Guthridge regrets silent treatment with UNC's Williams

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Add 'author' to Roy Williams' titles

When UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coach Roy Williams was 14, he pulled his drunk and angry father off his mother, shoved a bottle under his chin, and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave.

"My dad never, ever came back to our house again," Williams says in his autobiography "Hard Work: A Life on and Off the Court," which will be on sale Nov. 3. His sister Frances, he wrote, "was more forgiving. I was not. I was mad that he'd torn our family apart."

The 288-page hardcover book, written with former Sports Illustrated reporter Tim Crothers, details Williams' journey from his rough early years in the North Carolina mountains to two-time NCAA-title-winning coach. An early copy was obtained by The News & Observer.

Book an emotional undertaking for Williams

Even after 64 hours of interviews and months of editing, North Carolina coach Roy Williams says he still found himself tearing up the first two times he proof-read his autobiography, "Hard Work: A Life on and Off the Court" that will be released Tuesday.

"Talking about my childhood was the hardest thing,'' said Williams. "At one point, I thought about not saying anything, but then I thought it would be such a misrepresentation of my life, and it would be such a vanilla book, that it would be untrue. If it was going to be the true autobiography, it's supposed to be what happens to you."

In the $24.95 hardcover book, written with former Sports Illustrated reporter Tim Crothers, the two-time NCAA title-winning coach reveals that he observed his alcoholic father physically abuse his mother while growing up; at one point, a 14-year old Williams pulled his drunk and angry dad off his mom, shoved a bottle under his chin, and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave. His parents were separated at the time

New Williams autobiography reveals untold stories

When North Carolina coach Roy Williams was 14 years old, he pulled his drunk and angry father off his mother, shoved a bottle under his chin, and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave.

"My dad never, ever came back to our house again" Williams writes in his autobiography, 'Hard Work, A Life on and Off the Court' which will be on sale Nov. 3. "... Frances [my sister] was more forgiving. I was not. I was mad that he'd torn our family apart."

The 288-page hardcover book, written with former Sports Illustrated reporter Tim Crothers, details Williams' journey from his rough early years in the North Carolina mountains to two-time NCAA-title-winning coach. An early copy was obtained by The News & Observer from the book's publisher, Algonquin.

Chapter 8: Decision, decision

An excerpt from North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams' autobiography, "Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court." The book, which was written with Tim Crothers, will be available on Tuesday. In this chapter, Williams tells why he turned down the UNC job down while he was at Kansas.

CHAPTER 8 DECISION, DECISION

In April 1997 Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach Fogler, and I met in Fort Myers, Florida, for a two-day golf vacation. During that trip, Coach Smith brought up the idea that he was thinking of retiring before the start of the next season. The subject of me possibly replacing him came up. "I can't tell you if I would take the job, because I don't know what I'd tell my players," I said. "Somebody tell me what I would tell my players."

Smith's scheme modernized by Williams

Dean Smith's "system" worked in 1982, when the famed basketball coach guided North Carolina to the national championship.

And it still works in 2009, as evidenced by the Tar Heels' march to their fifth NCAA title Monday night in Detroit.

While coach Roy Williams has put his own indelible stamp on UNC's basketball program with subtle changes and two national crowns, Smith's imprint remains visible in his former assistant's philosophy.