ShareThisCHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina coach Roy Williams may have thought he showed "great restraint" with his callers during his Monday night radio show, but he let it rip during Tuesday night's postgame news conference.
After watching his basketball team bounce back from Sunday's 20-point loss at Georgia Tech by topping Clemson by 10 on Tuesday night, Williams took his radio questioners to task for what he perceived as undue criticism of his players.
"I'm really proud of those kids," Williams said after Tuesday's win over the Tigers. "Everybody talked about how poorly they played at Georgia Tech. My radio call (show) last night stunk; everybody was talking about how they were Carolina fans for 9 million years and how bad we are. I don't give a damn how long you're a Carolina fan; those are kids in the locker room, and they played their buns off tonight.
"I can remember working for Coach (Dean) Smith, and we go down to Clemson, and we got beat 93-76, and I thought the world was going to end. ... But I didn't have everybody calling up the TV show, talking about my team. Don't call me next week and say how good we are; keep your damn phone calls to yourself."
On Monday night's weekly radio show, during which UNC's Hall of Fame coach takes questions from callers and a live audience, fans peppered Williams with suggestions and questions about the shortcomings of the unranked Tar Heels, who were 12-5, 2-1 in the ACC, going into Tuesday's game.
Why didn't he try a triangle-and-two defense? Why was the team not showing emotion? What about his substitution pattern? Would he consider changing the starting lineup?
Williams, in his eighth season at North Carolina, is under no contractual obligation with the school to do the show. As of 2007, his multimedia deal with Learfield Communications, which produces the weekly radio program, was paying him about $400,000 a year.
It's not the first time Williams has gotten prickly over questions from fans or media. Any query beginning with "Have you thought about..." usually gets a part-humorous, part-sarcastic response from Williams. Because if you ask it, and it's about basketball, he has thought about it, the two-time NCAA champion coach says.
And then there was the response to a reporter's question in 2009 about UNC's struggles with on-court pressure -- during which he accidentally used the F-bomb on live radio (and later apologized).
Tuesday night, he also said he was sorry for making an issue of the radio show in the news conference.
"But my God, these are 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds. Did any of you call my call-in show? Then I apologize; I should tell them that. I thought I showed great restraint last night."
"Yes, you did," radio show moderator Woody Durham agreed.
Williams was on the road recruiting Wednesday. Team spokesman Steve Kirschner called the comments a non-issue and said he would not call Williams to seek a comment.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
