Roy Williams Speaks Out on Keeping Smith Center

The future of the Dean E. Smith Center is in doubt. North Carolina has been studying what to do with the aging arena, which opened in 1986, and seems to be leaning toward new construction at Carolina North, a planned mixed-use extension of the UNC campus 1.6 miles north of Franklin Street.

>>> Inside Look: The Smith Center Renovation Costs (+) <<<

In response, one day after the Smith Center reached the 40th anniversary of its first game, former Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams, who coached UNC to 485 wins and three national championships, released a video advocating for the program to stay in the building “forever.”

Here is a transcript of what Williams said …

“Hello, guys, this is Roy Williams, that old guy that’s still hanging around. This message really goes out to you guys who are sitting back trying to figure out what’s going on with all these questions and people talking about “new arena,” “not a new arena.” I’ve given my opinion, very strongly, I’m very much in favor of staying here in the Smith Center, remodeling, renovating, whatever we need to do. I do not want to go off campus.

“I was Coach Smith’s assistant for 10 years. We had many discussions about basketball, about life, about the golf course, everything. But I do know during the conversation about what to get out of this building, the Smith Center, that Coach Smith wanted this place on campus. That was his wish. There was no question.

“He even told me one day that, after he was dead and gone, it was up to me to fight to keep it on campus. He told me one time, he said, ‘You’re the head coach now, whatever you want, I want. And I said, ‘Coach, we both both want the same thing. We want Carolina basketball to be special, Carolina basketball to be different.’ And the Smith Center, is part of that.

“I am hopeful that the administration really is very sincere, and I think they are, about looking at other options and not just saying we’re going to have to go to Carolina North for financial reasons. North Carolina can be different.

“I believe in thoughts for the day. I believe in sayings. And I saw one at my house this morning before I left. ‘Life should not be measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.’ And the Smith Center, and North Carolina basketball in the Smith Center, has taken many people and taken their breath away by really, really special moments. And I hope that’s where we stay forever.”