He handed out handwritten notes instead. Dean Smith unexpectedly retired as head basketball coach at North Carolina just two months before the start of the 1997-98 season, and Guthridge was immediately named his successor. His calm demeanorhe could sometimes be found sitting in the stands an hour before road games eating popcorn or a hot dogmasked a passionate love for the Tar Heels. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. And althoug he believes that scenario puts more emphasis on winning than it does on building relationships and teaching the things Guthridge and Smith both loved its not out of the question. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. WAKE FOREST: Former basketball standout Charlie Davis quit his job in the athletic department, reportedly for not being considered for advancement. In fact, most of that team reconvened in St. Louis in 2005 for Williams first championship game at North Carolina. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. As he famously said at Smiths retirement news conference, I always thought we would ride off into the sun together.. Case in point. when UNC named longtime assistant Bill Guthridge as his successor. Guthridge also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. In 2000, the Tar Heels struggled in the regular season, falling out of the polls for the first time since the start of the 199091 season. "I'm not up with it," Guthridge said at one point, when he tried to remember taking over as UNC's head coach in 1997 after Smith retired. [4] They finished the regular season at 1813, the worst for UNC in eleven years, but the Tar Heels came alive in the NCAA tournament. Guthridge became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. It left at 1:57 p.m. His reasoning? The Parsons, Kan., native posted an 80-28 record in three seasons as Carolinas head coach, leading the 1998 and 2000 teams to the Final Four. I was just happy that the team had success. Change). 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. Baddour was scheduled to travel with the football program that day for a game at TCU, but before leaving he spoke to Smith on the phone. Go play golf. On June 30th in 1969, Bill Russell announced his retirement from professional basketball after a 13-year NBA career. Other opportunities had arisen over time, and yet Guthridge always remained as Smiths assistant. Only in Chapel Hill would a two-time Final Four coach, an Atlantic Coast Conference champion, and a consensus National Coach of the Year award winner be best known as an assistant. Copyright 2013 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. It was Guthridge who was the creator of the well-known and slightly strange departure times for Carolina travel parties. Of course, Smith did retire. . Which 16 teams should you buy or fade ahead of March Madness? He bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. He needed to hear that from Guthridge. "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." I mean, the Plan B was there.. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. The Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program is one of the first research programs focused exclusively on addressing the gap in child and adolescent mental health services. The Kansas native took over the role of head coach following Smith's departure. With the number of Americans residing in assisted living communities nearing 1 million and growing, CEAL@UNCs work will be vital for ensuring that older adults nationwide have access to quality and supportive care that enables them to age with dignity and respect. Dick, lets talk on Monday, but Im pretty sure Im gonna tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour remembers. He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. Its often forgotten that he helped engineer the 2000 Final Four run by keeping his team in Charlotte overnight after a disappointing quarterfinal ACC Tournament loss, and pushing them hard in practice on Saturday. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. He said that although he was impressed with the athletic department personnel and basketball program, withdrawing his name was "in the best interest of myself and my family.". His loss is deeply felt by our university and the basketball world. He previously worked at The Charlotte Observer as a Carolina Panthers beat reporter, and his writing has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Boston Globe and The Baltimore Sun. Hed been given a five-year contract when he took over for Smith, because the administration feared recruits would stop coming if they thought Guthridge could retire at any moment. Ill just say this, says Dave Hanners, one of Smiths longtime assistants. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25, earned the ACC Coach of the Year award and guided North Carolina to the Final Four before losing to Utah. Guthridge said a few weeks ago he planned to stay another five or six years despite intense criticism from fans and alumni after the teams worst regular-season record in decades. Guthridge could deal with Dean's irritability, his need to control the smallest things. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. What about Ford? The closest he came to leaving Chapel Hill was 1978, when he verbally accepted the head coaching job at Penn State. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.. Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smiths successor, a move that opens one of the most prestigious jobs in college sports. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. In Williams second season in Chapel Hill, he won his first national championship the one the 97 team witnessed. ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. Well if hes got a five-year contract, you know hes gonna coach five years. I think its time I make this decision. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. He was 77. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. The next season, North Carolina earned a #3 seed in the West regional of the NCAA tournament, but was upset in the first round by Weber State in a late game in Seattle. Its hard, man. But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. Then he retired, too. Graduate of the University of North Carolina. Our hope and fervent desire is that the best basketball coach in America will continue to practice his craft at KU, he said Thursday night. