Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
THERE is anger in Kansas. Betrayal. Tears. Williams leaves
for his own good"I gave my right arm for him, literally," Jayhawk hoopster Wayne Simien told reporters who were waiting hungrily for comment outside Allen Fieldhouse yesterday.
There's a lot of emotion like that, directed at Roy Williams.
Simien sat out most of the last college basketball season. He'd dislocated his shoulder, and surgery ended his season.
"I gave my right arm for that man," Simien said.
Yesterday, he found out his coach was on the way out the door, to North Carolina.
Williams, a man who built a basketball family, is moving on, abandoning it for another.
Appearing emotionally shaken, Williams told the assembled press they couldn't understand.
Of course they could. It's simple.
He's human. Coaches are human.
It's just that sometimes we don't want them to be, and sometimes, they can't help but go along with the charade. Because sometimes, it helps them do the job they have to do. And it's not such a bad deal, besides.
And so coaches often will tell us how family comes first, while working 18-hour days.
And many of them will go on and on about how devoted they are to players, to place, to program, right up until the final seconds before leaving for another job.
The people who preach about loyalty and team will, when it comes right down to it, often make important, life-altering decisions based on self interest.
They have to. They should. But it's still always a shock.
They'll say one thing (meaning it completely at the time) and do another.
They're human, just like us, with all the frailties we know all too well. We all know it isn't easy being imperfect.
Of course, being perfect is even harder. Just look at the expression on Roy Williams' face.
But you can't have it both ways, and so today in Kansas there is anger, and hurt, and heat. Like the guy who titled his Internet screed: "Roy, Kiss my *** Let's go DUKE."
When Williams told Jayhawk fans three years ago that he was staying forever, they believed him. When he said they were a family, the players took his word. When he said Kansas had his heart, Jayhawk fans gladly gave him theirs.
But when the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came twice, it seemed a sign. Roy Williams had to make the decision that was best for him.
And so there is anger, understandably, in Kansas. Sadness, too. Williams is no legend now, but just another man.
They all are.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com