How many schools fire their A.D. after two straight Final Four appearances? Better yet, how many coaches are willing to leave a program after two straight Final Fours, when they?ve got a solid incoming recruiting class including two Mickey-D All Americans? Yes Dorothy, you are still in Kansas.

Yesterday saw two significant developments in Stay Roy Stay!- Part 2. Right around lunchtime North Carolina Athletic Director Dick Baddour called Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway to either ask permission, or simply tell him (jerk!), that they would in fact be speaking with Roy about their vacant coaching position. About three hours later Hemenway fired his Athletic Director Al Bohl. And because it?s school policy to not discuss personnel matters, he was unwilling to disclose what the grounds for Bohl?s termination were.

You can pretty much take your pick though. Maybe transgressions from Fresno State, (yep same place/same time as Tarkanian) are coming back to haunt him sooner than later as NCAA investigators take a closer look at his creative bookkeeping. Maybe when hiring football coach Mark Mangino, he made some promises about facility upgrades that he?s still yet to deliver. Or maybe, you?re like most Kansas fans and simply content to blindly side with Roy against a guy he just didn?t like.

Bohl didn?t go quietly though, calling the firing a direct result of Roy Williams? “hatred and vindictiveness”. And if true, this could be the second guy Roy?s gotten fired during the last three weeks. Considering if former Carolina coach Matt Doherty had a healthy Sean May for the entire season, there?s little doubt that the Tar Heels would have finished with more wins than 17, and been invited to the Big Dance. But Doherty lacked any vocal support from his players, their parents, his administration, or even his good friend Roy? If you don?t think Roy making a statement prior to Doherty being shown the door wouldn?t have made a difference, well you?re just not paying attention.

But Roy, Dean Smith, and the rest of the Carolina family are now all in agreement—–Doherty just wasn?t the right guy for the job. He is an excellent recruiter, maybe better than Roy, but in all other areas he failed. This wasn?t simply a case of a group of coddled, egotistical players and their parents, led by Rashad McCants and Sean May?s dad, having too much power. If that were the situation maybe a move would have been made after Doherty?s second season when Adam Boone and Brian Morrison chose to transfer and sit out a season as the lesser of two evils. But faced with another round of transfers, and considering that Matt immediately began ruffling feathers from the moment he stepped on campus and axed long time administrative staff members and the entire assistant coaching staff, he?d left himself with far more enemies than allies. Most importantly, everyone knows Carolina basketball doesn?t go 2 seasons without an NCAA appearance—-doesn?t happen, can?t happen, right?

So just three years after being turned down by Roy, the Carolina faithful once again look West and most can?t fathom a second rejection. This is freakin? North Carolina! The best job in the country!!! The last time he was called home, Roy had a freshman class of Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich and Drew Gooden that he thought was going to be pretty gush-darned good. And if you?ll recall Bill Guthridge hadn?t exactly left the cupboard full, save for one Joseph Forte. But Drew?s now wearing an NBA ?0?, Kirk and Nick are out of college eligibility, and something tells me that every single coach in the land would rather have Raymond Felton as their point guard rather than Aaron Miles. Jawad Williams will be a senior who?s doubtful to go anywhere, and one can only assume Mr. May would be all right with his son playing for Ol? Roy. That?s actually a nucleus better suited to get Roy back to his third straight Final Four than he?d have at K.U.. Keith Langford is the bomb, but Wayne Simien can?t stay healthy, Aaron Miles can?t shoot, and who knows how safe the Lawrence Wal-Marts will be with one opportunistic J.R. Giddens on campus. Those are the kinds of flaws that weren?t around the last time Roy was faced choosing between the two programs. And now there?s a little more distance between Dean Smith and the status quo, enough that he can still leave his own mark on the program.

Basketball aside, Roy loves to golf. North Carolina gets the clear advantage over Kansas there. He?s still got family in North Carolina, and it?s where he spends a lot of his time in the off-season. Face it Kansas fans, Roy bleeds baby blue, not crimson and blue, no matter what he might have told Bonnie Bernstein. Remember who the first guy he apologized to was after dropping the dreaded ?S? word on national television? Yep—Dean Smith.

If he was going to stay, he would have ended all this speculation before it even got started. Now he can wash his hands, claim to have had nothing to do with Al Bohl?s firing and get in his Lexus and head Eastbound and Down. The question then becomes how will the rest of the coaching dominoes fall. Does Illinois? Bill Self see Kansas as a better job than Illinois? He?d be in the same conference as Quin Snyder (a guy he owns in X?s and O?s and recruiting) which means a guaranteed two wins a season for him. Or does Self stay, and Kansas look to a guy like Gonzaga?s Mark Few? And if he rejects them too, will Kansas be content to replace a future Hall-of-Famer with a former player like Wichita State?s Mark Turgeon or the ABA?s Kevin Pritchard? (Note to C-Mac: No way does Tubby leave Kentucky for Kansas).

I actually welcome all the speculation, because it?s 190 days til college hoop teams can start practicing—-and I?ve got nothing but time? And maybe, just maybe, there?s a little part of me that relishes seeing Kansas fans squirm and have to deal with both the bitter taste of losing a National Championship followed by replacing their head coach in a very short period of time.

For those of you who may have been concerned, C-Mac is managing, though he did ask that I ensure his tombstone reads, “That which he loved killed him. And he didn?t give a shit about North Carolina either?” Hopefully they can have it ready before the Turgeon press conference.

Quick programming note: I?m very thankful Mr. Firestone chose to keep Amber around on ABC?s The Bachelor. There?s nothing wrong with a cute blonde that likes to get her drink on. But that 30-year old brunette with the man-face has got to go!!!