It was Sunday, April 3rd, a little more than 24 hours before No. 1 ranked Illinois and No. 2 North Carolina would compete for the 2005 NCAA basketball championship. It was at a press conference when Tar Heel center Sean May, seated next to Roy Williams, told the assembled media how much he wanted to win the championship for his coach. It was a declaration that went straight to the heart for both player and coach.

"When Sean said he had thoughts of being on the team that won me my first national championship, it almost got me," Williams says. "I tried to pinch my knee or something. I didn't feel like I could lose it up there. I went back to the room, and I thought here's a youngster that has a chance to be on basketball's biggest stage, and he wants to win one, not just for Roy Williams, but he wanted to be on that team."

When the buzzer sounded and North Carolina was indeed national champions, May, the Final Four MVP, ran straight to Williams and gave him an emphatic embrace.

"We all wanted to win for the seniors, but I especially wanted a national championship for Coach Williams," May said. "He's a great person and a great coach and I wanted to be on his first national championship team. I know he's going to win more, but we can always say we were on his first." Assistant coach C.B. McGrath and May were the first to congratulate Williams for a title that was cheered across the basketball world because of the respect he has earned from all levels of the game.

"C.B. grabbed me, and it was a great hug," recalls Williams. "Then here comes Sean. A hundred million dollars I would give up before I would forget that memory, that big, smelly, sweaty rascal coming and hugging my neck, and saying how happy he was. Money can't buy that kind of feeling."

Williams, a 1972 Carolina graduate, joined Dean Smith and Frank McGuire as Tar Heel coaches who have won an NCAA championship after UNC defeated the Illini, 75-70. May scored 26 points in the finale, becoming one of the most popular players in school history after a dominant second half of the season in which he had double-doubles in 13 of the last 16 games. "Coach Williams allowed me to be successful - he put me in positions to be successful," says May. "He pulled out my strengths, hid my weaknesses and taught me how to run the floor. I never wanted to run until I came here, now I love it."

The national championship capped a magical season in which the Tar Heels went 33-4, including a 14-2 mark in the ACC. Carolina finished first in the ACC regular-season standings for the first time since 2001 and won the league outright for the first time in 12 years. It was the 10th time Williams has led a team to the top of the conference standings.

Carolina went 15-0 at home - the seventh unbeaten home record in Williams' 17 years as a head coach - and posted a 6-2 record on the road in ACC play. The Tar Heels won the Maui Invitational by an average of 21 points per game; led the nation in scoring average, scoring margin and assists; scored 100 or more points six times and 90 or more points on 16 occasions; went 9-3 against ranked teams; and became the third team in history to lead the nation in scoring and win the NCAA championship.

Carolina's high-octane attack averaged 88.0 points per game, the 15th time in 17 years Williams' teams have topped 80 points a game.

"The reason we're so successful this year is because we've completely bought into what Coach Williams is saying," May told the L.A. Times late in the regular season. "He told us, `If you do what I tell you to do, you'll be successful,' and we've finally bought into that. Obviously you can see the results."

Williams had the Tar Heels playing their best in the NCAA Tournament. Carolina won the six games en route to the title by out-scoring the opposition by 13.9 points a game, out-shooting them 51.4 to 39.3 percent and out-rebounding them by 6.2 per game.

Williams takes great pride in his teams playing unselfish basketball, taking the best shots available, hitting the boards and playing tenacious, man-to-man defense. The 2005 Tar Heels exhibited all of those traits.

To wit: five different players averaged double-figure scoring, despite just one player averaging more than 30 minutes played per game; the Tar Heels averaged 19.1 assists per game and had assists on 63 percent of field goals made; UNC shot 50 percent or better from the floor 20 times (and won all 20 games) and held the opposition to less than 40 percent shooting 20 times (and won 18 of those 20 games); Carolina went 28-1 in games it out-rebounded the opponents; despite shooting a higher percentage from the floor 29 times, the Tar Heels had more offensive rebounds in 21 contests and went 18-3 in those games; and Carolina held Michigan State and Illinois under 40 percent shooting from the floor in three of four halves played at the Final Four.