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". I wouldve gone to Roy.. We easily could have won the championship, man, Ndiaye says. The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. Carolina Jump Rope is making their fellow Tar Heel rethink what it means to jump rope. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. I really believe thats exactly what happened.. (Ford) goes, Ah, you wouldve seen it sooner or later. Yeah right. 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. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. However, Coach Guthridge served as the perfect replacement as head basketball coach when Coach Smith unexpectantly announced his retirement from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997. Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? The only people who came to know about that line of succession, so to speak, were Baddour, Smith, Guthridge and then-chancellor Michael Hooker, who expressed some concerns about Guthridges age early on. And as the confetti fell on UNCs first title A.D. After Dean Guthridge burst into tears alongside his former players. But more than just that team, Smith left behind a mound of questions. SCNext Top 25: Ranking the best high school boys' basketball teams in the 2022-23 season, Brown: There will never be another Bill Guthridge. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. Coach Guthridge is the best I have ever seen in selecting potential in high school players, Smith once said, according to the teams website. Looking around at his devastated players in the locker room, Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave. After 36 years as the coach at North Carolina, it kept trickling down, grain by grain. As things went, by the end of the 1999-2000 season which concluded with a surprise Final Four run, Guthridges second trip in three seasons Smiths right-hand man was finally ready to step away himself. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. (Jed Jacobsohn / ALLSPORT via Getty), Theres a world where Ford got his chance to be UNCs head coach, and maybe still would be in that position. And as an assistant for Smith for nine seasons, he had both a championship pedigree and a deep understanding of how the program operated. Guthridge was the head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997. But the season, and that loss specifically, never faded from their collective consciousness. Why bring those up? On the day of Smiths retirement, The Washington Post reported Smith wants his other longtime assistant, former Tar Heels point guard Phil Ford, eventually to become the coach, a source said. Ford was arguably Smiths best player ever, and UNCs all-time leading scorer at the time. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. "Mak said he gets this call from his mom: 'Mak, there's this man here in Africa, says he's your coach,' ". At Smith's retirement. The team bus never left at 2 p.m. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. Only different alternate realities. Buffalo Brothers - 1/2 Price Appetizers 4:30pm-6:00pm Monday - Friday, Holliday: State and Carolina headed in different directions for the final two weeks, Brownlow: Angst will be at an all-time high as NC State hosts hated rival UNC, Holliday: Miami puts the Heels back on the bubble, Brownlow: NC State, Duke and UNC all seek to avoid two losses in a row as crunch time hits, Holliday: Pivotal road trips for NC State and Duke, Brownlow: Saturday's matchup marks the beginning of a new Carolina-Duke era, Holliday: Could this be Keatts' best ACC season? All rights reserved. When did Bill Guthridge coach at UNC? Guthridge was completely committed to Carolina basketball, and he wanted to make sure everyone else in the program felt the same way. How might everything be different? He was North Carolina basketball, the constant as the new building was built in his honor and the banners in the rafters accumulated, the link from Scott to Ford to Jordan to Stackhouse. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Its funny that were doing this story, Jamison says. But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. And for as much as he did enjoy those three seasons, the same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well. He said Friday he now knows how Smith felt in 1997 when he stepped down. Lets play out the most interesting of the hypotheticals: if Dean Smith does return for the 1997-1998 season, with an absolutely jam-packed roster. It was the 14th time Guthridge participated in the Final Four. Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. Bill Guthridge is best known in Chapel Hill as an assistant coach to Dean Smith, but that isn't the complete picture of the legendary coach. Smith, who attended Guthridges retirement announcement, called the day a celebration of a fantastic career. Only, given Guthridges age at the time (60) and the fact that hed always said hed retire when Smith did, Baddour wasnt totally sure Guthridge was interested. In fact, he communicated as much to Baddour after Baddour was tapped in late June to replace John Swofford as athletic director. But Guthridges request also made Hanners realize that plan might not come to fruition. Without question, every opportunity that I would have to hire Roy Williams. After Smith retired in October 1997, then-athletic director Dick Baddour elevated Guthridge to the top job. 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. But Baddour explained to the chancellor that because of Williams respect for Guthridge, hed never have taken the job over his friend. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision to retire from this physical life. But against the Utes, the Tar Heels fell behind quickly and were never able to catch up. in mathematics in 1960 and an M.A. They shot just 39.1 percent from the floor and made only 3-of-23 attempts from 3. