To the editor:

I suppose that I shouldn’t be surprised about all of the negative Roy Williams shirts in Lawrence, but I am. This kind of thing does not represent the kind of Kansas basketball fan that I am accustomed to. KU fans support their team and coach in good times and bad. There are not many programs in the country that can say that thousands of fans show up to support their team in the middle of the night, win or lose.

Coach Roy had to make a decision. Of course I am disappointed. But, it was his decision and I have to trust that he made the best one. Many people don’t realize that there will never be a good time for Roy to leave. As every teacher or coach knows, the cycle of young people that you care about is never-ending. As one group leaves, you are already attached to the new group. Many KU faithful would like Roy to coach our team forever, retire in Lawrence, die here, be buried here or better yet, have the bodies of coaches James Naismith and “Phog” Allen exhumed so that Roy can be buried smack dab in the middle of them. This, of course, is unrealistic. He was always returning to North Carolina. It was just a decision of when.

Roy Williams has proved to us over 15 rewarding years that he is an honest, caring man with an enormous amount of character and integrity. He is a great basketball coach and mentor to his players. I admire him for that. We can guess that Roy’s decision was made, in part, to put his family first. This leads me to think that he is probably even a better father, husband and son than a coach. That makes me admire him even more.

Linda Nelson-Bova,

Lawrence