The reason your post embarrasses you and offends me is because whether you intended it or not, or even understand it or acknowledge it — what you’ve done is not only attack Roy Williams’ understanding of HIS program, and Dean’s before that… and attacked his best and most informed estimation of who was right for the program at that time… but you’ve attacked his *integrity and character* by calling HD a “nepo hire” and saying the promotion was as unearned as a spoiled HS grad at daddy’s plant. If an absurd claim like that came from some random corner of the internet then I wouldn’t even pay attention. But for it to come from a Carolina fan, that offends the hell out of me — on my behalf, but mostly on Roy’s and Hubert’s. That’s how my dander got up, since you don’t seem to understand how. There were times when I questioned Roy’s X’s and O’s and timeouts and whatever else over the years (despite never having coached a game in my life), and could see the game was passing him by in the late seasons. Many of us probably did. But we all knew his character is and always was *unassailable.* So to accuse him of a low character move in orchestrating an unearned nepo hire, where someone else was more deserving? When it’s a fact that at every turn he would’ve been asking himself ‘what would Coach Smith want?’ Nope. A claim like yours is what’s “not a good look.”
So then, putting aside you accusing Roy of even being capable of something like that… it’s viewed as “unearned” by your estimation. Never mind that HD had a lifetime of basketball and life experience and close tutelage under Dean Smith, Pat Riley (and Van Gundy his assistant) in the gritty ‘90s playoffs runs, Don Nelson in Dallas for several years, and probably many others I’m missing. Among the most brilliant basketball minds, and leaders.
Then after a very successful NBA career he goes to the highest level of sports media where he learns the game from that side of things — attends practices and gains insights from who knows how many top programs and coaches over those years, and immediately rises as one of the top and best-liked analysts, and *importantly* learns firsthand how the media operates from that side, and therefore gains experience in how best to interact with them to his advantage from the coaching side.
Then he spends a very successful decade studying Roy Williams from the next seat over, through ups and downs, and even winning a title as his assistant. Coaching the JV team, a position Roy himself had held (before going on to become a head coach with no official head coaching experience himself), and a position he saw as valuable experience (having put Haase in that role before he went on to UAB and Stanford).
But you’re dismissing ALL of that, all of which was accomplished at the highest levels the sport has to offer, in the biggest of spotlights… as not worthy of measuring up against a handful of nice seasons at a relatively low-stakes, low mid-major program, since Wes was your guy.
It’s wild to me that anyone could diminish HD’s worthiness for the job. And you’re dismissing him in part because you hadn’t heard any reports of him being all that important on Roy’s staff? Uhh ok. Why do you think Roy brought him in, and HD wanted that assistant job in the first place? If it was not explicitly made known by Roy to HD (which it probably was), it was implicit that he was being evaluated and ultimately groomed for the head spot. And everything that Roy had observed and had been through with him in that decade-long tenure left him with no doubt that he was most deserving candidate.
So no, it was not any kind of shortcut or “nepo hire” or whatever bs you seem to believe, based on your knowledge of head coaching resumes for the demands of century-old blue blood programs vs. Roy’s knowledge. While success is never guaranteed, HD earned his shot, clear as day. Roy Williams knew that, he saw it firsthand. A little more humility and deference to his perspective, and a little less certainty in yours… and you might see that too.
