Tar Heels’ Williams, 70, retires as coach

Stubblefield, an ex-Ags coach, named to take over at DePaul

The last time Roy Williams left North Carolina, he was a virtually unknown assistant who was getting his first shot as a college head coach at tradition-rich Kansas.

Now Williams is leaving the Tar Heels again as a retiring Hall of Famer with more than 900 wins, three national championships and a legacy built on more than three decades of success at two of college basketball’s most storied programs.

The school announced the decision Thursday, some two weeks after the 70-year-old Williams closed his 18th season with the Tar Heels after a highly successful 15-year run with the Jayhawks. In all, Williams won 903 games in a career that included those three titles, all with UNC, in 2005, 2009 and 2017.

“I love coaching, working the kids on the court, the locker room, the trips, the ‘Jump Around’ (pregame) music, the trying to build a team,” he said. “I will always love that . ... But I no longer feel that I’m the right man.”

TEXAS: Chris Beard is leaving Texas Tech for the job at Big 12 rival Texas. Beard said Thursday he was “thrilled and excited” to be returning to Austin, where he was a student assistant under coach Tom Penders. Beard will be formally introduced at a Friday news conference on the UT campus.

DEPAUL: Tony Stubblefield, a former New Mexico State assistant under Lou Henson and an interim coach in 2004-05 when Henson stepped aside because of Illness, has been named head coach of the Blue Demons.

Stubblefield spent the past 11 years on Dana Altman’s staff at Oregon and was promoted to associate head coach prior to this past season.

ORAL ROBERTS: Coach Paul Mills, who led 15th-seeded ORU on a surprising run to the Sweet 16, agreed to a new contract Thursday that the school called a “longterm commitment.”

Women’s Final Four

UConn freshman Paige Bueckers and Arizona’s Aari McDonald are two of the most dynamic scorers in the country heading into their Friday night clash in the women’s NCAA Tourney Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.

The Wildcats (20-5) won the Mercado region as a No. 3 seed.

In the other semifinal matchup, No. 1 seeds South Carolina and Stanford will meet.