A special thanks to Roy Williams and his legacy on life at Carolina

Roy Williams repeated in his retirement speech what he has often said about Dean Smith: “Every day, I tried to make him proud.” It’s easy to say basketball is just a game, to say that any sport is just a game, but the technicality of that definition is also reductive. Rule 1 of the Olympic Charter explains its goal is “to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport.” With Dean Smith’s roadmap always by his side, Coach Williams led the Carolina basketball program with a fervent commitment to the values that shape our lives: to be grateful, humble, and kind. He did that through the manner in which he taught young men the game of basketball, using his position as a coach and the power of sport to build a more peaceful and better world. For that, Roy Williams made Dean Smith proud each and every day he was the head men’s basketball coach at UNC. He did his job, and I’ll be forever thankful.