New on Sports Illustrated: UNC's Roy Williams Retires From Coaching

Williams is retiring after 33 seasons as a head coach at UNC and Kansas, having recorded 903 wins and three NCAA championships.

UNC men's basketball coach Roy Williams is retiring from coaching,

the school announced on Thursday. 

Williams, 70, is leaving the sport after 33 seasons as the head coach at UNC and Kansas. He amassed 903 career wins, which is third all-time by a Division I men's head coach.

Williams has been the Tar Heels' coach since 2003, leading the team to three national championships in the last 18 years. He retires as the second-winningest coach in UNC history.

Prior to taking the UNC job, Williams was the head coach at Kansas for 15 years, where he led the school to four Final Four trips and two national title games. 

Williams graduated from North Carolina in 1972 and spent 10 years as an assistant coach under Dean Smith starting in 1988. 

Williams retires as the only coach in NCAA history to record 400 wins at two schools. He coached more than 30 first-round NBA draft picks and 50 NBA players. Collegiately, he also took home 18 conference regular-season titles.

For his efforts and success, Williams was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. 

Thursday's news comes just weeks removed from the conclusion of UNC's 2020-21 season. In his final season with the program, the Tar Heels went just 18-11, finishing the year with a loss to Wisconsin in the men's NCAA tournament. It marked the first time throughout the Hall of Fame coach's career that he lost in the first round of the men's NCAA tournament.