July 11, 2000

"I can't tell you how exciting it is to be home. I did grow up in New York, but this feels like home to me, my wife Kelly, my son Tucker and Hattie. It's a big day in my life that I didn't see coming. I don't think a lot of you all saw it coming. I was just cruising along, happy in South Bend, Indiana, and all of a sudden I get a phone call and I'm grateful.

"I want to thank Notre Dame first. Kevin White, Father Malloy, the people that brought me there. My players most importantly. If it wasn't for my players performing on the basketball court and having a good year, I wouldn't be in this position. The players are the most important resource. I know that and I've tried to tell these guys over here (current UNC players). They're going through a tough time, and my guys are going through a tough time. It's been a challenging day. But I will make sure that the players, like it was when I was here and like it's always been, that the players are first. The players are first, and they're the most important resource.

"This wasn't an easy decision for me when I got this phone call. I obviously interviewed last Saturday. I had a great opportunity at Notre Dame. Great people. But it was important for me once things didn't work out with Coach (Roy) Williams that someone with Carolina ties, a member of the family be in this position. This morning Michael Jordan called me about 7:30 a.m. We were talking and he said, "You have to do what is best for your family." At the end of the conversation, he said, "Who knows, if it doesn't work out with you it might have to go outside the family." Right then I made my mind up. I wanted to be the head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina.

"The tradition that's been created from Frank McGuire to Coach Smith to Coach Guthridge is second to none. This is the best job in all of basketball. The Lakers, the Bulls, anything. This is the best job in all of basketball. I hope that I can carry on the tradition, not only of winning but of the excellence off the court. The tying in of the Carolina family. I understand the effort it takes to make sure all the former payers and coaches feel a part of this program. It's something that Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge have made a priority ever since I can remember. I don't know how Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge did it, but every once in a while I would get a handwritten note, I'd get a Christmas card, I'd get the media guide and it meant the world to me as a former player. That media guide got so thick, I think they made sure that every former player had some kind of award in there to make them feel special. Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge certainly made every player who ever played here feel special as a player and as a former player.

"The other thing that's important to me is my family. Tucker and Hattie, they get their grandparents to bounce them on their knee about two weeks a year. Well now Tucker and Hattie's grandparents are down the road in Concord (N.C.). We'll get to see a lot more of family and friends that we don't get to see but a couple of times a year. The best basketball job in the world, in the state of North Carolina where my friends and family are from, I couldn't ask for anything better than that.

"I want to thank Dick Baddour, Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge for putting me in this position. I want to thank my wife Kelly. I want to thank my staff.

"I'd like to introduce my staff. Doug Wojcik who played his ball at the Naval Academy and was at the Naval Academy for about 10 years. Fred Quartlebaum who played his ball at Fordham. Bobby MacKinnon, who I actually met at this camp in 1983-84, and David Cason. These are the guys that put me in this position. They put me in position to have a good year and to be sitting before you now.

"I'd also like to thank Bob McKillop at Davidson College for getting my start as a coach. I'd like to thank my parents.

"Someone that I really want to thank that some people may be a little sore at is Coach Williams. If it wasn't for Coach Williams I wouldn't have learned the nuances of Carolina basketball. It's one thing learning it as a player. It's another thing learning what goes on behind the scenes in the offices, in the film sessions, all the little things that go on. I know there are a lot of people that are sore that he is not here. He loves North Carolina basketball as much or more than anybody could ever imagine. The opportunity that he gave me at Kansas put me in the position to get to Notre Dame and put me in the position to get here. I talked with him this morning and he's given me his blessing. I want you all to make sure you know that he loves this place. It would have been maybe like Coach Smith, after being here several years, going back to Kansas. Coach Williams has created his own Carolina in Lawrence, Kansas, and it's pretty special. I know. I was there for seven years. I want to make sure no one is too hard on him.

"I'm excited to lead this program. Excited to take it into the future. I have some fond memories of North Carolina basketball. My first memory is the Olympic Team in 1976 with Coach Smith, (Tommy) LaGarde, (Mitch) Kupchak, (Walter) Davis and Phil Ford. Then all of a sudden there was this 6-7 kid from Jersey City who wore number 31 and scored 31 points against UNLV. I was a freshman in high school at that point and I ended up wearing number 31 in high school. He was one of my favorite players of all time, Mike O'Koren. I remember my home visit with Coach Smith and how he told me that I would be lucky to play by the time I was a junior. Every other coach that sat in my living room had said, " Oh yeah, you'll start as a freshman. You'll play a lot, you'll shoot the ball a lot." When Coach Smith told me that I kind of sat in my chair and said to myself, "I'll show you." I was lucky to play a lot in my freshman year, and we lost to Indiana in the finals. In my sophomore year I got to start and won the national championship with Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Jimmy Black. I had two good years after that almost making it to the Final Four my junior year then maybe having one of the best teams that I've ever been a part of my senior year with Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins, Michael and Kenny Smith. There's great memories here as a player, great memories here as a student.

"I've got five goals for this program and they'll probably be no surprise to you. The first one is to get better every day. I've talked to the players today and it's their job. They have a scholarship to earn and part of their job is to get better every day. The next goal is to win the next game. I think you need some short term goals. The third goal is to win the ACC regular season, the fourth goal is to win the ACC tournament, and the fifth goal is to win the national championship. And those will be my five goals every year I'm here. If I start changing those goals it's time to look for a new coach.

"We will play hard, we will play smart, we will play together. That sounds familiar. You've heard that before. It works. Our team will play as hard or harder than any team in the country. That I will promise you. I can't ask guys to run faster or jump higher, but I can ask them to play hard, and they will play hard. I'll spoil them off the court if they spoil me on the court. Hopefully, things won't change too much. Because things have been going pretty good for a long, long time.

"I'm proud to sit before you as the new head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina."