Jun 24, 2015 02:39 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Roy Williams maintained his innocence all throughout the academic scandal at the University of North Carolina (UNC) - Chapel Hill, but was still worried about the NCAA's investigation.

Speaking with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, Williams said he felt a strange sense of relief when the NCAA all but cleared him in their official Notice of Allegations issued about a month ago. The NCAA confirmed what a private investigator had already determined, that UNC - Chapel Hill's African and African-American Studies department held no-show classes for nearly two decades, attended mostly by student-athletes.

Williams' name was only mentioned once and the document verified the men's basketball coach's claims that he did not direct students to take such "paper classes." But the NCAA's notice indicates formal sanctions are to follow, so Williams' relief was short-lived.

"I've said I felt very comfortable for a very long time because we've been investigated by 73 people and all 12 disciples of the Lord, it feels like, and every one of them has said Roy Williams didn't know anything about this; he didn't do anything,'' Williams, 64, told ESPN and Yahoo Sports. "So there was a sense of relief, but it's what I expected. It wasn't a big relief, because it's what I thought was going to be there.

"But how can you say it's a relief when there are five allegations against your university, very serious things? How can it be a lot of relief?''

UNC also extended Williams' contract through 2020, a public vote of confidence for the coach who seemingly wants to retire as the coach of the Tar Heels.

"I think it might be that way to the public, but it's not to me,'' he said. "My friends have really taken a lot of shots, and in some ways, it's better for them than it is for me because they feel better about it. It really didn't mean that much to me, because I have felt doggone good for a long time. But it's been hard for my family and friends because it's almost a personal attack in some ways. That part has been pretty hard.''

(Source: ESPN)

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