Changing of Power in College Basketball: Coach K, Roy Williams Retirement

-Image via BleacherReport.com

There have been numerous coaching changes in college basketball this offseason, but nothing more noteworthy than the retirement of Roy Williams and the announcement of Coach K retiring at the end of next season. 903 wins for Roy Williams and 3 NCAA championships with his time at Kansas and North Carolina. Coach K currently has 1170 wins and 5 NCAA championships. The accolades are there for both coaches but the way they have progressed college basketball and brought their programs to the top is what makes their leaving so impactful.

The retirement of both coaches has come as a surprise to the college basketball world, but what recent events have possibly led to this? Neither coach has made a clear statement on why they are out of college basketball. However, looking at the landscape of college sports right now it is hard to deny the reasons why they are leaving. College basketball has now turned into free agency. If a player doesn’t like where they are at after one year, they transfer and are immediately eligible elsewhere. It also takes away from high school recruiting; many coaches will just wait for the big-time high school recruit to transfer and try to bring him in then. There are few 4-year players at the same schools anymore.

Coach K has enjoyed the 1 and done rule in recent years at Duke and has proven it to work, but maybe the transfer rule, as well as the new rules coming in with players making money off their name, image, and likeness, only adds more complications to recruiting and getting your guys out of high school. Roy Williams on the other hand, has had his fair share of 1 and done guys, but that program has been known for a long time of getting guys in the program and developing them for four years. I believe the big change in a guy going to college for one year and leaving and then the addition of a guy transferring even easier made this difficult for North Carolina and what I believe to be a big contributor on why Roy Williams retired unexpectedly this summer.

These two programs will still be big names and huge rivals; however, the two programs may be going in different directions. They have other names besides Kansas and Kentucky competing with them in recruiting and teams like Arkansas and Alabama have used the transfer portal tremendously. Gonzaga is now getting top recruits and will be competing at the top every year, so where does this leave the blue bloods of college basketball? Roy Williams is retired and already replaced, they wanted to keep it in the ‘Carolina family’ and did just that. However, I believe they made the wrong decision. Hubert Davis, the longtime assistant to Roy Williams, will take over and knows the ins and outs of the program. He is familiar with the roster and philosophy so not much will change at Carolina in terms of style of play. I believe that Wes Miller was the right hire for North Carolina, and I think down the line he ends up at North Carolina. Wes Miller a walk-on, four-year guy who has had great success at UNC Greensboro ends up at Cincinnati after the Tar Heels passed on him.

Duke on the other hand has a lot of time to think about this and decide. If they decide to keep it within the program it could be Jon Scheyer or a former player in Jay Williams. If they hire somebody outside of the program, I still will believe that Scheyer is the best hire they could make and I’m not sure anyone else will even compete with him for the sport. Therefore, I think Duke will be trending back to the top of college basketball while North Carolina continues to stay where they have been the previous few seasons. However, Coach K isn’t done yet and that program will be back for vengeance after missing the NCAA tournament last year. Cameron Indoors will be rocking and coach K will enjoy one last ride.