University of North Carolina Athletics
Williams Issues Statement Regarding Press Conference Comments
February 11, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2010
University of North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams has issued the following statement today regarding comments he made on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, at a press conference:
"On February 1st at my weekly radio show I made a comment about a colleague telling me that Haiti was a catastrophe and we were just having a difficult season. I said that does put basketball in perspective. However, Tuesday, at a press conference, I referenced her comment again but I neglected to say that it puts basketball in perspective. In no way am I equating the tragedy in Haiti with basketball. I'm sorry that my statement at the press conference made it seem like I was comparing the two. The people of Haiti are suffering through unimaginably difficult times. I know very well that we are just playing a game."
This is a transcript of the February 1 comments Williams made with radio show host Woody Durham:
"The young lady that's our massage therapist, she had the best line ... because that was ... I saw her before the North Carolina State game, and she said, `Coach, you may not believe this, or may not feel it all the time, but, what they have in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you have is a disappointment.' And, it's true. It's something ... I said, well right now in my mind and my body, it feels like a catastrophe, but it is. What those people are having to go through is just unbelievable and it does put what we're going through in a different light, but it doesn't make it any easier though Woody, but it does make us understand what we're facing."
An MP3 of the comments from the February 1 show can be downloaded above.