"Winning the national championship means all the preparation we had done to get to that point paid off," said All-America forward Rashad McCants. "You sit back and think, all the things we did in practice every day were perfect for us. You have to commend a coach to understand that - he just designed something perfect for a bunch of players who had never won anything and for us to do everything that we've done in this short period of time is amazing."

The NCAA championship highlights a brilliant 27-year collegiate coaching career in which Williams has established himself as one of the top coaches and premier program builders in America. He is one of the most respected men in college basketball among coaches, players, parents, administrators and media. It was evident by the number of well-wishes and congratulatory calls and letters Williams received before and after winning the national championship, including countless numbers from former Kansas players and parents.

"Coach Williams opened up the program to all the former Tar Heel players to make us feel welcome and work out any time we want to," says New Jersey Net guard Jeff McInnis, who played at UNC from 1993-96. "That's all you can ask for. He didn't even coach us and for him to be like that toward us shows you how the Carolina family works."

Williams has the highest winning percentage in the nation among active coaches with 10 years experience and the fourth-highest in history, having led his teams to a 470-116 record, a victory rate of 80.2 percent. Only Clair Bee, Adolph Rupp and John Wooden join Williams atop the 80 percent mark.

"He's really a bright man," says Dean Smith. "He has the whole package of what you want as a college head coach. You want somebody who knows basketball, can judge talent, is a competent leader and can teach it in practice, makes good decisions in the game, is highly organized, and also is honest in recruiting.

"He's like Tiger Woods in golf - they have the whole package," Smith adds. "I don't know anyone else who does. I certainly consider him to be the best college coach in the country."

Williams, whose teams are 228-19 at home (.923), is in his third year as Carolina's head coach. He rejoined the Tar Heels on April 14, 2003, after leading the Kansas Jayhawks to the NCAA championship game in his 15th and final year in Lawrence.

"Roy Williams is one of the select few of the greatest coaches in the entire game of basketball," says Bill Walton, NBA Hall of Fame player and TV analyst. "His move to North Carolina ensures for the foreseeable future excellence both on and off the court. The championships will now fall time after time to Chapel Hill. More importantly Coach Williams' impact on young people's lives throughout this great land will change the course of history. We love Coach Williams and admire and respect everything that he does - except for the fact that he's not coaching at UCLA."

He has led Kansas and Carolina to 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the second-longest active streak in the country and the third-longest in NCAA Tournament history. Only Smith (23 years in a row) and Lute Olson (21) have put together longer NCAA Tournament streaks.

"I know so much more about basketball now than I did a year ago," says Marvin Williams, who was the 2005 ACC Rookie of the Year and the second pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. "Coach Williams has so much knowledge about the game it is unbelievable. He is a great coach and he loves to teach. He's taught me so much about basketball since last year, especially the little things. I didn't know little things made that big of a difference in a basketball game."

Marvin Williams also told the Los Angeles Times that, "It was a blessing to be coached by Coach Williams. He's such a great man to be around. He's a great teacher in the game of basketball and life."

Williams has taken five teams to the Final Four, including 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003 at Kansas and 2005 at Carolina. Only five coaches have been to the Final Four more than Williams. He is the 12th coach to lead two schools to the Final Four and the third (along with Larry Brown and McGuire) to direct two schools to the championship game.

"I have so much respect for him and I am so glad that he's our coach," says former Tar Heel All-America and NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse. "I really feel with him the tradition that we all felt when I played here. He has a discipline he learned from Coach Smith and that discipline is back here now. That's why we were able to have success last year and win the national championship."

The 55-year-old Williams is seventh all-time in NCAA Tournament wins with 41 and has an NCAA postseason win percentage of .732, fourth-best among active coaches.

Williams is the only coach in the nation to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last 16 seasons. The NCAA record is 17 straight years by Dean Smith. Six of his teams have been seeded No. 1 in a region in NCAA play.

"I always thought if Coach Williams came back to Carolina he was going to get us a national championship," says George Lynch, captain of the 1993 NCAA champions and a 13-year NBA veteran. "He has a great personality and he's fair to his players. He tells them like it is. He came back and got guys to play the right way and come together as a team."

Last year's 33-win season marked the sixth time he has coached a team to 30 or more wins, the second-most in NCAA history. He has won 20 or more games 15 times in 17 years, winning only 19 in his first seasons at Kansas and Carolina, respectively.

