HOUSTON — There’s no telling what plaid, checkered or horse-blanket patterned jacket Roy Williams will show up in Monday night, but one thing’s certain: whatever suit ends up on the sideline for the national championship won’t be by happenstance.
There’s a system dictated by superstition, but how exactly that system works is top-secret intel.
Assistant coach Hubert Davis revealed that Williams has a system, but when pressed for more information in No. 1 seed North Carolina’s locker room ahead of Monday night’s national championship game against No. 2 seed Villanova, Davis laughed uproariously.
“Let me just say this: he has a system,” Davis said, overcome with laughter. “He has a system. I cannot reveal it, but he does have a system. There’s a system and he is superstitious. It revolves around the games. If the games went well, if the games don’t go well then it revolves around the games. He has a system. And the system that has worked. But he is superstitious.”
Davis has tried telling Williams that his clothes won’t change the outcome, but there’s no use. Roy Williams is going to do what’s worked for Roy Williams.
“I always tell him, you’re one of the greatest coaches of any sport of all time,” Davis said. “It has nothing to do with what tie or what suit you’re wearing. But if you want to wear it, go for it.”
Williams isn’t averse to recycling his looks — in fact, it appears he’s only worn two outfits during this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Against Syracuse, Williams wore a solid navy suit, light blue striped shirt with a white collar and a darker blue paisley patterned tie. He wore what appears to be the exact same outfit in UNC’s Sweet 16 blowout against Indiana and in UNC’s opening win against Florida Gulf Coast.
For the Notre Dame Elite Eight game, Williams cut down the nets in the blackish-navy pinstripe suit (who can really tell those colors apart?), white shirt and light blue and black patterned tie. That same suit, tie and shirt combo brought him success against Providence in the round of 32.
That suit made its postseason debut as Williams coached the Notre Dame ACC semifinal game in the same pinstripe-white shirt-light blue patterned tie combo. And, Williams was wearing that suit in the big regular season finale win at Duke.
The last time Williams wore a suit other than those two was in the ACC Championship game when he wore a dark gray and light blue plaid jacket with a white shirt and dark gray pants.
He also wore a different black and blue plaid jacket and a solid light blue tie in UNC’s ACC quarterfinal game against Pittsburgh, but hasn’t worn that combination since.
He’s also seemingly retired the thicker-striped navy/black suit with a very light blue tie worn in UNC”s 74-73 loss to Duke.
While Williams takes meticulous care to pick out his outfits, his assistants and players don’t pay super close attention.
“I couldn’t tell you if he wore a black, blue, brown jacket, but he knows,” assistant coach C.B. McGrath said.
During the season, McGrath doesn’t know what jacket-tie combination Williams will select, so he often packs an extra tie just in case.
“I honestly never know what he’s wearing,” McGrath said. “I don’t really look at it. I’m more worried about what I’m wearing, probably. I want to make sure that, because we have the same ties. Sometimes I take two ties to the game just in case. We don’t want to look alike. We’d be like the three stooges out there.”
With Jay Wright on the other sideline, the suit game of the national championship will be undoubtedly strong. While Williams will take a long time to pick out just the right look based on its past performance, Wright just goes on gut instinct.
“I think he switches it up, just a personal preference for that day,” Villanova walk-on senior Henry Lowe said. “I don’t think he plans anything out or is superstitious. He’s admitted to not being superstitious.”
With so many other important things going on during the game, the Villanova players haven’t really thought about what suit their coach might wear.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Lowe said. “He doesn’t really talk about it with us. He’s always swagged out so I’m sure he’ll have something that will be eye-catching for sure.”
With both men — arguably two of the most well dressed in college basketball — at NRG Stadium for the biggest game of the year, the sideline will definitely be “swagged out” and maybe even a little eye-catching. But even so, there’s still a national championship game to be played and coaches to do some coaching, no matter the suit or the tie.
“He has his little quirky things that he does or a tie he may wear or a suit he likes to wear,” UNC director of player operations Sean May said of Williams. “As a player, I never really paid attention to it. I was moreso worried about the calls he was making, and as a coach, I really don’t pay attention to it. I just like to see him out there on the sidelines getting it done.”