Not Calling Timeouts May Be Stubborn, But It Also Works
CHAPEL HILL – Roy Williams and timeouts have basically been like oil and vinegar in the coach’s 30-year Hall of Fame career. Yet, he’s sort of become synonymous with them, though with a twist.
Williams doesn’t like calling timeouts, even in seemingly dire situations. That’s actually no secret within the college basketball universe, and it's at times a thorn of contention for some UNC fans.
That’s why it’s a bit odd that Williams’ involvement in a current television commercial promoting Coaches Against Cancer focuses on timeouts.
“I haven’t even seen it,” Williams said Friday at his press conference at the Smith Center in advance of Saturday’s game at Louisville.
Then, upon learning it’s about calling timeouts he leaned back and laughed out loud.
“I haven’t seen it, I did participate in it, it was me,” he said, smiling. “I do as many things as I can for Coaches Against Cancer. Cancer itself is probably my leading cause of what I like to help raise money for. But I haven’t seen that commercial, but I’d like to see it.”
The following is the rest of Williams’ humorous exchange with the media about his theory on timeouts, his reputation regarding them, and even if he knows former Virginia coach Pete Gillen, who notorious for calling calling them early in games and rarely saving any.
Williams: “One of these days, I’m just going to call five timeouts - no you can’t call five, I guess we’ve got four – I’m gonna call four timeouts in the first four minutes just to see what the hell it felt like.”
Media: There’s a blog out there that has consecutive minutes that you haven’t called one.
Williams: “Is that right?”
Media: It’s 140 minutes and 4 seconds.
Williams: “Which game was it?”
Media: Pittsburgh, first half of the Pittsburgh game, the very end of the first half.
Williams: “Use it or lose it.”
Media: Do you think you can make it the rest of the year without losing one?
Williams: “Oh, I could.”
Media: If you could make it through the State game without using one…
Williams: “I was so mad then I was not going to call timeout. And here one time, we were behind State 10-0 here to open the game, I believe I’m right – I’d bet money that we were down 10-0 and I didn’t call a timeout.
“It’s what we practice for. I mean, now it’s gotten to be a personal thing, now I don’t do it just to tick everybody off. But it’s what we practice for to be able to handle those situations. If I call timeout I’m just going to yell at them.”
Media: Are you friends with Pete Gillen?
Williams: “Yeah. Pete and I were together at the World University Games (1991) in Sheffield, England. Me and P.J. Carlesimo and Peter and Eddie (Fogler) and we had a good time. Carlesimo was crazy, oh God we’d been friends for a long time.
“I said, ‘We need to take a day off.’ We’d played 12 days at Seton Hall and then we come over here and we play. What in the blanket-blank, blanket-blank, blanket-blank, blank, blank – what are we going to do? I said, ‘Well, we can walk down to the bottom of the hill about 200 yards, get on a train and ride for an hour, get out and walk about 300 yard and watch the third round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale. We need a day off,’ so that’s what we did.”
Media: I was going to ask you, are you aware that everyone in the building wants you to call a timeout?
Williams: “Oh yeah.”
Media: Everybody in the world following it wants you to call a timeout.
Williams: “Oh yeah.”
Media: So there is some stubbornness there?
Williams: “Oh yeah. A lot.”
Media: There were even State fans yelling at you to call a timeout.
Williams: “I didn’t hear that. I don’t hear a lot of stuff, but that’s even better. We won the game… I really believe that Steve Robinson wanted me to call a timeout. He stood up and sort of walked down there. I gave him the look.”
Media: How much do you love the fact that when you don’t call a timeout when so many people do and they work through it, and it’s like, see, they worked through it and my way works?
Williams: “We’ve done okay. There’s a lot of guys that call a lot of timeouts that probably haven’t coached in as many games or won as many games, but I really do think that’s what we practice for. You’ve got to be able to handle things.
“We work last-second situations and need timeouts. I think it was Brad Frederick said last year in one of the NCAA games and I did call timeout and (then) I didn’t call a timeout at the end and Luke made the shot, so I beat everybody up. I don’t really think of it that much. I coach for the moment, I really do. And timeouts have never been that big a thing with me.”