Winner's Book Club Selection of the Week

Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court

WHAT ARE HIS “WINNER” CREDENTIALS?

Roy Williams is an outstanding college basketball coach. Many say he’s the best. His record in 21 seasons is 594 wins against only 138 losses. He ranks first in winning percentage among active coaches (81%). He is a seven time National Coach of the Year and has won 2 National Championships.

This is not your usual celebrity coach’s book.

When you read many books by successful coaches, you often get a lot of talk about systems and formulas and gameplans. That’s great if you are a serious fan or coach—but not much use for everyone else. This book is different. Here Coach Williams walks us through the thinking that motivated him to keep moving forward through his life in an unmistakeable march towards greatness.

The stories and insight he shares show everyone how simple, consistent hard work will allow them to continue to move forward when adversity strikes. Its very motivating to see how someone as successful as coach Williams has faced constant challenges and overcome them, not with tricky formulas but hard work and common sense. He shows that this approach is something everyone can apply with success in their lives to reach the goals they want.

"His willingness to understand the athlete and get the best out of the athlete is what makes Roy a Hall of Famer."
— Michael Jordan

Here’s What the editors at Publisher’s Weekly say….

Williams, the men's basketball coach at the University of Kansas (1988–2003) and at the University of North Carolina (2003–present), describes his personal and professional path to a Hall of Fame coaching career and two national championships. Ignored by his abusive, drunken father and raised primarily by a cash-strapped, saintly single mother, Williams paid for his college education at UNC by officiating intramural sports. When Dean Smith, that school's legendary basketball coach, offered Williams a low-paying job on his coaching staff, Williams accepted and sold calendars and delivered videotapes to TV stations to feed his family. >>Read More

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Roy Williams is arguably the most successful active NCAA major-college basketball coach. A few more NCAA championships with North Carolina—he has two—and he inserts himself into the greatest-all-time discussion. His life story is a genuine rags-to-riches saga. Born poor in rural North Carolina and raised by a single mom, he was extraordinarily driven and self-sufficient as a child and young man. He received a basketball scholarship to North Carolina but was in over his head as a player. He worked his way through school refereeing intramural sports—eventually overseeing the entire program—keeping statistics for then head coach Dean Smith, and working summers at Smith’s basketball camp. After graduation, he became a high-school coach, married, and was moving along nicely with his career when the offer came to be a part-time assistant for Smith at a fraction of his salary as a teacher and coach. He took the gamble and supported his young family for years with a variety of side jobs, including selling UNC basketball calendars to local merchants. Eventually he became Smith’s top assistant and played a significant role in recruiting a skinny kid named Michael Jordan. Later he accepted the top job at Kansas and was very successful there before coming home to North Carolina. Fans view Williams today through the narrow prism of success, but they most likely have little concept of the sacrifice and hard work it took to get there. A thoroughly enjoyable memoir related with humor, compassion, and intelligence. —Wes Lukowsky