CarolinaBlue.com - Coaching Shakeup

October 29, 2009

Adam Powell
CarolinaBlue.com Publisher

North Carolina's basketball staff will be doing things a little bit differently this season, as longtime assistant coach Joe Holladay is taking over as Director of Basketball Operations for a year.

The position of Director of Basketball Operations had been previously rotated each year by fellow staff members C.B. McGrath and Jerod Haase since Roy Williams returned to Chapel Hill prior to the 2003-2004 season.

With the need to get both of those young coaches valuable experience in actual coaching, however, Williams felt the need to change things up a little bit this year and have both of them on the court during practices and games.

"Every year what we've done is we've alternated C.B. McGrath and Jerod Haase from being on the court and on the bench or being the Director of Basketball Operations," said Williams. "I decided to get Joe involved in that rotation (this year)."

"The biggest reason by far is I've got to get my young guys a little more well-known, because I'm not going to coach 100 more years. They're going to go out and be head coaches, so I wanted to get both of them (McGrath and Haase) more experience in recruiting, more experience on a consistent basis being on the court," Williams added.

According to his biography on the UNC school site, Holladay's responsibilities as Director of Basketball Operations will include 'a number of behind-the-scenes and operational duties, and he oversees the team's academic progress.'

What he won't be able to do is coach---either during practice or on the bench during games.

"They cannot coach. They shouldn't be on the court during practice. Jerod and C.B. were never on the court in practice. Jerod and C.B. never sat on the bench during game day," said Williams. "Always in the past, whenever Jerod was Director of Basketball Operations or C.B. was, I never would let them sit on the bench, and almost every team in America would have their Director of Basketball Operations sitting on the bench, and I've never had mine."

Williams is switching up that particular standard this year, and will have Holladay on the bench.

While he doesn't want to give out the perception that Holladay would actually be coaching, he says it just wouldn't be right to take away the opportunity for his 17-year assistant at both Kansas and UNC to sit with the team on gamedays.

It's perfectly legal for Directors of Basketball Operations to sit on the bench with the team during games---again, so long as they're not actively involved in coaching.

Thus, Holladay will sit each game at the far end of the bench closest to midcourt so it won't look like he's trying to get involved in the coaching process.

"Joe is an old guy---he's older than I am---so I'm not going to take him off (the floor on game day) like that. I'm going to have Joe sitting down there this year," Williams said. "He'll sit on the bench, but he'll just sit closest to the scorer's table."

"When you're 62 years old you don't need to try to drop something 'cold turkey,' so I'm going to sit him on the other end (of the bench) so I don't listen to him and the players can't listen to him, but he'll be sitting down there whispering things into C.B.'s ear or yelling at referees through C.B. or something," Williams continued.

Holladay has typically sat directly beside Williams to his immediate right---just prior to the first players that are on the bench waiting to potentially enter a game.

"Joe has always been beside the player, and then me. I've always had one guy between me and the player, and then the other guys sit closer to the center line," Williams said. "(This year) he (Holladay) will sit closest to the scorer's table."

"Joe can't coach, so I'm not going to have it look like he's coaching. He's not going to coach. He hasn't been on the court a single time at practice. So I'm not going to have him sit there (where he's sat in the past)," Williams added.

"Let's be honest. Some people (college programs) in the past, a guy comes over and a guy starts talking to him when he comes up that's a non-coaching position, I can assure you he's not talking about his freaking English paper. So I'm just not going to have that question mark (with Holladay)."

Williams says that Holladay is okay with the transition, which will allow both Haase and McGrath time over the next several months not only to coach up the Tar Heel players, but also to get valuable experience in recruiting and offseason personnel development.

"Joe is 62, and he's just fine with it. I'm taking care of him, just like everything that was involved in the past," said Williams.

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