"Coach Williams is a great coach," says Jackie Manuel, who earned ACC All-Defensive Team honors each of the last two seasons. "He's going to teach you the fundamentals of the game and off the court he cares about his kids. He wants the best for his kids. He's going to push you; he's trying to bring the best out of you. If I have a son, I would definitely let him play for Coach Williams."

In 2003-04, Williams led the Tar Heels to a 19-11 record, with a win over No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Connecticut. Carolina returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years and beat Air Force in the opening round before falling to Texas, 78-75. Carolina averaged 80.2 points per game, an increase of 10.0 points from the previous year and UNC's highest scoring average since 1994-95.

"Roy is as good as it gets in a person," says legendary NBA executive and Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Fame guard Jerry West. "There's nothing deceptive about him. He is what he is - a wonderful person and a great coach. If you watch his teams, you know they've been coached. If you go to his practices, you know why his teams are successful. His players play the right way. They're team-oriented. They play a fun way offensively. They're aggressive. He changes defenses. He does it all. He's just a wonderful coach."

"What separates the good coaches from the great coaches is consistency," says Carolina's all-time leading scorer Phil Ford, now an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. "If you are consistently going deep in the NCAA Tournament and having successful seasons year after year with different talent and abilities, that's what separates the good from the great. His track record is one of being consistently good for a long time."

Williams won 20 or more games in each of his last 14 seasons at Kansas, a streak that equaled the third-longest in NCAA history behind Smith (27) and Olson (18).

Williams secured his 400th win on Jan. 15, 2003, when Kansas defeated Wyoming, 98-70. He was the third-fastest coach in history to reach 300 wins and sped to 400 faster than all but three coaches in history (Rupp, Bee and Jerry Tarkanian). In fact, he has won more games than any coach after eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 seasons as a head coach. He is the second-winningest Jayhawk coach in history behind Smith's college coach, Phog Allen.

"We used to have Dean Smith, who was the best coach in the country," says former Tar Heel head coach Bill Guthridge, who was an assistant at UNC with Williams. "Now we have Roy Williams, who I think is the best coach in the country. He's people-oriented. When he was an assistant here, I know the players really respected and liked him. That was obviously the case at Kansas as well. Those guys played their hearts out for him."

Williams spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Smith at Carolina. From 1978-88, he helped coach such Tar Heel standouts as Mike O'Koren, Al Wood, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Matt Doherty, Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, Kenny Smith, Joe Wolf, Steve Hale, Jeff Lebo, J.R. Reid and Scott Williams.

"I truly learned a lot from Coach Williams when I was at North Carolina," says Michael Jordan. "I consider Roy not only to be a great coach, but a good friend. I know that the Tar Heels are in good hands with Coach Williams."

The Tar Heels played in the NCAA Tournament in each of Williams' 10 seasons. Carolina won the NCAA title in 1982, finished second in 1981 and won or shared six Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles and three ACC Tournament championships (1979, 1981, 1982).

"When I think of him, I think of his honesty, integrity and tremendous work ethic," says Daugherty, a five-time NBA All-Star with the Cleveland Cavaliers. "He is a classy, classy individual. But he is also one of the toughest people I have ever met in my life. No one is tougher than Roy Williams, but he is fair. That's why the kids love him so much. When you have played four years for him he will be a friend for life and you will be a better man, and appreciate every ounce of the experience when you are gone.

"If I had to go to war, I'd grab him for my foxhole without question."

Combining his 10 seasons as an assistant at Carolina and 17 years as head coach, Williams has been part of 745 wins and just 177 defeats.

Williams was named head coach at Kansas on July 8, 1988, replacing another former Tar Heel, Larry Brown. The pair teamed together to coach Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

"He's as good a coach as our sport has," says Brown. "If you ask people around the country, they'll say there's no better college coach than Roy Williams."

At Kansas, Williams earned National Coach of the Year honors in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1997 and was Big Eight/Big 12 Coach of the Year seven times (1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2002 and 2003). The New York Athletic Club presented him with its National Coach of the Year award in 2005. He received the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2003 by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Other recipients of the Wooden Coaching Award include Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Olson, Denny Crum, Mike Montgomery and Jim Calhoun.

