Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Roy Williams joins Coach K, Jim Boeheim as active coaches with 700 career wins

Villanova v North Carolina

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 22: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches play alongside the bench in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 22, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Getty Images

With Friday’s second round win over Villanova, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams advanced his Tar Heels into the third round for a matchup with his former team Kansas, but he also put himself in an elite coaching class. Williams won his 700th game as a Division I men’s college basketball coach, joining the likes of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim as active head coaches with 700 career victories.

In his 25th season as a head coach, at only Kansas and UNC, Williams has brought seven teams to the Final Four, winning a pair in Chapel Hill in 2005 and 2009. Following the win, Reggie Bullock presented Williams with his own jersey commemorating the milestone.

“You know, I’m human,” Williams told reporters following the historic win. “I wanted to get 700. I’d like to get 800, 900, 1,000, 1,500, but I know that’s not going to happen. But my focus was not on that. It really wasn’t. It was trying to get No. 25 and have this team stay and play another game.

The 700th victory wasn’t easy as North Carolina blew a 20-point lead to hang on to a 78-71 win over the Wildcats. Now, the Tar Heels have to focus on top-seeded Kansas in Sunday’s third round matchup. Williams, who spent 15 seasons in Lawrence, said on Thursday, “When I was a coach at Kansas, it was my favorite school. North Carolina was my second-favorite school. I happen to be coaching at North Carolina now, and it’s my favorite school, and Kansas is my second-favorite school.”

Terrence is also the lead writer at NEHoopNews.com and can be followed on Twitter: @terrence_payne