CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Roy Williams found out just how big Dean Smith’s shadow can be as soon he walked into his posh new office at the University of North Carolina’s Smith Center Wednesday, the day after he was announced as the Tar Heels’ new basketball coach.

Williams went over to Smith’s old desk, but he couldn’t sit in the chair.

“I walked around the chair and tried to think if I could sit around the other side of the desk,” he says.

It may take awhile for Williams to adjust to his new surroundings, but he is getting there.

By lunchtime, he was in the kitchen that connects to the video room, eating ribs from Wilbur’s on Route 70 with Smith — the winningest coach in Division One history — former coach Bill Guthridge, Carolina legend Phil Ford and new assistant coach Steve Robinson.

Carolina basketball always has been a family affair, and Williams, the former Tar Heel assistant who spent the past 15 years creating his own legend at Kansas, is family.

He was the first choice — and more importantly, Smith’s choice — for this plum job after turning down an offer three years ago, which paved the way for Matt Doherty’s abbreviated stint.

“My wife, Wanda, thinks it was destiny,” Williams says in a Carolina drawl. “Nobody goes to North Carolina and resigns after three years. When I made the decision the first time, I said I was staying (at Kansas). Did I mean I was staying forever? No, I meant I’m staying here right now. When this decision came around this quickly she felt it was meant to be.

“This time was different. My sister is not doing well. My dad has been sick. I needed to be here.”

Williams flew to his vacation home in South Carolina Friday for a few days of rest, happy he had put closure on his stay in Kansas. After 418 victories, nine conference championships and four trips to the Final Four, it was time to go home.