Portrait of Roy Williams (basketball coach)

Birthday profile

Roy Williams (basketball coach)

Roy Williams, American basketball player and coach

Born
August 1, 1950
Age in 2026
76
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1950

About Roy Williams (basketball coach)

Roy Allen Williams (born August 1, 1950) is an American retired college basketball coach who served as the men's head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels for 18 seasons and the Kansas Jayhawks for 15 seasons. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. Williams started his college coaching career at UNC Chapel Hill as an assistant coach for Dean Smith in 1978. Four years later, the North Carolina Tar Heels won the national championship. After 10 years as Smith's assistant, Williams became head coach at defending national champion Kansas, in 1988, taking them to 14 consecutive NCAA tournaments, four Final Four appearances, two national championship game appearances, collecting an.805 winning percentage, and winning nine conference titles. In 2003, Williams left Kansas to return to his alma mater UNC Chapel Hill, replacing Matt Doherty as head coach of the Tar Heels. In an 18-year period at Chapel Hill, Williams won three national championships, reached a total of five Final Fours, finished first in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings nine times, won three ACC tournament championships, one AP National Coach of the Year award, and two ACC Coach of the Year awards. He is third all-time for most wins at Kansas behind Phog Allen and Bill Self, and second all-time for most wins at Chapel Hill behind his legendary mentor, Dean Smith. On January 25, 2020, with a 94–71 win over Miami, Williams reached 880 wins surpassing Smith's 879 win total. With a total of 903 wins, Williams took his teams to nine Final Fours in his careers at Kansas and UNC Chapel Hill. Williams is the fifth NCAA Men's Division I head coach to reach 900 wins, and reached the mark in fewer games than any other head coach with 900+ wins. He is the only coach in NCAA history to have led two different programs to at least four Final Fours each and the only basketball coach in NCAA history to have 400 or more victories at two NCAA Division I schools. He is also 14th all-time in the NCAA in win percentage among men's college basketball coaches. With Williams as an assistant coach under Smith, the North Carolina Tar Heels won the 1982 national championship. As a head coach, Williams coached in a total of six NCAA championship games (1991, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2016, and 2017) including both Kansas and Chapel Hill. On April 4, 2005, Williams won the first national championship of his career as the Tar Heels defeated the University of Illinois in the 2005 NCAA championship game. He again led the Tar Heels to a national title on April 6, 2009, against Michigan State. Williams won his third and final national championship on April 3, 2017, when he led the Tar Heels to victory against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Williams is one of six NCAA Men's Division I college basketball coaches to have won at least three national championships. Four years later, North Carolina won the national championship. With Williams as an assistant coach under Smith, North Carolina won the 1982 national championship.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Roy Williams (basketball coach) timeline

  1. With Williams as an assistant coach under Smith, North Carolina won the 1982 national championship.
  2. On April 4, 2005, Williams won the first national championship of his career as the Tar Heels defeated the University of Illinois in the 2005 NCAA championship game.
  3. Williams won his third and final national championship on April 3, 2017, when he led the Tar Heels to victory against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The world when Roy Williams (basketball coach) was born

Roy Williams (basketball coach) was born in 1950. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1950

  • #1 song"Goodnight, Irene" – The Weavers
  • Top movieAll About Eve
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater
  • Best-selling bookThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentUSA beats England 1-0 in the FIFA World Cup
  • Top headlineKorean War begins as North Korea invades the South
  • Technology milestoneFirst credit card introduced (Diners Club)
  • Defining fadPoodle skirts
  • Notable inventionCredit card (Diners Club)
  • World population2.56 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population151.3M

1950 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Roy Williams (basketball coach)'s birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19502026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,450$435,000
Average income$5,200$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.46$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population151.3M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NCAA Statistics. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.