Ole Roy Needs To Have His Mouth Washed Out With Soap

roywilliamshasafoulmouthUNC head coach Roy Williams is starting to garner a reputation of being really prickly when his strategy and tactics are questioned in the slightest way, and also using language one would not use in polite company to express his displeasure despite being broadcast live.

Last night, following the UNC victory over UNC, Ole Roy was at it again, once again showing his prickly nature by tossing out an F-Bomb in front of TV cameras and a roomful of reporters.  When asked about UNC struggles with full-court pressure, Roy let off some steam:

Williams’ response was as follows: “If I knew the answer to that,” Williams said, “do you still think we’d be (insert F-Bomb here) stinking?”

Everyone in the room broke out in laughter, and Williams followed up his verbal lapse by saying, “Everybody strike that f-word, I meant to say ‘frickin.’ Seriously, if you think I could figure it out, don’t you think I would do it?”

The interview was broadcast live on the NC State radio network. After Williams’ indiscretion, Wolfpack play-by-play man Gary Hahn and color man Tony Haynes were clearly stunned and apologized to the listening audience — and producers undoubtedly were wishing that they had a seven-second delay on their feed in order to afford them time to bleep out Williams.

Later, local station WRAL-TV showed Williams’ indiscretion during its coverage of last night’s NC State – UNC game, and sports anchor Jeff Gravely chastised Williams by saying, “Coach, you can’t strike live interviews.”

That’s not the only time Williams has burst forth into profanities when asked questions.  There’s the infamous Bonnie Bernstein interview on CBS in front of a national audience, and then there’s his radio show — which is unintentional comedy gold for those who listen in every week.  As 850 The Buzz’s Joe Ovies puts it, “Roy Williams Live” should be renamed “Roy Williams Detests Your Mere Existence”. That’s how Williams comes across when fans offer him suggestions — something that’s a standard if not tedious staple of a typical call-in show.  Almost every coach brushes off those suggestions with a quick joke or a kind comment, but not Williams.  When confronted with the usual questions about why he is playing this player and not playing the other, or whether he has considered playing a zone defense, his answers are dismissive and derisive.

Ole Roy Hates You

Some may call that refreshing honesty, but others might label it a lack of self-control by a man long-accustomed to being in the public eye.  Williams knows better, and he certainly knows how to handle himself with fans in his weekly call-in show, something that hands him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.  For that kind of money, most folks would manage to suffer fools gladly, but not Williams.

It should be noted that Duke head coach Mike Krzysewski has long been derided in ACC country for having a foul mouth courtside, but for his part, in post-game interviews, Coach K is calm, collected and to this writer’s knowledge has never burst forth with any of  the language the late George Carlin referred to as the “Seven Words You Cannot Say On TV.” (warning, NSFW.)  Williams seems to spout them with regularity.

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42 Responses to Ole Roy Needs To Have His Mouth Washed Out With Soap

  1. burnbarn 02/19/2009 at 2:20 PM #

    He F-Bombed the official as they were going to commercial that you could hear on the air.

    And honestly, the whole ‘fricking’ is just as bad…he ain’t saying it, but everyone knows what he is NOT saying too.

    I am a bit surprised he even uses that word… and it is one of his favorites.

  2. Par Shooter 02/19/2009 at 2:35 PM #

    As a father of 10 and 7 year olds this whole thing really strikes a nerve. My kids are girls and are not big sports fans so there is no danger of them listening to a post-game interview on the radio unless they are stuck in the car with me. However, when I was that age I religously listened to the post-game coaches interviews and hung on every word. You also tend to really look up to the coach of your favorite team at that age. Heck a lot of parents probably point to roy as a role model in comparison to other unc-ch coaches or their players.

    If I had a 10 year old son who pulled for unc-ch (I shudder as I type that) I’m sure he’d look up to roy. And if he’d have heard him casually drop an F-bomb and then laugh it off then I’d be beyond livid. It’s certainly not his job to raise my kids but coaches at big programs are role models to kids and have a standard of conduct to uphold. Dropping f-bombs during a public interview doesn’t meet that standard. If a NASCAR driver would have done that after a race he’d be looking at a hefty fine, docked points and possibly even a suspension. Wonder what swafford has in store for roy.

