9 minute read
Tar Heel for Life
Eric Hoots is living a dream while making himself an indispensable part of Roy Williams’ basketball program
BY ADAM LUCAS // PHOTOS BY MAGGIE HOBSON
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WITH AN ASSIST FROM BOBBY FRASOR & TYLER HANSBROUGH
There are dozens of Eric Hoots stories that will make you understand why he is so important to the University of North Carolina basketball program. There are dozens of Eric Hoots stories that will make you understand why Roy Williams trusts him so much, and why he is so important to the legions of Tar Heel players who return to Chapel Hill in the summer, and why “Go ask Hoots” is one of the most commonly heard refrains around the Smith Center.
But there is no story—none—that will make you love him more than this one.
It is the late 2000’s and Carolina is about to face Duke. The game is in the Smith Center, so Hoots is there several hours before tipoff. The game won’t start for another two hours. Hoots, who has worked with the basketball program for nearly 20 years, first as a student manager and then as the video coordinator and now as the director of player development, is already in peak game shape. He has dozens of items on his gameday to-do list. Already on this day, he has helped former players with tickets, current players with everything and future players with visit plans. He is incapable of sitting still. As he sits, his leg is bouncing up and down on the Smith Center hardwood.
I will never forget the words he said next.
“I just hate them,” he said, leg still bouncing, “so much.”
And now you know Eric Hoots. This is someone who has the same passion for Carolina basketball that he did as a four-year-old. That’s when his parents took him to watch the Tar Heels play in the old Charlotte Coliseum. Within minutes of entering the building, they couldn’t find young Eric, who was—of course—clad in Carolina blue-and-white Air Jordans.
His mother, Kay, eventually found him as close to the court as a four-year-old could conceivably make it, still wearing the Jordans, in awe of his proximity to the Tar Heels.
Not much has changed since then.
“There’s not a day that I walk into the Smith Center that I don’t think about how amazing it is that I have keys to the building and get to work for this program,” he says. “It’s absolutely incredible, and I think about it every day when I drive to work.”
His celebrations after big wins—and frustrations after big losses—are legendary. At least one cell phone screen suffered a crack after a loss to the Blue Devils. He can be dangerous in the post-victory mosh pit. In 2005, when his role in his first official year on staff was to video the games, he became so animated during Carolina’s regional final victory over Wisconsin at the Carrier Dome that his reactions caused the scaffolding holding the CBS cameras to shake. At the conclusion of the game, the CBS cameraman grabbed his arm. “Son, do you want to do this for a living?” he asked Hoots.
“No sir, I don’t,” came the reply, and Hoots sprinted to the floor to celebrate with the Final Four-bound Tar Heels. Respectful, sure, but there was a Final Four to celebrate.
He has become completely indispensable, both to Roy Williams and to dozens of people in and around the program for whom he is the closest contact to Tar Heel basketball.
Most amazingly, even approaching that 20-year mark, he has lost exactly none of the passion that characterized his original hiring. Credit Williams—for whom Hoots worked just one year as a student manager—for realizing the Newton, N.C., native had qualities that made him an important addition to the full-time staff.
Every single player contacted for this story immediately talked about how lucky they felt to have Hoots as a friend. Every single player contacted for this story immediately identified Hoots as
“Hoots does as much for the program as anyone outside of Coach Williams. I got to know him on my very first visit to North Carolina. We built our relationship early in my freshman year playing ping pong in the locker room and talking trash to each other. And for the record, if there was an all-time scoreboard for those ping-pong matches, I’d be ahead by a lot.”
-TYLER HANSBROUGH
ramsclub.com 21 & “Hoots was in my wedding. We were doing the candle ceremony and my mother-in-law was having a hard time lighting the candle. People who don’t know him don’t know how kind he is and that he is the nicest person you could ever meet. He just strolled up there nonchalantly and instead of taking the lighter out of her hand, he grabbed her hand while she was holding the lighter and lit the candle. Nobody realized that he actually did it—they thought my mother-in-law did it. That story represents Hoots to the fullest. He’s behind the scenes, always helping, always getting it done and never looking for any credit.” -JACKIE MANUEL
one of the key assets in holding together Carolina basketball as we know it.
