CHICAGO — North Carolina coach Roy Williams hopes to coach for another 10-12 years.
Williams, 66, attended the NBA Draft Combine here on Friday to support his former players, including senior Kennedy Meeks who went for 19 points and 16 rebounds in his team’s win. Meeks’ team was coached by former North Carolina star Jerry Stackhouse, whom Williams chatted with before the game.
Afterward, I asked Williams if he could envision Stackhouse one day taking over for him at North Carolina.
“We’re very fortunate,” Williams said. “We’ve got a lot of our former players in coaching so it’s a pretty good coaching tree. So we’re going to have some good choices, I just hope that’s about 10 or 12 years from now.”
Stackhouse, 42, led North Carolina to the 1995 Final Four and was the No. 3 pick in the ’95 NBA Draft by Philadelphia. He now coaches with the Toronto Raptors D-League team, which he lead to a championship this year while earning Coach of the Year honors.
Williams is coming off his third NCAA championship in April. He has a career record of 816-216 (.791). Meeks was asked about being coached by Stackhouse. “I met him plenty of times,” he said. “He’s a cool guy, he’s a great coach, his team won the championship in the D-league so you can see just the vibes between those two [Williams and Stackhouse]. Two great coaches at this point. It’s definitely good to surround yourself with those type of people.” Asked if he thought Stackhouse would be a good successor to Williams, Meeks smiled and said, “That’s not my decision, man.”Roy Williams, who has 4 guys at the Combine, talking to Jerry Stackhouse. pic.twitter.com/8ACbrWDey3
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) May 12, 2017
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter And like ZAGS on FacebookKennedy Meeks had chance to catch up today with fellow Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse (here as coach), who told him to be aggressive, rebound. pic.twitter.com/K6xbXhSj3W
— Brian Seltzer (@brianseltzer) May 12, 2017
