale going ga-ga over Williams while proclaiming the Dean Smith disciple the best young coach in the country.

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Low moments in Williams era: The obvious would be Williams turning out to be a liar — let’s be nice on Easter Sunday and call him a fibber — regarding statements about his future at KU.

In July of 2000, after turning down a job at his alma mater, KU’s coach said: “I said this would be the last one (news conference) I have until they fire me or I retire. There’s no more job things. I can’t stand but one. This is enough.”

There was one more “job thing,” culminating last Monday when Williams departed KU for North Carolina.

Not to be forgotten is the slap in the face he gave the local media in explaining why he allowed Sports Illustrated to ride the team bus to and from a game last season.

“I could let your paper, your paper, your paper and your paper do it,” he said to local media members. “We could do it every week. It’s redundant, been there, done that. Plus whether you like it or not, the kids like Sports Illustrated more than they like you guys. It’s just a fact of life.”

By the end, Williams was a guy who took care of his national favorites more than the local writers who’d been on board from the start.

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Greatest victories: Wins over North Carolina at the 1991 Final Four and Marquette at the 2003 Final Four were monumental, not to mention an 83-65 rout of Indiana and 93-81 come-from-behind victory over Arkansas in the 1991 NCAA Tournament in Charlotte, N.C. There were many more, like all Williams’ 15 straight wins at Bramlage Coliseum over Kansas State and biggies over the many powerhouse teams he faced in playing an always-difficult schedule.

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Worst losses: Everybody remembers season-enders to UCLA in 1990, UTEP in 1992, Virginia in 1995, Arizona in 1997 and Rhode Island in 1998. How about that confusing 64-49 regular-season loss to Long Beach State in 1993 at Allen Fieldhouse. That one came out of nowhere, especially considering KU marched to the Final Four later that season.

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Best player in Williams era: Nick Collison in a close decision over fellow Iowan Raef LaFrentz. Paul Pierce and Drew Gooden were amazing, also, but played just three seasons apiece. Williams will never forget his Iowa connection, that’s for sure.

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Worst player in Williams era: Do I want to go there on Easter Sunday? Nah. But there once was a former junior-college All America guard from the West Coast who, for whatever reason, had problems dribbling the ball up and down court without the ball kicking off his legs out of bounds.

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Top jobs in recruiting: Plucking Jacque Vaughn and Paul Pierce out of Los Angeles were master maneuvers. However, Williams’ theft of LaFrentz from the clutches of the University of Iowa was the biggest recruiting accomplishment of Williams’ career.

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Most-quotable player in Williams era: Ryan Robertson over Drew Gooden, though sophomore Keith Langford could eventually make a run at both of them. Kevin Pritchard was the most-quotable player among Jayhawks who suited up for both Larry Brown and Williams.

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Worst quote in Williams era: Williams’ assistant coaches, who weren’t allowed to speak to the media, in one of the more puzzling policies of all time.

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Most telling reasons Roy went to Carolina: “It would have been hard to tell coach (Dean) Smith no again,” he said. “The longer it went on, I thought it would be unfair to put them through that and say no again.”

One can never underestimate how much Williams truly hated working for Al Bohl the past two years and how that situation changed the coach’s personality in a negative way. A part of Williams walked out the door the day Bob Frederick was forced out as KU athletic director and the day Bohl was hired with Williams having no say in the matter.

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Gary’s bottom line on Williams the man and Williams the coach: I would have to agree with Kansas City columnist/radio personality Jason Whitlock who recently said of Roy, “Anybody can have a bad month.”

Williams said and did some stupid things this past month — it’s a shame UCLA and Carolina job speculation diminished his team’s postseason accomplishments — but the fact remains Williams is a good man who did many great things for KU and the community.

And a memo to you Carolina fans who are wishing Williams would act happier about taking his dream job: You can rest assured Williams’ teary-eyed news conferences are a thing of the past.

He’s currently enjoying his favorite holiday, Easter, at his beach home in South Carolina and will return to Chapel Hill next week with fire in his eyes as he tries to devise ways to out-coach and out- recruit Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski.

Any feelings he has for Kansas will be etched in his heart, not his face.

The hard part is over. He’s said his final goodbyes to KU and the business at hand — recruiting — will start to engross him. Give him a break as he takes it easy during May and part of June, when he normally catches his breath on the golf course.

As far as the future of the writer he’s left behind … memo to KU: I’d like to enjoy my favorite holiday, too, so hire Bill Self as coach and fast!