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UNC is head over heels for its favorite son

Success of tough and superstitious coach Roy Williams re-energizes fallen basketball power, fans.

Some things never change for Roy Williams.

As always, the superstitious coach spends his lunch hour walking along the golf course. He stocks the mid-sized refrigerator in his office with Coca-Colas, never Pepsis, and maintains a stash of Butterfinger, Snickers or the like in his desk drawer.

Some things couldn't be more different.

He's no longer in Kansas. He's back in North Carolina.

"I think you can go home again," said Williams, who was born in Asheville, N.C., graduated from UNC, then spent 10 seasons as an assistant to the legendary Dean Smith before taking over at Kansas 15 years ago.

As always, Williams is expected to win. A lot.

"The love for North Carolina basketball is still here," Williams said. "There's no difference there. There's an excitement. There's a hope, and maybe it's a panic."

The past two seasons will do that. The storied program foundered under Matt Doherty, finishing 8-20 in 2001-02 and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 28 years. It improved to 19-16 last season but had to settle for the NIT. In the face of mounting criticism from players about his intensity and the disappointing record, Doherty resigned.

Williams, 53, who shockingly turned down the Carolina job in the summer of 2000, couldn't say no to his mentor, Smith, or his alma mater a second time.

"We used to have Dean Smith, who was the best coach in the country," said former UNC coach Bill Guthridge, the longtime assistant who succeeded Smith and led the Tar Heels to two Final Fours in three seasons. "And now we have Roy Williams, who I think is the best coach in the country."

Around Chapel Hill, you can't miss the "Roy's Back" T-shirts. At the team's Midnight Madness, 21,700 fans filled the Dean E. Smith Center. That's more than what showed for 11 of the Heels' 18 home games last season.

Success breeds excitement.

Williams' Jayhawks won nine conference titles, reached the NCAA Tournament the past 14 seasons, advanced to the Final Four in 1991, '93, 2002, 2003 and finished as runner-up in 1991 and 2003.

"There was pressure at Kansas, no question, but there's more pressure here," Williams said. "It's amazing. The experience and depth we had returning to Kansas for this year compared to the experience and depth we have here, there's a huge difference. But the expectations are still, "Final Four, here we come."'

Led by talented sophomores - point guard Raymond Felton, center Sean May and guard Rashad McCants - UNC is No.10 in the coaches' preseason poll and should be similarly positioned in the Associated Press version when it comes out Monday. The players are only adding to the hype.

"I think we have a chance to be one of the best teams ever," junior forward Jawad Williams said.

In Carolina history?

"One of the best teams in NCAA history," he said, "because of our personnel. We have a hunger about us."

A team's success, or failure, ultimately rests in the hands of the players on the court and its fortunes in the training room. North Carolina has little depth behind May and Felton and just lost valuable sub David Noel for up to two months with a torn ligament in his right thumb.

But the coach must prepare them and get them to believe in themselves and him. Doherty, following the playbook he learned from Smith and Williams, didn't manage that.

The players never gained that trust, never embraced his in-your-face style. Several reserves transferred after the 8-20 debacle, but the Tar Heels' 5-0 start last season, including a win over Kansas, seemingly signaled a cessation of the internal problems or at least a detente. Then May went down with a foot injury, and the team faded.

"For 15 years when I'd go to the (postgame) press conferences in Kansas, I'd always ask my SID if Carolina won or not," said Williams, who now will ask the same question about the Jayhawks. "The part that was really so difficult was you knew how difficult it was for the people involved and how close I was to him and his family. ... And then to have so many of my golfing buddies, my high school coach, everybody calling me and talking to me about so many negative things, it wasn't a lot of fun."

Will it be more fun now?

Rest assured. One thing will remain the same. Williams will be tough, if not more so than Doherty, with whom he remains close. The man who is mocked for being too emotional and crying at the Final Four can just as easily get red-faced mad, toss everyone out of practice and bring them back at midnight.

"I've had players come back and tell me that one practice at Kansas is worth 10 practices in the NBA," Williams said. "That's the way we're going to do it here. We're going to work extremely hard. It's something that they have to accept. It's a democracy we live in, but it doesn't have to be a democracy out there on the court."

His new players needed just a practice or two to learn they must pay attention to detail, pay attention when Williams is talking to a teammate about a screen or a box-out, or pay the price.

"I've seen the rowdy side of Coach Williams, too," Felton said.

But unlike Doherty, Williams' long and stellar resume affords him a carte blanche with the players.

"When you're a screamer, a guy who gets after people and makes them bust a gut, they call you a "Motivational Genius' if you've got the track record," ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said. "If you're a guy who's fighting for survival and you do that, they call you an "Emotional Wreck."'

The Tar Heels might not be able to cite Williams' year-by-year record, but they know how close Kansas came to winning the NCAA Tournament last season.

"If you listen to him, you're going to accomplish some great things because he's accomplished some great things," Felton said. "Whatever he's doing, it's got to be right."

The new coach, the players say, also has defined roles more specifically (you won't see everyone jacking up 3-pointers). Jawad Williams said the one-on-one, sometimes frenetic "AAU ball" came out of them in the past and that "couldn't get it done." This year, folks will see a unit.

And a winner.

Some things never change.

AGE: 53.

COLLEGE: North Carolina (1972).

COLLEGIATE COACHING EXPERIENCE: Assistant at North Carolina (1978-88), coach at Kansas (1988-2003).

RECORD: 418-101, an .805 winning percentage, the highest among active Division I coaches with at least six years of experience.

HIGHLIGHTS: After a 19-12 record in his first year at Kansas in 1988-89 (it was ineligible for the postseason), his Jayhawks won at least 20 games each of the next 14 seasons, reached the NCAA Tournament each of those years, advanced to the Final Four in 1991, '93, 2002 and 2003 and finished second in 1991 and 2003. He has received national coach of the year honors four times and in April won the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award. He serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He was the president in 2001-02. He will be an assistant on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, his fourth stint with USA Basketball.

PERSONAL: He and his wife, Wanda, have a son, Scott (a 1999 UNC graduate), and a daughter, Kimberly (a 2002 UNC grad).