ST. LOUIS – North Carolina coach Roy Williams was on his morning walk a few days ago when a passing Kansas fan couldn't keep quiet.
"Rock Chalk Jayhawk," the fan shouted to the former KU coach.
Williams finished the popular Kansas chat, responding to the surprised passerby, "Go KU!"
After spending 15 years as the head coach at Kansas, Williams will face his former team for just the second time Sunday when the two basketball bluebloods meet at the Edward Jones Dome in the Midwest Regional Final.
And as in the previous matchup – a convincing 84-66 win for Kansas in the 2008 Final Four – the Hall of Famer doesn't figure to enjoy it much.
"I don't think it will ever feel good for me, regardless of the outcome," Williams said. "I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with it."
Williams graduated from North Carolina and eventually spent ten seasons as a Tar Heels assistant coach before leaving for his first head coaching opportunity at Kansas in 1988.
But as he found out just three years later, both schools would remain a strong presence in his life for years to come.
Williams' Jayhawks faced the Tar Heels twice in a three-year span in the Final four, with Kansas winning 79-73 in 1991 before losing to Duke in the title game.
They again met in the National Semifinals just two years later when North Carolina and coach Dean Smith – a longtime mentor of Williams – defeated Kansas 78-68 en route to a win over Michigan State and the NCAA Championship.
It was during those two games that Williams was overcome with a feeling he hoped would never happen to him again. Happy to advance in 91, Williams couldn't help but feel sorry for knocking out Smith and the Tar Heels. Two years later in 93, the feelings were reversed.
"As soon as the game was over, the clock went off and I turned and saw coach Smith clap his hands like, 'Yes!'" Williams recalled. "And then he looked down the bench and I was walking towards him and the look on his face was the same feeling I had, I had lost but he looked down there and said, 'Gosh, that's Roy.'"
Just the seventh coach in Kansas history, Williams did more than his fair share to extend the legacy. He went 418-101 in 15 seasons, ranking him second on the program's all-time wins list behind only Phog Allen.
Kansas won nine regular season Conference Championships under Williams and made 14 NCAA Tournament appearances (they were on probation and ineligible for the tournament in his first season, then made it each of the next 14 years).
Williams led the Jayhawks to eight Sweet 16 appearances, five Elite Eights and four Final Fours. But he failed to accomplish the ultimate goal, losing twice in the championship game.
The latter of the two occurred against Syracuse in 2003, when a last-second shot attempt was blocked in an 81-78 Orange victory.
After passing on the opportunity to return to North Carolina as their head coach in 2000, rumors again swirled that Williams might leave for Chapel Hill in 2003.
Asked about the possibility by a CBS sideline reporter just minutes after losing to Syracuse, Williams coined the famous phrase, "I could give a (crap) about North Carolina right now," before walking off.
But with his home calling, Williams ultimately couldn't say no twice, eventually agreeing to return to his alma mater as the head coach. He predictably upset numerous Kansas fans in the process, building up hatred that some continue to this day.
"I think that anybody that basically said that they had so much dislike or whatever for coach Williams because he left," said current Kansas coach Bill Self. "I think all he should ever take from that is that it was a backhanded compliment. If they didn't care for him so much, why would they care if he left?"
His near instant success at North Carolina didn't help ease Kansas fans' pain either. After failing to win a NCAA Championship in 15 years in Lawrence, Williams led the Tar Heels to the title in just his second year in 2005.
Some closure for Kansas fans may have come in 2008, when Self and the Jayhawks handed Williams a lopsided loss in the Final Four in his first game against them since leaving.
Two nights later, Williams was shown wearing a Kansas sticker in the crowd during the Jayhawks' thrilling 75-68 overtime win over Memphis in the championship game.
"I took a lot of junk from the North Carolina people for wearing the Jayhawk sticker in '08 so perhaps I got one of my friends back from that," Williams said.
While organizing an exhibition game last fall to celebrate the history and tradition of Kansas basketball, Self phoned Williams and invited him to attend, but a prior commitment forced Williams to decline.
But as has been the case for Williams his entire career, KU and UNC again found each other. And this time, the winner will advance to the Final Four.
"I'm really being truthful, I love the University of Kansas," Williams said. "My first chancellor at North Carolina said it's not immoral to love two institutions, and I think there's some truth to that. I love Kansas.
"I'm a Kansas fan. I'm a North Carolina fan first. For 15 years I was a North Carolina fan, but I was a Kansas fan first."
As Williams told the story of the KU fan on his walk, he had a perhaps fitting ending.
"He walked about three or four more steps and he says, 'Damn, that was Roy,'" Williams said.
"Time will heal a lot of things."
Unfortunately for Williams, it might not help his feelings come Sunday.
