WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

Former Williams player says winning titles not what matters most

By Tim Hall

Mar 25, 2009

Roy Williams left Kansas with a winning percentage of 80, his teams averaged 27.5 wins per year and he took his team to four Final Four appearances. The fans were crushed when he left Lawrence, but the reputation he left behind was "the great coach that couldn't win it all."

That all changed  when he won the 2005 National Championship with North Carolina. Rex Walters played for Williams on one of those Kansas teams that fell just short, losing to North Carolina in the Final Four in 1993. It meant a lot to Walters when his former coach finally won his title, even though he knew it wasn't what mattered most to Williams.

"He doesn't live for the national championships. He lives for his players. He lives for those moments in the locker room after great wins," Walters said on 99.9 The Fan's Sports Lunch with Mike Maniscalco. "I was extremely happy for him. Yes, Carolina ended my college career, but he means more to me than any of that."

Walters averaged over 15 points per game for the Jayhawks in his two years under Williams. He was on just one of four Jayhawk teams that advanced to the Final Four and failed to win it all.

He called Williams an "unbelievable coach to play for" and a very patient man for "putting up" with Walters. But even 12 years after his collegiate career was over, it meant a lot to see Williams win that big one.

It was good "to quiet the naysayers that always had something to say about his tournament record or lack of national championships," Walters said. "The bottom line is you've got to be really good and really lucky too, and things have to really come together to have a chance to win a national championship – and hopefully he'll get a few more."

Currently, Walters is the head coach at the University of San Francisco. He just completed his first season with the Dons and faced Gonzaga twice this year. He thinks this sweet 16 match-up between the Tar Heels and Bulldogs will be very up-tempo style and an entertaining game.

"The shot clock won't be used a whole heck of a lot," Walters said.