The North Carolina Tar Heels have signed head coach Roy Williams to an eight-year extension through 2028. The three-time National Championship winning head coach would be 77 at the end of the deal. “I’m grateful and humbled in the University’s continued faith in my leadership of the basketball program”
Coach Williams’ contract has been extended through 2??0??2??8????https://t.co/QDQvKY1SQC#GoHeels pic.twitter.com/oNWK6kH5KQ
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) December 19, 2018
Roy Williams also signed a new personal service contract with Nike that will last through his new coaching extension. North Carolina has also announced that it is signing a 10-year extension with Nike and continuing the partnership. Roy Williams is currently making $2.1 Million dollars per year and the new deal will steadily raise that amount until it reaches right at $3 million the final year. Bonus and the Nike money included could see Roy Williams make $4 million dollars in his final year.
Roy Williams is a man who values his privacy but was open and honest about the current situation in college basketball. “When I coached at Kansas my contracts with Nike and our media partner were private, and UNC respected and honored that for 15 years. However, times have changed and understanding the environment that college basketball faces now, Chancellor Folt, Bubba (Cunningham) and I agreed the correct and proper thing would be to disclose those terms.”
The North Carolina Tar Heels have been extremely successful in the ACC and the NCAA under Roy Williams capped off by him surpassing his mentor Dean Smith in Championships in 2017. The eight-year extension comes after the head coach had the court he coaches on officially named after him. Fans and reporters alike speculated that Roy Williams may retire after his current deal ended, but it looks like the Carolina faithful will have the Hall of Fame head coach for another decade at least.