Roy Williams let Doug Gottlieb have it during his postgame press conference on Saturday after the CBS analyst claimed that the Tar Heels coach would retire at season’s end.
According to Ryan Phillips of the Big Lead, Gottlieb claimed on the CBS Sports pregame show that Williams may step down at season’s end, paving the way for Hubert Davis as a likely successor. Gottlieb attempted to clarify that this was not a report, but something that would make sense given the health issues Williams has faced.
Well, Coach Williams caught wind of this and he devoted part of his postgame press conference to putting Gottlieb on blast.
Roy rips Doug Gottlieb for saying before the game that Roy was retiring and that Hurbert Davis was taking over. (Something I missed.)
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
Roy says "that's not journalism." Called it "sinful" twice to say that. Says Gottlieb couldn't put his shorts on right at Oklahoma State.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
That was among the more entertaining Roy rants. He came back to give it. Presser was over and he remembered he wanted to say it.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
Roy to Gottlieb: "you have no freakin idea what you're talking about. The guy who said that couldn't put his damn pants on the right way …
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
At one point Roy starts mimicking the old fan chant toward Gottlieb: "shorts on backwards, shorts on backwards." Humorous.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
And then after all that Roy says: "And Doug — I like Doug."
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) February 20, 2016
Yes, the “pants on backwards” thing is a reference to something.
Gottlieb issued a response on Twitter:
There was no "report" on Roy. Simply stating his knees,vertigo,NCAA stuff make people think this could be his last year #UNC
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 20, 2016
Bad journalism is misquoting me to Roy, making it into a "report of him retiring"
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 20, 2016
and yes, people in basketball think Roy might walk if they win the whole thing….this is not news to anyone in hoops
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 20, 2016
It sounds like Gottlieb was pretty unclear on whether he was reporting or speculating, at least initially, and a possible Roy Williams retirement is a pretty big thing to speculate or report. Somewhere, things got muddled and let to this. Doug has had a pretty rough week on the punditry front, so perhaps he’d better lay low for a bit.
