To the editor:

With all of the hype of the looming Kansas vs. North Carolina basketball game, many of us can’t help but get caught up in the controversy surrounding former coach Roy Williams. I was a KU freshman during that 2002-03 basketball season, and it truly was magical – until Roy announced he was leaving. I was heartbroken.

As a youngster growing up in a small northeastern Kansas town, KU basketball under Roy Williams was all I ever knew. During the early 1990s, I can remember going to the neighboring town of Centralia to watch former KU shooting stars Alonzo Jamison and Rex Walters dominate the local high school team. Because of coach Williams and his attempt to make a connection with Kansas outside of Lawrence, I became a Jayhawk in a land where K-State Wildcats are many. If I saw coach Williams today I would thank him for making me a Jayhawk.

In retrospect, the good of coach Williams has definitely outweighed the bad. I understand his decision to leave and respect it. As for KU basketball today, coach Self has done an excellent job representing our program. The amount of class he possesses goes unmatched and he has more than proven to be a worthy successor. Coach Self is quite right that this game should be about the players. Without them we wouldn’t be here, and with a national championship in the balance, they deserve our undivided support.

Rock Chalk!

Eric Tempel,
Lawrence