KEY POINTS

  • Roy Williams is the sixth-highest paid coach in the NCAA
  • Williams headed UNC's basketball program for 18 years
  • He led the team to three NCAA championships

University of North Carolina men's basketball Coach Roy Williams announced on April 1, Thursday, his retirement from the sport after coaching the UNC team for 18 years. Here's how much Williams earned in 2021.

Williams' net worth is at $12 million, per Celebrity Net Worth. This year alone, the head coach netted $4.1 million from his contract with the Tar Heels plus supplemental pay from multi-media and marketing rights company Learfield, USA Today reports. William's annual salary of $2.3 million at UNC made him the sixth-highest-paid coach in the NCAA.

In his 18 years as head coach of the Tar Heels, Roy Williams led the team to three successful runs at the NCAA championship (2007, 2009, 2017). This feat includes him among six NCAA Men's Division I basketball coaches who have won, at the minimum, three national championship titles. Williams led the Tar Heels to a total win-loss record of 467-152.

Before becoming a champion coach, Williams started his illustrious career at Charles D. Owen High School, supervising the school's basketball and golf team for five years. He later became the high school's athletic director, holding the position for two years. He also led the school's ninth-grade football team for four years.

Williams then moved to UNC, serving as the Tar Heels' assistant coach under Coach Dean Smith's supervision. Inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Smith was renowned for his strategy and tactics in the game, per Hoop Hall. Williams also played a crucial role in recruiting basketball star Michael Jordan to the UNC.

Williams left the Tar Heels in 1988, becoming the new head coach of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. In his 15 seasons as the Jayhawks' coach, Williams led the team to four NCAA final four appearances and two NCAA national championship games in 1991 and 2003.

In 2000, Williams returned to coach UNC, following the departure of Bill Guthridge. Here, Williams established his successful tenure as the Tar Heels' coach, following the team's extensive appearances to nine NCAA final four games and garnering a total of 12 Atlantic Coast Conference championships.

Williams was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Roy Williams UNC
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee Roy Williams Reuters