North Carolina's Roy Williams earns 800th career win
Roy Williams has added yet another notch to one of the most historic coaching careers in college basketball history.
With North Carolina's 85-68 victory over Syracuse on Monday night, Williams became just the 11th Division I head coach to reach the 800-win mark, and became just the second fastest to that mark in history, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Only Kentucky great Adolph Rupp reached the magic number 800 in quicker fashion.
Williams was presented with a personalized 800 jersey in a ceremony following the game and was not shy about showing emotion throughout the process. Williams remained humble, and acknowledged the many players he has coached during his journey with the Tar Heels.
"Eight hundred wins means I've had very good players," Williams said, according to Andrew Carter of The News & Observer. " ... It's the players, players that have made me every day.
"It was never a dream of mine to win 800 games," Williams added. "But it was a dream of mine to coach guys like this."
Williams joins the likes of Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Jim Calhoun, Jim Phelan, Adolph Rupp, Eddie Sutton, and Bob Huggins in the 800-win club. Both Huggins and Williams accomplished the feat this season.
Even when overcome by the emotion of such an illustrious accomplishment, Williams managed to show his trademark sense of humor.
"For me, the best news is I'm not dying," Williams said. "We're going to coach a few more."