Sept. 2, 2004

By Adam Lucas Like most Americans, Roy Williams returned from a summer trip with a few photos he wanted to save. Unlike most Americans, the photo Williams is in the process of framing features the Tar Heel head coach with Larry Brown and three members of the gold medal-winning American women's soccer team. Brown and Williams posed with the trio while in Athens coaching the Olympic men's basketball team. Williams returned to Chapel Hill immediately after the Games and has been home less than a week. The head Tar Heel was in a unique position in Athens, because he was there on a business trip but also made it a priority to catch as much of the other Olympic activities as possible. His basketball responsibilities--including a couple of late-night scouting trips and early-morning meetings that preceded the daily 11 a.m. practice--meant he wasn't able to join his family at as many venues as he might have liked, but he still saw three nights of swimming, two nights of gymnastics, a track session that included the men's 100 meter finals, and women's volleyball. "I made a decision that if I wasn't doing anything with the team, I wanted to see another sport," Williams said. "One of the greatest thrills for me was seeing youngsters have to come through with their absolute best at a certain time and doing it. It's not like shooting 59 in a practice round. It's shooting 59 in the final round of The Masters. "I was at track the night they did the 100 meters, and they hyped it for 20 minutes. By the time they said runners to your mark, there were 60,000 people standing, and I was one of them. 9.85 seconds later it was over...To have athletes perform at that level at that specific time when required to do so was a big thrill." Williams was in the stands (seated directly behind Hamm's twin brother, Morgan, and Hamm's parents) the night Paul Hamm nailed his final two routines and won the men's gymnastics all-around championship, and he also witnessed Gary Hall's .01 victory in the 50 meter freestyle. On the basketball court, the experiences weren't always as positive. The United States lost to Argentina in the semifinals before capturing the bronze medal with a win over Lithuania. After witnessing the fervor with which other countries approach the Olympics, he has a greater appreciation for the hurdles America faces in international play. "We need to be realistic," he said. "The United States does not have clear superiority in the world in basketball anymore. We didn't have it in 2000. We won the gold medal but in the semifinals Lithuania missed a shot that would've won the game. "It's the nature of our game. Our coaches and players are never going to have the time together other teams have. You can correct that, but we're never going to have the passion those other countries have for the Olympics. Our kids grow up with the NBA being the biggest thing to them. When Argentina beat us in the semifinals, three of their guys were crying before they got off the court. It's a passion they have for the Olympics. Playing for their national team is the biggest thing to them. Whether I like it or not, that's not the biggest thing for us." Coaches don't receive medals in Olympic competition, so the Carolina coach returned home without a medal. He did get a banner signed by the entire team, received a customized pair of Nike shoes with his initials embroidered in them, and expressed some regret that he didn't get as involved with pin-trading, a popular Olympic Village pastime, as he could have. And, of course, he was able to meet a bevy of athletes he wouldn't have otherwise known. Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner introduced himself to Williams and told him, "I'm one of those guys at Nebraska who was always yelling at you when you were coaching Kansas." Fortunately, Gardner does not have any ACC allegiances. Even while in Athens, Williams's attention never strayed far from Chapel Hill. Because of the time difference, he was involved in some late-night phone calls, including one important recruiting call that began at 2:30 a.m. From a coaching standpoint, he will integrate several of the sets the Americans used into the Carolina approach, something he also did last year after working with the U.S. team during the preliminary rounds in Puerto Rico. The current and future Heels may not have suffered from his international experience, but there was one notable casualty--his golf game. A hardcore golfer who only gets to play during the summer, Williams did not play a single round between July 6 and September 1. He'll retreat to the beach this weekend and attempt to regroup from what has been a frenzied past 17 months. "It's been wild," he said. "I can't imagine anyone having a wilder 18 months than what I've had. But I'm not concerned about it from a coaching standpoint. I have no qualms or fears about being ready to go. I'm going on the road recruiting next Thursday. That's what I do." Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.