When Roy Williams opened up on UNC great Dean Smith's influence on his life: "Tried to copy everything he does"

In 1978, Dean Smith mentored a young Roy Williams, taking him under his wing as an assistant coach at North Carolina. It was a mentor-mentee bond that would ultimately prove to have a telling influence on the course of their careers.

While at UNC, Williams absorbed every aspect of the game and formulated largely his coaching philosophy from the teachings of Smith.

Two days after the death of his mentor in February 2015, Williams talked at length about Smith's impact on his life and career during his weekly radio show, "Roy Williams Live." Williams said he considered Smith as his second most influential figure, after his mother.

"Once you get past my mom, she was the angel of the world," he said, per Chapelboro. "Everything about me, she had a great part of. Once I got into college and watched North Carolina basketball, then Coach Dean Smith became my mentor.

"I tried to copy everything he does. Other people think I’m joking, but I’m not. I’m not an innovator, I’m a copier. 'My goodness, why would I be stupid enough to copy somebody else when I had a chance to copy Coach Smith?"

Roy Williams admitted that despite preparing himself for the eventuality of Smith's death, he was still overcome with emotion when he received the news.

Williams stayed for a decade at UNC under Smith, finally leaving in 1988 to take the coaching job at Kansas. He would return to North Carolina in 2003, after a plea from Smith, to take over for Bill Guthridge as head coach. He would remain there until his retirement in 2021, having won three national championships.

Roy Williams once said copying Dean Smith's core helped shape his coaching philosophy

Roy Williams is not hesitant to admit that he shaped his coaching philosophy around the foundation laid by legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

During a Q&A session with columnist Adam Lucas in 2011, Williams was asked how he came to identify the small percentage of things he does differently from Smith.

"The night before I left for Kansas, I had dinner at Coach Smith's house. He told me the biggest worry he had was how hard I took the losses," Williams said. "He told me to be myself and not worry about anyone else. He told me to do what I wanted to do and change things every year to fit our personnel. I lived that advice."

Williams certainly made good use of that advice when he arrived at Kansas, adjusting the offensive system to better suit his personnel. He led the Jayhawks to four Final Four appearances before returning to Chapel Hill.