Take it for what its worth... I'm having trouble trusting sources about this...

http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/MGBOLUZLDED.html
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Fri, April 11, 2003
Tar Heels expected to land Williams after he ties up loose ends in Kansas


By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER


CHAPEL HILL


Roy Williams is still expected to become North Carolina's basketball coach, despite extending talks with school officials about the job, four sources close to the program said yesterday.

Williams, the coach at Kansas, and Dick Baddour, North Carolina's athletics director, agreed to talk again Sunday after a two-day break. The sources said that no snag has been hit and that money isn't an issue but that Williams wants time to complete two acts as the Kansas coach.

Baddour said yesterday in a prepared statement that he talked to Williams yesterday and Wednesday but that no job offer was made. Kansas gave UNC permission on Wednesday to talk to Williams.

"I have had several very good conversations with Roy Williams over the last two days," Baddour said. "Coach Williams and I feel the timing is too near the end of the Final Four, and there is too much going on in Lawrence (Kan.) at this time for us to conclude our talks."

Baddour said that Williams understands that UNC will talk to other candidates today and over the weekend. The sources said that UNC has no other candidates and that Williams is the man UNC wants.

UNC has not asked any other school or any NBA organization for permission to talk to its coach about the job. But asking for permission is a courtesy, and it isn't required. Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge, former UNC coaches, have called friends in the coaching business, but the sources said that the two have made no official inquiries.

A. Drue Jennings, the interim athletics director at Kansas, told the Lawrence Journal-World that Williams again seems torn between Kansas and UNC, as he was in July 2000 when UNC offered him the job after Guthridge retired. A friend of Williams' in Lawrence said the same.

Williams told the Journal-World that he isn't agonizing over a decision because nothing needs to be done right now.

"They've not offered me the job," he said. "How can I be tormented over somebody that hasn't offered me the job? I'm not trying to be argumentative. It's just a fact they haven't offered me the job."

Williams said he expects to talk to Baddour again on Sunday from Los Angeles, where he will be for the Wooden Award ceremony at 8 p.m. EDT and to receive the Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.

The UNC sources said that the Wooden Award ceremony has prolonged Williams' decision. Williams will be at the ceremony with two of his Kansas players - forward Nick Collison, one of five finalists for the award given to the nation's top college player, and guard Kirk Hinrich, a member of the 10-man Wooden All-America team.

The sources said that Williams wants to attend the ceremony with Collison and Hinrich, both seniors, as the Kansas coach, not as the North Carolina coach.

The UNC sources said that Williams could be introduced as the next coach by Monday afternoon. But Williams told the Journal-World that he will be in Lawrence on Monday.

Williams, who has been at Kansas for 15 years, is concerned about the athletics department after Wednesday's firing of Athletics Director Al Bohl. The two had differences in the nearly two years that Bohl was the AD, and Bohl said that Williams manipulated Kansas officials into firing him. Williams said he didn't ask Kansas officials to dismiss Bohl.

"There's so many other things going on right now," Williams said. "Yesterday was not one of my best afternoons ever. Again it's less than 72 hours after the national-championship game. Why would I be interested in running off somewhere?"

Baddour's announcement that talks with Williams would extend disappointed UNC's players. They players felt certain they would have a coach now, 10 days after Matt Doherty resigned.

David Noel, a freshman forward, said that school officials told the players they would have a coach before Monday's NCAA Tournament championship game.

"It's setting us behind a little bit," Noel said. "The guys are coming together, and we're continuing to play pickup games and lift weights. We're coming together, but it's hard to come together without a coach."

Noel said he expects Williams to be UNC's next coach but that he has no idea when Williams might arrive.

"I know that it's a hard decision that he's going to have to make, but I'm going to leave that up to him," Noel said. "I do think he's coming. I think it's still hard to turn North Carolina down.

"We've been through a lot this season, but it's still Carolina basketball. Once you have the opportunity to come and coach in an organization like this, I think it's going to be hard for him to turn it down twice. He had a great chance three years ago."

Keith Langford, a Kansas player, told the Journal-World that he thinks Williams will stay. Williams' friend believes that Williams will stay because Kansas has an highly rated recruiting class coming in.

"I'm not talking about it," Williams said. "Their (UNC's) statement is all that needs to be said."

 

Just wait til he comes out and makes a decision and it's official. Jeez, like wossa said, talk about obsessing.