Projo College Hoops

Robbi Pickeral of the Raleigh News & Observer offers an interesting preview of the forthcoming book from Roy Williams, the head coach of the University of North Carolina basketball team, that will reveal sometimes shocking details of the highly respected coach's past and family life.

According to the story: "When ... Williams was 14, he pulled his drunk and angry father off his mother, shoved a bottle under his chin, and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave.

" 'My dad never, ever came back to our house again,' Williams says in his autobiography, 'Hard Work: A Life on and Off the Court' that will be on sale Nov. 3. 'Frances (Williams' sister) was more forgiving. I was not. I was mad that he'd torn our family apart.' "

The book is 288 pages, and is coauthored by former Sports Illustrated writer Tim Crothers.

Williams writes that his parents had been separated for several years -- his father frequently failing to pay court-ordered child support -- at the time of the confrontation.

"My dad came by the house," Williams wrote. "He was drunk and angry. It was the worst time I can ever remember. He went after my mom. I pulled him off of her, pushed him down, and grabbed a bottle and put it under his chin. 'Get out of here or I'll bust this over your head,' I said. 'I'll kill you.'

"The whole scene was very nasty, but I didn't care."

Williams also opens up about the stress of being a big-time college coach with high expectations constantly surrounding him, about why he has never accepted an offer to coach an NBA team, and about how he was no longer on speaking terms with North Carolina's athletic director after he first turned down the Tar Heels job.

 Tags  North Carolina Roy Williams

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