While he is at the top of his profession now, Williams began his coaching career posting a losing 2-19 record his first season as a high school coach. Along the way he has swept the floors, been a PE teacher, sold calendars across the state just to put food on the table, and made only $2,700 a year as Dean Smith's part-time assistant coach at UNC.
Coach Williams' new book is aptly titled Hard Work: My Life on and Off the Court
. He put in decades of hard work as an aspiring coach to reach the pinnacle of the coaching profession and continues to put in the hard work to maintain his programme's elite status by consistently out-recruiting and out-coaching many of his peers.Coach Williams says, "We put our hands in and chant something my teams have been saying since I was North Carolina's junior varsity coach: Hard work! It's something I've believed in since I was a kid shoveling snow off the basketball court so I could practice or selling calendars or going right back out on the recruiting trail after winning a national title. The phrase is a reminder that nobody is going to outwork us. I think it pulls our guys together and gives them strength. It is what the players chant when they huddle for any timeout or any deadball. It's a constant reminder: Hard work!"
Coach Williams and the Tar Heels success are due to some key things that anyone can use in building a successful programme - in sport or in business:
1. Coach Williams is a tireless worker on the recruiting trail.
2. He recruits great talent but also ensures that his guys are people of strong character.
3. Coach Williams is extremely competitive and instills his will in his players.
4. He cares about his players beyond the basketball court.
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