By R.L. Bynum
There are many opinions on the best option for North Carolina men’s basketball’s next home to replace the 40-year-old Smith Center, which lacks many modern amenities.
Add one strong and legendary voice to that debate.
Roy Williams made it clear in a video released on Monday that he’s in favor of renovating the Smith Center, rather than other options that have been mentioned, including building a new arena in Chapel Hill North or where the Bowles Lot now sits.
The video was posted on the Instagram account @smithcentersouth, which is run by the site renovatesmithcenter.org that advocates for renovating the venerable facility.
Williams said he has already shared his stance with people who keep asking his opinion.
“I’ve given my opinion very strongly,” he said with uplifting music playing in the background. “I’m very much in favor of staying here in the Smith Center, remodeling, renovating, whatever we need to do. I do not want to go off campus.”
He framed his position as both practical and deeply personal, anchored in conversations with his mentor, Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith.
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“I was Coach Smith’s assistant for 10 years,” he said. “We had many discussions about basketball, about life, about the golf course, everything. But I do know during the conversation about what to get out of this building, the Smith Center, that Coach Smith wanted this place on campus, that was his wish.”
Williams added that the charge was explicit and enduring.
“There was no question,” Williams said. “He even told me one day that, after he was dead and gone, it was up to me to fight to keep it on campus.”
Williams tied that stewardship to the program’s identity.
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“We both want the same thing,” he said. “We want Carolina basketball to be special, Carolina basketball to be different, and the Smith Center is part of that.”
As campus administrators weigh costs and sites, Williams urged a full exploration of on-campus possibilities.
“I am hopeful that the administration really is very sincere, and I think they are, about looking at other options and not just saying we’re going to have to go to Carolina North for financial reasons,” he said. “North Carolina can be different.”
For Williams, the building is more than a venue; it’s the setting for generational memory.
“I believe in thoughts for the day. I believe in sayings, and I saw one at my house this morning before I left: ‘Life should not be measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments to take your breath away,’ ” Williams said. “And in the Smith Center and North Carolina basketball in the Smith Center has taken many people, and taken their breath away by really, really special moments.”
He closed with a simple wish for the program’s future.
“And I hope that’s where we stay forever.”
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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