|
|
|
June 9, 2003 , By Adam Lucas
Roy Williams knew C.B. McGrath could make a joke. So one day during McGrath's senior season with the Jayhawks, he decided to see if his point guard could take one.
Various KU hoops luminaries were on hand one February weekend in 1998 to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of Jayhawk basketball. One of the attendees was
Dean Smith, a Topeka native and former KU player before moving on to coaching
greatness at Carolina. As Williams introduced his team to Smith during a
practice that Friday afternoon, he stopped when he reached
McGrath.
"Coach Smith, this is C.B.
McGrath," Williams said. "C.B.
claims he is the best guard ever to come out of Topeka."
Whether the backcourt heritage of Topeka is star-studded is up for debate, but it was a cheeky way to present McGrath to Smith, himself a former guard from the town that's approximately a half-hour from Lawrence. But Smith took the jibe in good humor, later mentioning McGrath first among the players he had the opportunity to meet that weekend.
In addition to their basketball skills, the pair also have another connection. McGrath's grandfather, Frank McGrath, ran the Topeka parks and recreation department and gave Smith his first job.
"I went by to see him before I left," the younger McGrath said of his grandfather, who still lives in Topeka. "He said to make sure I tell Coach Smith hello for him."
The new Tar Heel assistant hasn't had time to follow through on the message just yet. One of the first duties assigned to him upon arrival in Chapel Hill was to help oversee the annual Carolina basketball camp. It's three weeks of campers, instructors, and details, and it's an extremely daunting task. So you'll have to forgive McGrath if he hasn't had time to get the grand tour of Chapel Hill just yet.
Fortunately, he's got at least a passing acquaintance with the Southern Part of Heaven. His sister-in-law, Kathy Sell, played varsity tennis at Duke. McGrath and his wife, Kris--who played tennis at Kansas and was coached by former UNC tennis coach Roland Thornqvist--came to Durham three years ago to watch her play, and while they were in town asked Thornqvist for a tour of the Smith Center. The Tar Heel coach obliged, so McGrath already had a working knowledge of the arena even before he was hired at Carolina.
That's something that not every kid who grows up in Kansas can boast. McGrath was a rabid Jayhawk fan growing up and always dreamed of playing in Allen Field House.
"There's nothing better for a Kansas kid than playing for Kansas basketball," he says. "It's very similar to being a North Carolina kid and being able to grow up and play for Carolina. I loved every minute of it. I wish I could've been a Kansas basketball player forever."
He started his KU career with an offer from Williams to walk on to the team as a freshman. McGrath reported to Kansas early and impressed the coaching staff and his future teammates with his dedication and work ethic. When school convened in the fall and the Jayhawks found themselves with an extra scholarship, Williams rewarded McGrath with a scholarship, which the point guard held for the rest of his college career while coming off the bench as a reserve point guard.
The 5-foot-11 McGrath didn't intend to go into coaching. He majored in human biology and fulfilled his pre-med requirements, putting him on the track for medical school and a career in medicine.
"But after three years I realized that I really liked basketball, and I understood basketball, and I thought it would be fun to coach," he says. "There's no degree for college coaching, and it's not like you can major in it. Coach Doherty left for Notre Dame during my last year [McGrath did not play during his fifth and final year in college], and Coach Williams moved Coach (Ben) Miller up and asked if I would be interested in that position on the staff. I said sure, and I've been with him ever since."
Sticking with Williams hasn't just been a shrewd business decision--it's also been a conscious personal choice.
"He's the most honest guy I've ever met and one of the most loyal guys I've ever met," McGrath says of Williams. "He never takes anything personally. If something happens on the court that makes him mad, he gets mad on the court, but he's not going to avoid you in the locker room because you made a mistake on the court. He likes you for the person you are, not the player you are.
"I was never up in the air about whether I wanted to come with him to Carolina. I wanted to go with Coach Williams because he is the best. I wouldn't work for anyone else unless he told me that it was a good opportunity."
This year, McGrath will serve as the administrative assistant while Jerod Haase fills the third assistant's chair. Next season, under a plan devised by Williams to get his pupils more coaching experience, McGrath will rotate into the third assistant's slot.
Until then, he'll fulfill the wide variety of duties delegated to the administrative assistant, which can range from travel to video to--more recently--camp. But whatever is put on his plate, his former roommate of two years has no doubt he can handle it.
"C.B. can get more done in a small amount of time than anyone I have ever met," says Haase. "He's extremely organized and brings a lot of efficiency to the program. Whatever he does, it will be done exactly as it should be done."