It’s not that he is willing to help. It’s that he wants to help. There is a distinct, noticeable difference. Hoots once admonished me for purchasing a car without checking with him first and seemed genuinely disappointed that I would have undertaken even a process that clearly had nothing to do with his job without him. “I didn’t want to bother you with it,” I told him. “Come on, man,” he replied. “You have to let me help.”
It is never, ever about him, which is a rare quality when you’re dealing with Carolina basketball. Tar Heel players love him because it is obvious from the very first time they meet him— which is usually followed shortly by him helping them move in to their college dorm the summer before their freshman year—that he is invested in them as people, not as basketball players. This is someone who you would want to be friends with even if he didn’t have access to the best Tar Heel basketball tickets.
He never stops, always with the perfect feel for what is best for the program. It is Hoots who helps coordinate the team’s annual shopping trip that benefits local charities. It was Hoots who spent the morning of a 2018 ACC Tournament game personally heatpressing Woody Durham’s name on the backs of the Tar Heel warm-up shirts the morning Durham passed away, ensuring Carolina could pay tribute to the broadcaster that evening. It is Hoots who has given thousands of tours of the Smith Center to everyone from terminally ill children to highly touted recruits to random fans who wander in from out of state on a Tuesday afternoon. His campus tour in the Carolina basketball golf cart is almost as legendary as his Pop-a-Shot prowess or his unicycle proficiency (and he won’t mind telling you about any of these key traits).
He has never scored a point for the Tar Heels or grabbed a rebound. And yet, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Carolina family would not be the same without Eric Hoots. Dean Smith created it. Roy Williams enhanced it. And Eric Hoots—who can still so often be found in blue-and-white Jordans—helped facilitate it.
“Hoots symbolizes everything that is Carolina basketball. When Marv (Williams) and I talk about Hoots, we always jokingly say that without Hoots, Carolina basketball would fall apart. It’s a joke, but there is some truth to it. While I was in school, if there was anything I needed off the court, Hoots was the first guy I would call. No matter the hour, he would pick up the phone and be there for me. Still to this day, ten years removed from playing at Carolina, if there is anything that I need I know that Hoots will be there and try to help me in any way he can. He is one of those guys who will give his own shirt off his back for you.” -DEON THOMPSON
“Hoots is incredibly competitive at anything he does and he is a great trashtalker. He is by far one of the best trash talkers ever. The crazy thing is that he is good at everything. He might not be great, but he can solidly hold his own at everything. And when he beats you, he lets you know. We have had so many matches on that ping-pong table, and he can talk you out of your game if you’re not careful. He is a special dude, Carolina is lucky to have him, and I’m lucky to be one of his friends.”
-DAVID NOEL
“I’ve never been around anybody who loves the North Carolina program and can do as many things as Eric Hoots. The way he represents the program to everyone he comes in contact with is so impressive. He is not a jack of all trades, master of none. He is a jack of all trades, master of most. He’s off the charts.”
-ROY WILLIAMS
ramsclub.com 23 & WITH HELP FROM HOOTS“Hoots is a large part of why the Carolina basketball family is so strong. He does a great job bringing all of us back and making us comfortable. It always amazes me how he can help with anything you have going on. He knows everyone, and on top of that he is full of so much energy and is just fun to be around. We used to always joke that if you needed Hoots, just sit still for about ten minutes and he will come back. He is always working on helping someone.” -TYLER ZELLER “Hoots is one of the most genuine and nicest people you will find in college athletics, and he represents the University so well. I’m not sure there is anyone out there who has more love for Carolina (especially if you judge it by his hatred of Duke). His ability to connect people from different coaches/decades/backgrounds is amazing. He always has an ability to ‘get it done’ whatever the problem may be. I’m glad to be one of his friends and love everything he does for the school and the basketball program.” -BOBBY FRASOR