Williams coached a number of the finest Kansas players in history, including Mark Randall, Adonis Jordan, Rex Walters, Greg Ostertag, Scot Pollard, Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich.

The Jayhawks went 94-18 in conference play over his last seven years and averaged 27.9 wins per season with a high of 35 in 1997-98. He also won 30 in 1989-90, 34 in 1996-97, 33 in 2001-02 and 30 in 2002-03.

He led Kansas to the Final Four in 1991, 1993, 2002 and 2003. The Jayhawks reached the Sweet 16 nine times and the Final Eight on five occasions.

"He's the best coach in college basketball," says 1998 National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison. "He reminds me a lot of Coach Smith. Not just in terms of basketball, but as far as knowing the importance of having good people, caring about making sure they are successful after basketball. He'll have a big influence over every player that comes through the program, preparing them for life. That's what it's all about. It's not just about being a coach, but being like a father figure.

"I got to know Coach when his son, Scott, played with us at Carolina. I've always respected him. I'm happy for him because he came back home and was able to get it done. I'm happy it paid off and he has been able to be so successful."

Kansas went 30-8 in 2002-03, his final year in Lawrence. Led by Collison, the NABC National Player of the Year, and Hinrich, another All-America, the Jayhawks beat Duke, Arizona and Marquette en route to the national championship game. It was KU's first back-to-back appearance in the Final Four since 1952-53.

"Roy is as good as there is," says Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun. "He's a terrific coach and a terrific person. He has taken Dean's system, which was the best, and incorporated it into his own...He gets a lot from his kids. Roy is a first ballot, Hall of Fame coach, and a first-ballot nice guy."

Kansas won nine regular-season conference championships over his last 13 years. In seven years of Big 12 Conference play, his teams went 94-18, capturing the regular-season title in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 and the postseason tournament crown in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2001-02, KU became the first Big 12 team to go 16-0 in league play. From 1995-98, Kansas was a combined 123-17 - an average of 30.8 wins per season.

He was hired just months after the Danny Manning-led Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA championship. Weeks after taking the position, KU was placed on probation for violations that took place prior to his arrival.

Williams' teams went 201-17 (.922) in Allen Fieldhouse, and won 62 consecutive games in Allen from February 1994 to December 1998. Kansas was a regular in the Associated Press Top 25 from 1991 to 1999, placing in the AP poll for 145 consecutive weeks. Williams' teams were ranked in the Top 10 in 194 AP polls since 1990.

Williams had Kansas in the AP Top 25 in 242 of 268 weekly polls. Kansas reached the No. 1 ranking in the country in six different seasons and was ranked at least No. 2 in the nation in 11 of the 15 seasons. The Tar Heels finished the 2004-05 season ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll.

Williams has coached 20 players to first-team all-conference honors, including Raymond Felton and May in 2004-05, and McCants in 2003-04. Five Jayhawks were named conference player of the year and May was named 2005 ACC Male Athlete of the Year. May also became his eighth player to earn first-team All-America honors. Two players - Gooden and Collison - were voted the best player in the country by the NABC. He coached four KU players to consensus first-team All-America honors - LaFrentz in 1997 and 1998, Pierce in 1998, Gooden in 2002 and Collison in 2003.

"I was just coming (to Kansas) to play basketball for a man I knew I could trust and a man I hoped would make my dreams a reality," said LaFrentz, a two-time Big 12 Player of the Year. "Thanks to Coach Williams for doing that. Thanks to him for always being there, for always being an example for every player who has come into his program and, most importantly, thanks for being a friend."

Fourteen (14) of his players have been selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, including the four Tar Heels who were selected in the first 14 picks in the 2005 draft: Randall (1991), Walters (1993), Ostertag (1995), Pollard (1997), Vaughn (1997), LaFrentz (1998), Pierce (1998), Gooden (2002), Hinrich (2003), Collison (2003), Marvin Williams (2005), Felton (2005), May (2005) and McCants (2005).

