Says losing Guthridge "is another tremendous loss. Guthridge, 62, said a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six years. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. But it was as if the whole contraption was tilted, resting at an incline so that the sand would never get to the bottom. I dont think he went in that summer thinking, Im not gonna be the basketball coach by fall, Baddour says. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. 33 yrs on UNC bench. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. They made sure we knew it wasnt the most important thing in the world, but that we had been given a talent, and it was our job to use it., The Carolina community mourns the passing of Bill Guthridge, a great coach, devoted friend and loyal Tar Heel. When Lefty Driesell declined to shake Smiths hand in the mid-1980s, it was Guthridge who was incensedand had to be prevented from chasing down Driesellnot Smith. He was 77. When he reached the decision to step down during that summer of 1997, no one could have changed his mind, even if given the opportunity to do so. In retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a mistake on all fronts. Fords reputation was growing fast as a star recruiter, having single-handedly delivered Rasheed Wallace to UNC and playing a major role in Carters eventual commitment. Dean Smith unexpectedly retired as head basketball coach at North Carolina just two months before the start of the 199798 season, and Guthridge was immediately named his successor. "If he told me to run through that wall to make me better, I'd hit that wall," former North Carolina player and well-traveled college coach Buzz Peterson told The Associated Press. I didnt really have to focus too much on a Plan B, Baddour says. But if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? The picture most Tar Heel fans will have of him is sitting slightly behind Dean Smith, perhaps leaning over to make a point to the head coach. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. When Bill Guthridge retired as North Carolina's basketball coach in the summer of 2000, it set off a chain reaction that touched the lives of dozens of people in his profession. After those brief flirtations with head coaching positions, Guthridge settled in as UNC's top assistant, right up until Dean Smith suddenly retired in October of 1997. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. One year against Laurinburg, Hanners squad was down about 18 with under nine minutes to play; suddenly, he felt Ford come up behind him. North Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour has refused to comment directly on Guthridge's contract, saying the school's board of trustees discourages him from talking publicly about such personnel issues. One of the things that made (Smith) so special was his ability to be innovative so certainly, I think we would have had some other ways to attack in a game that we struggled, against Utah in the Final Four.. What about Ford? Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. Chapel Hill, N.C. For all of his wins and championships, the Olympic gold medal, tactical innovations, social impact and fertile coaching tree, Dean Smiths unselfishness defined his career to an enormous, but often overlooked, extent. WAKE FOREST: Former basketball standout Charlie Davis quit his job in the athletic department, reportedly for not being considered for advancement. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. In Guthridge's final season, he went 18-13 -- at the time, the program's worst finish in decades -- but bounced back in the postseason to reach North Carolina's 15th Final Four before losing in the national semifinals to Florida. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. He was a part of 867 wins in 33 seasons at Carolina and 960 college coaching victories overall, including 93 wins on the staff at Kansas State. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses. I really believe thats exactly what happened.. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. I talk to Coach Williams all the time, and I asked him, Whats the best advice Coach Smith ever gave you? And he said, Antawn, Coach Smith told me just coach til you cant coach anymore. The only thing he regretted was he felt like he stopped coaching too early.. All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. The people who knew him best werent surprised he went to two Final Fours in three seasons.. He would, however, have just lost his three best players at Kansas in Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Billy Thomas. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams,. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State, but stepped down from the post a few days later.[3]. (LogOut/ As good a person as I ever met. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. Doherty was criticized from the moment he was hired, for breaking somewhat from Smith and Guthridges family dynamic; that scrutiny only intensified in his second season, when UNC bottomed out to a program-worst record of 8-20. ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. North Carolina made 29 NCAA tournament appearances in Guthridge's 33 years on the staff and finished no worse than third in the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season standings every year -- with 16 first-place finishes and 10 more in second. The protege was named Naismith College Coach of the Year in his first season as Smith's replacement. He was even more important to me. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. Heck, he might still be the coach at North Carolina. The closest he came to leaving Chapel Hill was 1978, when he verbally accepted the head coaching job at Penn State. Guthridge joined Smith's staff for the 1967-68 season, starting out as the freshman coach and a co-assistant varsity coach and eventually becoming the Hall of Famer's most trusted assistant. His loss is deeply felt by our university and the basketball world. After Coach Guthridges retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. My guess is he would not have been, and then the first call, yes, wouldve been Roy, Baddour says. When coach Smith retired in 1997, after a tenure of 36 season, Guthridge took over the job to begin a reign of great basketball playing at UNC. People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. A Tar Heel passing him in the hallway might greet him with a quick head nod and a greeting of, Coach. Guthridge would invariably respond with a similar head nod and, Player.. He was a father figure.". Guthridge, who like Smith was a. The team fundamentally changed, that opportunity disappearing into the ether. To combat that fatigue, every summer, Smiths assistant coaches urged him to get out and enjoy life. He competed in one as a player at Kansas State in 1958, was an assistant coach at 11 before directing the Tar Heels at two as head coach. But it really wasnt and we both knew it. (Robert Willett / Tribune News Service via Getty). Ill really miss this next years team and what those guys have done for me, said Guthridge, whose team last season reached the Final Four before being eliminated in the semifinals. As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. Meanwhile, Creighton coach Dana Altman withdrew his name from consideration. Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. He wouldve been gone. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. The team bus never left at 2 p.m. (Scott Sharpe/News & Observer), Standing Together With Our Black Community, Assistant Schall Named Head Volleyball Coach, After 33 Years, Volleyball Coach Sagula Retires, In Memoriam: Elizabeth B. Morgan (19302022). "I'm extremely saddened by the passing of Coach Guthridge, aka 'Coach Gut,' especially coming so close to the loss of Coach Smith," Jamison, who was national player of the year during Guthridge's first season as coach, said in a statement. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. The little doo-doos got him in the end, Hanners says. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. Bill Guthridge, who led North Carolina to two Final Four appearances in his three seasons as coach of the Tar Heels, will announce his retirement at a news conference Friday, The Associated Press has learned. "This is a tremendous loss for our basketball program and entire community.". Conference regular season and conference tournament champion #RIP. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. 33 yrs on UNC bench. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. Dean Smiths hourglass, it seemed, had an endless amount of sand. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. Matt Doherty, who played at UNC while Guthridge was an assistant and then became the school's head coach after Guthridge retired, sent along his condolences: Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. You accomplished something that takes some other people 20-plus years to do. Coach Guthridge made his retirement official on May 13, 2015. [6], National champion But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. The Tar Heels finished first or tied for first in the ACC regular season 16 times, finished second or tied for second in the ACC regular season 11 times and finished third or tied for third in the ACC regular season six times. With Williams, it was the restoration of the family, three national championships and potentially many more years. Guthridge didnt need the change, just wanted to know if he had it. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. Former UNC coach, assistant Guthridge dies, Sizing up the player of the year winners in all 32 Division I men's conferences, Tide's Oats takes blame for Miller's 'TSA' intro, Davis within 25 points of tying Maravich's mark, New NCAA president readies for NIL, legal issues, Scheyer makes history as Duke sweeps at home, Tennessee win soured by knee injury to Zeigler, USC, OU, Seton Hall, Iowa in new hoops tourney, Houston, Alabama remain atop AP Top 25 poll. Then he retired, too. North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. In 1976, he also served as an assistant coach to Smith as the United States won the gold medal in men's basketball at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. But obviously, the better head coach -- one of four or so best head coaches of all time in his sport -- and the decision to retire was seriously flawed by emotion. Bill Guthridge was a gentleman coach, but a fierce competitor, and an incredibly loyal member of Dean Smiths staff for three decades, said UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham. Had Smith made the logical move and coached on until his 70th birthday -- the route likely to be taken by Dukes Mike Krzyzewski (66) and Syracuses Jim Boeheim (68) -- he would have finished with at least 1,000 wins and possibly two more national titles. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. Case in point. Although his individual achievements showcased his ability as a head coach, Guthridge always seemed content working with Smith to develop a top program at North Carolina. He joined Ohio States Fred Taylor as just the second man in history to lead teams to two Final Fours in his first three seasons as a head coach. Theres no way you could dream, Hanners says, anyone would necessarily do better.. Not only did he coach me on the freshman team, he was my coach, another mentor, a friend, a father figure, a big brother for me just like he was for so many players. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses, and the weaknesses that he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. That first five minutes, you can have all the confidence in the world, but if you go down 23-8 or 13-4, you just put so much pressure on yourself. Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for thirty years as Dean Smith's assistant at the University of North Carolina and summing many wins as a result. Later during that conversation, I suggested to Smith that he still had a lot of quality coaching mileage left and that maybe he should consider returning for an encore. The picture most Tar Heel fans will have of him is sitting slightly behind Dean Smith, perhaps leaning over to make a point to the head coach. When Smith retired as Division I's winningest men's coach shortly before the 1997-98 season, Guthridge was promoted to replace him, and he guided the Tar Heels to two Final Fours in three seasons. That was probably six or seven years later where somebody else might recognize it. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. "When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me," Hanners says. (Updated at 2:22 p.m.) By Elizabeth A. Davis Associated Press Writer North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smith's successor, a move that opens one of the . After graduating from Kansas State, he coached at Scott City High School in Kansas for two seasons before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach for Tex Winter from 19621967. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. Williams famously turned him down, opting to remain at Kansas, where hed built a Carolina-esque family dynamic (at Smiths alma mater, to boot). Theres no right answer, no certainty. In his first year as head coach, he led the the team . But when Guthridge retired, Williamsthen playing with the Seattle Sonicsmade the effort to find a commercial flight to Chapel Hill, then flew out again as soon as the press conference was over. A longtime assistant to the legendary Dean Smith, he shall be remembered for his three seasons as head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. National champion but there was no questioning the depth of their relationship talk to coach all... 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