It's no secret that Roy Williams and technology don’t walk hand-in-hand as he passes through life each day. The Hall of Fame basketball coach has never tried hiding his disinterest in Twitter and doesn’t surf the web looking for anything.
But with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down just about everything in American life, most especially human-to-human interaction, Williams has been forced to step into a realm that’s a big foreign to him.
As an example, he took part in a Q&A session with the media Tuesday morning to field questions about how the shutdown is affecting him personally, his team, the incoming recruits, recruiting and other things. The name on his spot in the Zoom video was “Wanda Williams,” his wife, thus an indication that Ol’ Roy’s wife set up his account so he can take part.
"Well, I do know what Zoom is and I've participated in probably, counting the PSAs and interviews that I've had for the Nurses Association and everybody else, probably 10 of these (Zoom calls),” North Carolina’s coach said. “So I at least see my face up there and see how bad I look with the fake beard and these kind of things, but my wife (Wanda Williams) is here at home. She sets it up.”
One of Williams’ strengths is his in-person interaction with people, be it recruits, their parents, his team or whoever it is he must deal with.
Like the football staff at UNC has regular meetings on Zoom, the basketball staff also gets together even though the season ended just four weeks ago. And there’s recruiting, as well.
“I haven’t done Zoom with the prospects,” he said. “The last three Sunday nights, we’ve been in Chapel Hill. We’ve had a Zoom presentation or whatever the heck you want to call it where I can see all 18 of my guys.
“You talk to them about the academic side and what they’re doing and what needs to be done. And I asked them three questions at the end of it this Sunday night, I said: how’s your family, first. Secondly, are you being smart and staying away from people. Thirdly, just a very simple question: give me something positive that you’ve done this week with your family, with your academics or anything.”
Williams reports that his players and their families are all well and none have contracted the virus. But for him, the bizarre happenings isn’t just relegated to his increased use of technology.
The Williams’ are staying in the mountains except when he drives back to Chapel Hill each week, as he noted, and he’s just hanging out at home practicing social distancing for the most part.
He watched the news most of the time, with CNN his preference. An avid ESPN SportsCenter viewer in normal times, the coach says he’s maybe watched an hour of it over the last three weeks and has not watched any of the many replays of his teams’ games from years past that have aired.
As for one of his passions, Williams has gotten in some golf.
“The last three weeks, I’ve played golf in March and April, first time in my life,” he said. “Don’t know how to experience that.”
Another passion is UNC sports, all sports.
Williams has long been known to watch the Tar Heels’ spring teams play, regardless of the sport, but he can’t do that now, either and it’s eating at him.
“I hate this, boy, I’m telling you,” he said. “I love the spring always more when we had a successful basketball season. There’s no question about that. Not being able to go to the baseball games and watching our women’s tennis, or men’s and women’s lacrosse, I mean go down the line. I’ve always loved that. Sitting in Boshamer (Stadium) watching a baseball game is one of my favorite past times.”
These are strange times for everyone, so much so that even Roy Williams has ventured some toward the tech world. And he appears okay with it.
