Baseball was Michael Jordan’s “other” sport in the 1990s, but perhaps football would have been a better fit.
After all, Jordan was 6-foot-6 and apparently could run a 4.38 40-yard dash in college. Roy Williams, the current North Carolina basketball coach who was an assistant during Jordan’s tenure there, told that story in an interview with Colin Cowherd on Monday.
Williams said Jordan ran a 4.5 as a freshman, but got faster a year later. Three coaches timed Jordan’s 40-yard dash as a sophomore and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. One got a 4.39, two got 4.38s.
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They made Jordan run it again just to be sure.
“I said ‘Michael, we missed your start and made a mistake here, come on I need you to run it again,’” Williams said. “He said ‘Oh, too fast for you, huh?’ He goes back to the line and runs it again and all of us got below 4.4.”
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Jordan famously left basketball after winning a third straight title with the Bulls. He signed with the White Sox and played Double-A baseball. Jordan returned to the Bulls for the end of the 1994-95 season.
Could Jordan have played football instead if he wanted? Teams would have wanted to take a chance on that kind of athlete, although football would not have been good for Jordan’s body. Hypothetically, it would have been something to behold.
“He was the most driven person I’ve ever known, the most focused I’ve ever known, the greatest competitor I’ve ever known,” Williams said.
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