Roy Williams, "We Have to Put the Season Behind Us and Learn From Our Mistakes"
If you're on social media, you've seen memes on coming out of quarantine with a new skill or job, but what about self-reflection? What about time to relax and take in the last few months and shift your thinking; Come out of this at peace and ready to tackle life a little different than before. It's not always about keeping busy in this world; sometimes, you need to relax.
The impact COVID-19 has not only given Roy Williams a new look, but also time to reflect on his coaching of the previous season. While on Zoom, Williams spoke about regretting not coaching his team to their potential and learning from his mistakes,
"Well, I haven't decided to push it, but you're exactly right. What's going on in our world has definitely dominated my thoughts, period, for sure. I wish the season had ended about 18 hours earlier, so our last game could've been the Virginia Tech game. That would've given us some better feelings than the Syracuse game did. We lost on Wednesday, came back to school on Thursday, I had a poll with eight of our players on Friday, got some more over the weekend through Monday and talked to them just about what the plan was. It was a plan of doubt because nobody knew what was going on, but we didn't talk about what happened during the season or anything at all."
"The staff, we've talked a little bit more about it ourselves, and it's just a lot of things that sort of got together at the same time that made things really difficult, but the more we've gotten away from the season and tried to look into the future about what's going to happen, when we're going to be able to recruit, no summer school, okay that changes the plans. Right now, that's really dominated everything else. I did the worst job I've ever done of getting guys to play close to their potential. I didn't get enough guys to do that. Some of those guys didn't play very well. We had injuries that really kept us in a flux the whole time. The worst practice scenario we've ever had about guys being in and out, in and out. So, it was a lot of factors, and I don't think it was one simple answer other than the fact we just got our tails beat. We've just got to put it behind us and learn from those mistakes and not do the same things again."
In his 32 years of coaching, the 2019-2020 season was his worst. To most, only having one bad season would be the highlight of their career, but Williams felt like he lost more than a season, he didn't give his players the coach they deserved. Throughout the season, Williams often talked on his lack of pushing his team and reminding them of simple things like fouling. The stress of the season led to a loss of sleep, and weight loss; something he doesn't want to experience again.
What were your thoughts on the season? Was it all injuries or just a bad season?
Also, what do you think about Williams' new beard? (Ross Martin)