  3. redfred2 02/19/2009 at 4:51 PM #

    It’s definitely not a good thing to do, but let’s not go overboard here. He is an emotional coach, I like that myself. Maybe not so much in a live interview, but Roy doesn’t ever hold much back and he usually gets his points accross without the need to drop the F-bomb.

    OTOH, the fact that the preferencial treatment is so one-sided and entrenched that there was a concerted effort to cover up Dean Smith’s years and years of simply smoking cigarettes, back when practically everyone on the planet was doing the same thing, and in order to make the f_agship appear absolutely pristeen, is something that makes me want to puke.

  4. turfpack 02/19/2009 at 7:55 PM #

    I think it’s a bigger deal than you might think.
    You can’t have it both way carowhina fans (about K’s mouth).
    Also saying some of his players busting out language-“

  5. turfpack 02/19/2009 at 8:03 PM #

    So Ol’Roy drops the F bomb-right….
    Some of his player busted out some language-right…
    “YOU THE LEADER OF THIS TEAM-RIGHT!-TEAM REFLECTS LEADERSHIP -CAPTIAN”
    It’s OK to be fired up but their is on need for the F bomb.PERIOD!

  6. redfred2 02/19/2009 at 8:59 PM #

    turfpack, I understand exactly what you’re saying. My wife cannot stand that word and if I ever used it in front of the kids, watch out, it’d be Katy bar the door and a frying pan to the cranium.

  7. Greywolf 02/19/2009 at 10:23 PM #

    “The Carolina fans that I know are already saying, “So what, we have all said the F-word.””
    So what do the Gamecock fans have to do with this thread? 😉

  8. Greywolf 02/19/2009 at 10:34 PM #

    “it still sickens me that we as a fanbase have allowed Fowler’s dumbing down of our expectations to succeed.”

    Drama queen,
    Fowler hasn’t dumbed down the fan base. Fowler doesn’t have enough enfluence on the fan base to dumb it down or up. You don’t like the fans being excited about our coach showing the possibility that he can coach, our players showing that they aren’t going to be intimidated in Dumb Dome or fighting until the last whistle blows? You don’t like the fan base being pleased that the team didn’t stink it up? Get over it.

  9. Greywolf 02/19/2009 at 11:05 PM #

    Alpha Wolf,

    Thanks for mentioning Billy. I remember Billy at football practice back in the days when practice was open. Never went to a practice that Billy wasn’t there. Must have been 30 or 40 years ago. For those of you who don’t know who Billy is, Billy is blind. TOB treats every question from fans and media as if it were a the best question he has ever heard. I don’t mean he says that, it’s his way of being.

    Regarding wanting Sid to join Assholedom and throw fits at the refs, I like that he’s a gentleman with the refs. Like anybody gives a shit, but I was a flaming asshole when I first started coaching soccer. I once observed a coach who never yelled at the referees or his players. If he wanted to talk to a player, the player was summoned over to the sideline and talked to WITHOUT SUBSTITUTION and calmly. If he wanted to substitute, he said in a voice loud enough, and only loud enough, for a linesman on his sideline to hear, “Substitution, Please!” I was blown away and decided to model my sideline behavior after him. After every game I approached first the referee and then the linesmen with extended hand and a “Thank you for the game.” Wasn’t long before my players started following suit. Needless to say the referees and linesmen began to turn to us after the game for our greeting and handshake.

    Compared to the coaches who screamed “SUB!!” very, very few fouls were called against our team — partly because we coached “chucking” people off the ball with a shoulder tackle instead of slide takles but I’m sure we were favored because of our post game pleasantries.

    I told all that to tell you this, I saw one of the linesmen who called the 1981 U-16 State Championship at a high school game the following year. He asked would I be at the game the next Tuesday, that he had something for me. The following Tuesday he handed me the score card for that game, said he’d been saving it for me. (That we won seeded 15 or of 15 made it special and he knew it.)

    I for one suspect that Sid will start to get his calls because he isn’t a foul mouthed asshole, not because he joins the pissing contest with that bunch of skunks — Greenburg, Williams, and Klazuski and Williams. Am I the only one proud to say I am a Wolfpack fan because of character that Sid and TOB bring to their respective sports?

  10. Greywolf 02/19/2009 at 11:09 PM #

    “As for Phelps, I just wish he would pull up his Speedo past his ankles every once in a while.”

