Relationships drove Roy's move to UNC

By Jack Daly

SAN ANTONIO, Apr. 5, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Trying to make sense of his conflicted emotions, Roy Williams called Bob Frederick late on a Sunday night five years ago and asked if he could come over and chat.

The former Kansas athletics director's house was out in the country, and Williams liked going there because it afforded him an opportunity to get away. Back when Williams agonized over whether to go to North Carolina three years prior, he'd done the same thing, sitting on Frederick's back porch and talking with his wife, Wanda, Frederick and Frederick's wife, Margey.

The only difference was that was in July.

This time it was early April.

"I said, 'Yeah, it's a little cold out there, but come on,' " Frederick said. "So Margey got a whole bunch of blankets and the four of us wrapped up in our blankets and we sat out on the porch and talked about it."

If one thing can be distilled from all the rehashing of Williams' days in Kansas and his decision to return to North Carolina in advance of tonight's Final Four matchup between the top-seeded Tar Heels (36-2) and the top-seeded Jayhawks (35-3) at the Alamodome (WRAL, 8:47 p.m.), it's that Williams puts a premium on his relationship with not only his players, but his athletics directors and senior administrators, too.

Most people prefer they like their boss, of course. But Williams, who described himself as "thin-skinned" on Friday, is a particularly sensitive.

"I'd think it would be a little more important to him than the average," Frederick said. "It's definitely important to him."

A critical reason Williams stayed in Kansas the first time around was that he didn't want to disappoint Fredericks, the man who hired him as an unknown Dean Smith assistant in 1988.

After Kansas forced Fredericks to retire, Williams had a rocky rapport with Fredericks' successor, Al Bohl. The tension dampened Williams' enthusiasm for his job outside of the practices and games.

"My daughter gave me a little Plexiglas thing that said, 'Statistics are important, but relationships last a lifetime,' " Williams said. "And that's still on my desk at home right now. To me, that was the biggest thing. My last couple years at Kansas, things hadn't been as smooth. We had changed athletic directors, and his fault, my fault, nobody's fault. ...

"My situation changed. For two years, I was ecstatic for two-and-a-half hours every day, and that's when I was on the court with my team."

Kansas fired Bohl about the same time Williams was wrapping himself in blankets on Fredericks' back porch, but the frayed relationship had already helped nudge Williams toward Chapel Hill.

"Yeah, I probably would have stayed," Williams told the Kansas City Star when asked if he would've stayed at Kansas if Fredericks weren't forced out, or if Kansas hired a different AD.

"... That man never did one thing for me in two years."

While all this qualifies as yesterday's news, the question for Tar Heel fans might be: What's Williams' relationship with UNC athletics director Dick Baddour like?

"Dick has been marvelous," Williams said. "He's been fantastic for me. He was a great friend when I was here as an assistant; a personal friend and a friend to our basketball program. He's been a pleasure to work with."

Added Baddour, "We have tremendous trust and respect in each other."

Williams and Baddour first met when Williams was a volunteer assistant for Smith and Baddour worked in UNC's admissions department. There were other connections -- Baddour's wife, Linda, taught Williams' children kindergarten -- and Williams kept in touch with Baddour when he left for Kansas.

"Obviously, he was very invested in Kansas, but he always maintained his interest in what was going on here, whether it would be basketball, football or the golf programs or whatever," Baddour said.

The UNC administrator Williams actually deals with most frequently is Larry Gallo. Gallo is the Tar Heels' senior associate athletics director and works closely with the basketball department on a host of issues, from the non-conference schedule to coordinating the logistics of a weekend like this.

If you spend much time around Williams, it's not long before you hear him tweak Gallo about something; Williams got in his jabs at the beginning of the season when UNC opened the year at Davidson, a tough assignment that Williams playfully blamed on Gallo.

"I have a lot of respect for Roy and the way that he does things and the way he approaches matters with the administration," Gallo said. "I think he's very open-minded. Obviously, he understands at times the direction he wants to go in, and he'll make that point. But I think he's very respectful of other people's opinions.

"Let's just put it this way: I don't think Roy will ever forget where he came from and how he came up through the ranks. I think that characteristic is genuine and such a great, great personality trait that he has. I feel extremely fortunate."

It all beats what happened between Williams and Bohl.

The relationship had a number of flare-ups, but the most prominent was probably when Bohl fired football coach Terry Allen in 2001. Allen and Williams were friends, but what got Williams hot was that Allen was dismissed with two games left in the season. Just a few months before Allen's dismissal, Williams signed a petition urging ADs not to fire coaches mid-season.

"And then it happens at my very own school," Williams said at the time. "How embarrassing."

Bohl, who called Williams vindictive and hateful in the aftermath of his firing, declined to dredge up the past this week.

"[I] feel that it is best to keep moving in the positive direction that I have maintained since Roy and I worked together at Kansas," said Bohl, who is now an author and adjunct professor at Flagler University in St. Augustine, Fla.

Whether it's Bohl or Baddour or someone else in the future, Williams might never have the relationship with an athletic director that he had with Frederick.

Wanda and Margey are still close and recently took a trip to Washington, D.C. together. Scott Williams -- Roy and Wanda's son -- and Brad Frederick -- Bob and Margey's son -- are the same age, played basketball together growing up and were each other's best men when they got married.

Frederick even gave Williams a call on Tuesday night to wish him luck.

About the only thing he didn't do was promise that he's going to cheer for the Tar Heels tonight.

"It's going to be tough either way," Frederick said. "If Kansas loses, I'm going to be sick about it, but happy for Roy. If Roy loses, I'm going to sick for him but happy for Kansas."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0052-24289448