North Carolina Tar Heels basketball coach Roy Williams retires

After 33 years of coaching college basketball, Roy Williams is retiring, the University of North Carolina announced on Thursday. The 70-year-old is expected to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. ET where he will discuss his decision to step away from his legendary coaching career.

Williams is a living legend in the world of sports, having won three NCAA titles in his coaching career, as well as becoming the only coach in NCAA history to win 400 games with two different schools, as he had successful tenures with both Kansas and North Carolina.

His coaching career began as a high school basketball and golf coach at Charles D. Owen High School in Black Mountain, N.C., where he spent five years before becoming an assistant to coach Dean Smith at UNC. 

After a decade at North Carolina, Williams became the head coach for the Kansas Jayhawks for 15 seasons, taking the team to two national championships. In 2003, Williams returned to UNC to coach the Tar Heels, where led the team to national championships in 2005, 2009 and 2017.

In 2007, Williams was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, cementing his legacy as one of the game's all-time great coaches.