    Yeah, I’m a little jealous myself. 😉

  11. Par Shooter 02/20/2009 at 8:28 AM #

    “I for one suspect that Sid will start to get his calls because he isn’t a foul mouthed asshole, not because he joins the pissing contest with that bunch of skunks — Greenburg, Williams, and Klazuski and Williams.”

    I thought this for years about Sendek but it never materialized. You’d think that simple human nature would cause the refs to at least subconciously give a slight edge to guys who treat them with respect instead of guys who constantly berate them. Herb’s 10 year stint has completely disavowed me of that notion. We regularly got screwed by guys like Rose and Wood and it never improved over the 10 years.

  12. LKNpackfan 02/20/2009 at 9:29 AM #

    Agreed, and exactly my point par shooter. If there’s been any consistency at all with ACC officiating over the years, its been that “too nice” coaches get
    walked over and disrespected.
    And besides, I didn’t say Lowe should toss out his integrity and character and become a major league
    asshole. I said it’d be nice if Sid would get fired up every once in awhile. This ain’t coaching soccer to delicate 12 year olds. These
    players (and officials) are mostly hard-headed, egoist adults that may require a more commanding method of delivery.

  13. Greywolf 02/20/2009 at 10:28 AM #

    Maybe HS’s deal wasn’t that he was a decent on the sideline, maybe HS’s problem with getting the calls was that he wasn’t respected by the refs. If he was being as arrogantly superior with the refs as he was with some callers on his radio show, no amount of gentile behavior was going to influence the referees for favorable calls.

    I can’t imagine John Wooden employing such tactics. Coaches must let the referees know how they see the game being called, but I’m not convinced that yelling and cursing is the only way.

    BTW Ex German professional footballers such as Alvin Krouse, had just as big egos as any ACC referee and especially when dealing with frickin youth coaches. I have no respect what-so-ever for any referee who would put up with any coach cursing at them. Perhaps the league office might suggest that those referees strap on a set of balls when they put on the strips to work. Yeah, I know, the coaches would blackball them. If tolerating that kind of intimidation is going on, perhaps John Swofford should take the first set for himself.

  14. wufpup76 02/20/2009 at 10:30 AM #

    “I thought this for years about Sendek but it never materialized. You’d think that simple human nature would cause the refs to at least subconciously give a slight edge to guys who treat them with respect instead of guys who constantly berate them. Herb’s 10 year stint has completely disavowed me of that notion. We regularly got screwed by guys like Rose and Wood and it never improved over the 10 years.”

    ^This and the LKN post are exactly right. I thought at some point (year 2 or 3) of the HWSNBN era we wouldn’t be quite as worked over by refs who were under control of certain coaches … I thought they’d hopefully see the respect they were given as a standard for which they held all coaches.

    Much to my horror, it went the exact opposite way. No respect. AT ALL.

    I’m all for being respectful and being a gentleman, but at some point you have to stand up to it all. You can still be cool and respectful, but when you mean business they should get the message that you’re not going to sit idly by and get bent. And this to me was about the biggest failing of HWSNBN – at some point you HAVE to stand up for yourself and your team. Never happened … not in an effective way anyway.

  15. NCMike 02/20/2009 at 11:56 AM #

    whom…lots to do about 89-80 huh. Looks like a non story.

  16. Par Shooter 02/20/2009 at 12:02 PM #

    I think what really turns the ref situation upside down is that they only respect guys who they fear. Guys who will embarrass them during the game on the court and possibly after the game to the media. Also guys who are willing and able to effectively work them over in the league office. They don’t seem to respect guys who show them respect but rather guys who scare them to death. Herb was never that guy and I don’t think Sid has shown himself to be…yet. Maybe as we get further along the learning curve and he’s a bit more comfortable with a bit more success under his belt he’ll become more vocal. My experience with the ACC is that he will have to in order to thrive.

  17. redfred2 02/20/2009 at 12:39 PM #

    Par Shooster, I 100% agree with what you are saying but we both know that there are too many people in Wolfpackland who think that their own coach HAS GOT TO BE ABOVE that type of stuff. They probably just scoff at Roy or Seth Greenberg’s recent behavior, but heaven forbid if one of their own coaches behaved in that manner. They would try to ban that coach from the city limits of Raleigh.

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