Kansas led the nation in field goal percentage and scoring in 2002 and in scoring margin in 2003; held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in the country in 2001 (37.8 percent); led the nation in winning percentage in 1997 and 2002; shot better than 50 percent from the floor seven times and led the country in field goal percentage in 1990 at 53.3 percent and in 2002 at 50.6 percent; shot a combined 49.4 percent from the floor in 15 seasons; led the nation in assists in 2001 and 2002 and was seventh in the nation in 2003; scored 100 or more points 71 times (once every 13 games); averaged 82.7 points per game in 15 year; averaged 90 or more points in two seasons (92.1 in 1990 and 90.9 in 2002).

Academic priority is an important characteristic of Williams' program. Each Carolina senior in his tenure has either received his degree or is on track to do so this year. Two players - Byron Sanders and Melvin Scott - earned Academic All-ACC honors.

Three Kansas players were named first-team Academic All-America- Ryan Robertson in 1999, Jacque Vaughn and Jerod Haase in 1997 and Vaughn in 1996 - and 31 Jayhawks earned first-team academic all-conference honors.

"He will win with class and dignity because that's what the man is about," says Joe Posnanski, who covered the Jayhawks for the Kansas City Star. "He will have the Tar Heels running fast and scoring in bunches, and he will build on the legacy of the man he admires most."

Williams grew up outside of Asheville, N.C., in the small community of Biltmore. He attended T. C. Roberson High School, where he earned letters in basketball and baseball for four seasons. In basketball, playing for Coach Buddy Baldwin, he was named all-county and all-conference for two years (1967 and 1968), all-western North Carolina in 1968 and served as captain in the North Carolina Blue-White All-Star Game.

Much of Williams' coaching style comes from spending so many years observing and then coaching with Smith. Williams played on Carolina's freshman team in 1968-69 under Guthridge.

Williams often sat in on Smith's varsity practice sessions taking notes and furthering his knowledge of the game, notes Williams maintains even today. Williams' practices are intense, instructive and precise.

"Practices are very intense, you get a lot done in a small amount of time," says 2005 Tar Heel tri-captain Jawad Williams. "When you put fun and hard work together, that's very nice. We get a lot more accomplished." He earned two degrees from Carolina -- a bachelor's degree in education in 1972 and an M.A.T. in 1973.

In 1973, Williams began his coaching career at Charles D. Owen Swannanoa (N.C.) High School. He coached basketball and boys' golf for five years, ninth-grade football for four years and served as athletics director for two years.

He joined Smith's staff as in 1978, adding to his income by traveling all over the state selling basketball team calendars and delivering Smith's weekly TV show to affiliates. While a member of Smith's staff, the Tar Heels went 275-61.

Williams has been active in international circles, as well. The 2004 U.S. Olympic Team assignment was his fourth with USA Basketball. In 1991, Williams worked under P.J. Carlesimo at the World University Games in Sheffield, England, where the USA won the gold medal. In 1992, he helped coach the United States Olympic Development Team, a squad of eight college all-stars who scrimmaged the first U.S. Olympic Dream Team. In 1993, Williams served as head coach of the USA Under-22 Team in a qualifying tournament in Argentina. He has served as a lecturer and camp director for the West German National Junior Team.

He served on the board of directors of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was president in 2001-02. In addition, Williams served on the NCAA basketball rules committee for six years, chairing the committee in 2000-01.

Several of Williams' former staff members have gone on to head coaching positions, including Neil Dougherty (in his fourth year at TCU), Kevin Stallings (in his seventh season at Vanderbilt), Mark Turgeon (in his sixth year at Wichita State), Matt Doherty (formerly at Notre Dame and Carolina, now in his first year at Florida Atlantic), Steve Robinson (formerly at Tulsa and Florida State) and Jerry Green (formerly at Oregon and Tennessee). Jay Price, a manager at Kansas, has been an assistant at Purdue and Illinois.

Williams (born August 1, 1950) and his wife, Wanda, a 1972 Carolina graduate, have a son, Scott, and a daughter, Kimberly, both of whom reside in Charlotte. The Williams family contributed $100,000 to the Carolina Covenant, an initiative at UNC that allows low-income students to attend the University debt free.

Scott earned a business degree from UNC and played point guard under Bill Guthridge on the basketball team in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He and his wife, Katie (Wolford), were married in August 2005. Katie is a 2001 Carolina graduate and former cheerleader. She earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University. Kimberly is a 2002 Carolina graduate with a degree in English and a former member of the UNC dance team.