Come on, Roy Williams, and do us all a favor. Accept the job as head coach at North Carolina, and do what needs to be done: Restore Duke-UNC as the most intense rivalry in college basketball.
For the last three years it's been anything but. Matt Doherty was 2-6 against the Blue Devils in his three-year tenure with the Tar Heels, but such a dismal record doesn't even begin to explain why this once-proud matchup has lost much of its luster in the eyes of the college basketball world.
For one, it's because Duke vs. Carolina is no longer a contest for ACC supremacy--Duke's competitor in that department now sits in College Park, Md. Even this year, when Wake Forest led the race for the conference's regular season title, no games drew more hype that the two between the Blue Devils and the Terrapins.
Some say that national image isn't what matters; instead, it's the sentiments on campuses that are important. But again, this year "Go to Hell, Carolina" t-shirts were a much more difficult find than the "Spear the Turtle" ones which now grace many students' torsos.
The Terps also presented what looked to be Mike Krzyzewski's biggest coaching rival: Gary Williams.
Fresh off a national championship, Williams fielded post-game questions regarding his coaching battle with Krzyzewski, clearly a signal from reporters that they saw the two as possessing similar abilities.
And why not? The other seven coaches in the ACC, talented as they were, couldn't hold a candle to either in terms of their resumes with their respective teams. Leonard Hamilton and Skip Prosser were in their first and second years at their respective schools, and Prosser--this season's ACC coach of the year--could easily be Pittsburgh bound in a matter of days.
Pete Gillen and Herb Sendek define a season as successful if it ends in an NCAA bid.
Larry Shyatt was in what proved to be his last season at the helm of the Clemson program. In three seasons, Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt has coached in exactly one NCAA Tournament game, as did Doherty at North Carolina.
But bringing in Roy Williams would change all of that. Though he's never won a title, he's done just about everything else. Williams has led the Jayhawks to nine conference titles and four Final Four appearances.
The reigning Big 12 coach of the year stands as the fourth-fastest coach in NCAA history to reach 400 wins. In his 15 seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks reached the 20-win mark in all but one.
It would also restore UNC to its proper position among the game's elite, a status that enhances not only the Duke-Carolina rivalry, and not only Williams' own resume, but also the status of the ACC as a conference.
This season, the Big 12 had two No. 1 seeds, a No. 2 seed, two sixes and a 10, a resume far more impressive than that of the ACC. Of the six major conferences, the ACC was the only one to not have a single team reach a regional final.
All of which comes back to the classic contests between Duke and UNC. This season, it wasn't just the Duke-Maryland series that surpassed this rivalry, but other matchups between Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as the Big East's battles between Pitt, Connecticut and Syracuse. None of these rivalries had the history of Duke-UNC, but they sure were more meaningful this season.
The ACC need Williams if it hopes to maintain the reputation of having not just the game's best players--but also its best minds--on the sidelines. Besides, after his loss to Syracuse Monday, Williams was asked by CBS's Bonnie Bernstein about his interest in the UNC position. Still reeling from the emotions of the loss, Williams was clearly upset by the question.
"I don't give a s--t about Carolina right now," he said.
Please Roy, take the job. Those words were just too priceless to let slip away.
Evan Davis is a Trinity senior and senior associate sports editor. His column appears every Wednesday.
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