My point of view on the heckling fan…

Head coach Roy Williams

As everyone knows by now there was an incident in the game between Presbyterian and North Carolina. From what I have read/heard is that a fan of the opposing team said something like “Deon, miss it” (or something like that) while senior Deon Thompson was on the charity stripe shooting free throws. The comments that have come out of this story are way too many to talk about, but I will give you my thoughts on this incident. And of course I would love to hear what any of you think about what I write (by leaving a comment below).

If you come to this blog at all I know you have seen the “Carolina Way/Family” written somewhere. Well, welcome to just that, as far as I am concerned. It’s easy to say “well it was just a kid yelling at Deon while he was shooting free throws”. Take out Deon and put in “my son” and then you will see that you as well would not want to hear someone, who a lot of people have said was somewhat intoxicated, saying anything, especially when he was not in the seats he should have been in. A coach’s job is to teach his players, but it is also to protect them, be it from bad calls by refs, the other team or a heckler in the stand. That is what coach Williams was doing in this instance, protecting a player on his team, one of the “Carolina Family”. Some reporter said that people would be all over Coach K if he did this, but not as much because it is Roy Williams. Well, this blogger, who bleeds carolina blue, would totally understand if Coach K (or any other head coach) would have done this.

Let’s be realistic, this has nothing with Thompson making or missing the shot, North Carolina was well in control of the outcome with less than seven minutes left in the game. This has to do with a coach making sure that the people behind his bench are supportive of this team, who is still very young and needs positives. If you think this makes me a homer then so be it, but having coached the first thing I knew to do is to be supportive of my players and to keep them out of harm’s way (be it physical or any other type). How did I learn that? Because when I was a player it was my head coach who would go after me, but on the other hand would not allow anyone else to do so.

If a coach does not show his players that he has their back then he can not lead them, and while this incident taken by itself might be something you can not see, if you take all of what head coach Roy Williams has done as a coach you can see he cares and loves his players. Past, present and future. And that is why he gets so many of them to come to Chapel Hill on a yearly basis. That is why Jay Bilas when writing about coach Williams’ recruiting said “he takes it personally”. That is just the way our head coach is, and as a fan I truly cherish that!

One thing I will say, some people have said that the fan should get his money back. If that was his seat (which from all accounts it was not), then I agree, give him a refund. But if he wasn’t in his seat or if he was drinking a bit too much then he should not get a penny back. And for those that have said that the fan should sue North Carolina all I can say is: get a grip! Neither coach Williams or security are going to do anything to put the university in a place where they can be sued.

Below is the video of the incident:

And to finish this small rant err post of mine. Anyone that knows me knows what it means for me to have the possibility of saying I am a Tar Heel. I will always defend my fellow Heels in discussions, I will always try to help any UNC member, because that is what the “Carolina Way/Family” is to me.  Without a doubt I am not alone, most every die hard fan of a team will defend it, and that is the way it should be. Head coach Roy Williams is the number one fan of UNC, and if you do not think he should defend his team, the one he both loves and coaches, then I do not think you have understood what it means to be a fan!

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