| | KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Once again, the Roy Williams rumors are
flying.
Is the successful Kansas coach headed back to his beloved North
Carolina, where Bill Guthridge is struggling in the shadow of Dean
Smith?
Is he angry over criticism of himself and his team, whose 20-7
record would be a badge of honor for about 90 percent of Division I
programs but disappoints legions of spoiled Jayhawks fans?
The latest speculation was fueled by a column in the Omaha
World-Herald in which Williams was quoted -- correctly, he admits --
as saying that he now agreed with former Missouri coach Norm
Stewart's line that coaches should move around before fans start
getting weary of them.
In a teleconference on Friday, Williams said he was referring to
Danny Nee, who has come under sharp criticism in his 14th season at
Nebraska.
He said as soon as he read the quote, he thought, "Oh, no."
"Danny's gone to nine straight (postseason) tournaments and
it's sad what he's going through," Williams said Friday. "It was
not intended to say anything, not intended to have any ulterior motive."
He said he was talking in general about how difficult it is for
a coach to stick around in one job for 30-odd years as Smith did at
North Carolina.
"Are you going to see somebody do it for 30 years? Yes, it's
more difficult now," he said. "The game has changed now because of the Internet, the talk
shows. There's so much more information out there. People read
something in print, it gives it more credibility. They hear it on
the radio, it gives it more credibility. We didn't have that years
ago.
"I said you don't think you will see the Dean Smiths more
often, it's just that there's so much information out there,
factual or not."
Williams, the winningest college coach in the decade of the
'90s, admits he's been too thin-skinned about being criticized.
"The criticism is going to be there. It's something I've got to
live with. A lot of times I don't think it's fair. But most of the
time I just don't read it."
The Williams-to-Carolina rumors will gain renewed fury next week
when he flies to North Carolina to see Kim Williams perform on a
student dance team during a game.
"If my daughter's dancing next Wednesday night, I'm going to go
back to watch my daughter dance," he said. "I can't let peoples'
perceptions and rumors run my life."
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