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats. The following year, with the program bordering on a mutiny, Doherty resigned. He was 77 years old. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. Following the 199798 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. But when Baddour and Guthridge did finally meet, Guthridge expressed a desire to try his hand. To combat that fatigue, every summer, Smiths assistant coaches urged him to get out and enjoy life. 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. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? The fact that he felt like he failed us.. Bill Guthridge, who led North Carolina to two Final Four appearances in his three seasons as basketball coach of the Tar Heels, will announce his retirement today, the Associated Press reported. 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. Guthridge . And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. 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. Certainly, what a marvelous run of three years.. We offer our deepest condolences to the Guthridge family as they grieve the loss of a wonderful husband and father.. "He was my coach, he was another mentor. He always knew what he was doing.. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. You accomplished something that takes some other people 20-plus years to do. Neither Davis nor athletic director Ron Wellman would comment on his departure. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. With Williams, it was the restoration of the family, three national championships and potentially many more years. He also coached 66 players who were selected in the NBA and/or ABA drafts. The little doo-doos got him in the end, Hanners says. As an assistant, Guthridge was renowned for his success in coaching the fundamentals of pivot play to a long series of successful UNC big men, and as the Tar Heels' primary shooting coach. Capital Financial - Learn how to secure lifetime retirement income. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. For more than three decades, Coach Guthridge served this University he loved so much with a deep commitment to academic and athletic excellence. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. He held a news conference in the bowels of the Dean Smith Center, where he announced his retirement from the game hed given his life to. 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. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. One of his most tempestuous relationships had been with guard Shammond Williams, who even walked off the court at Virginia on one occasion. Conference regular season and conference tournament champion [6], National champion 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. He was a lifetime assistant coach for whom Dean did a solid. But if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? I think its time to turn it over to somebody else, he said at a campus news conference. Peterson -- who roomed with Jordan on those early 1980s teams -- said Guthridge kept the program going off the court, with the assistant making him run the school's golf course at 6 a.m. as punishment for once being late. So I just feel like we got robbed.. At the time, their run of 172 consecutive weeks in the AP Poll was the second-longest in college basketball history. He won more games than any college head coach in history after just two seasons and tied N.C. States Everett Case for most coaching victories after three years. 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. Bill Guthridge, who led North Carolina to two Final Four appearances in his three seasons as basketball coach of the Tar Heels, will announce his retirement today, the Associated Press reported. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? He knows where he is and who he is, but it's often difficult for him. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. He stepped down 2 months later. Once, in 1978, he did nearly take the head coaching job at Penn State but he changed his mind at the airport and never thought about leaving Chapel Hill again. In our prayers. Frederick said he wanted to emphasize to Williams how strongly the university, the community, the people in the state of Kansas and all of our alumni and fans feel about him continuing as the Jayhawk coach forever.. North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. He once told a newspaper he never left the program because the other 300 Division I head-coaching jobs weren't better than his job as an assistant. The flip side of reality offers another interesting scenario: What if Guthridge had led that group to a win over Utah, and then over Kentucky in the championship game. And then Bill can decide along the way what he wants to do.. Now Guthridge, 77, is enduring a similarly cruel fate . As early as April and May, Bill Guthridge Smiths primary assistant for some 30 years reached out to Hanners about doing extra study of the teams offensive and defensive sets. Had it worked out where there wasnt a down year or whatever, maybe things end up differently, Frederick says. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. The Tar Heels then went 24-10 in 1998-99 but were upset by Weber State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. When his Tar Heels defeated Tulsa to earn a Final Four berth, the postgame locker room was one of the most emotional in the modern era, due at least partially to the devotion his players had for Guthridge and their joy in relievingat least for a momentthe criticism hed taken during the season. He stayed (rather than leave for a head coaching job at another university) because he was enjoying what he was doing and why leave something you know is good for the unknown. He was my friend, a father figure, a big brother for me just like he was for so many players," current UNC coach Roy Williams said. Its one game, Jamison says. Ford whispered for Hanners to try running 21 defense really sagging off defenders, even inside the 3-point line. That season, he led the Tar Heels to a 34-4 record and the final No. It was profoundly hard for Coach Guthridge to watch his lifetime friend become forgetful and lose the memories they shared together, not just as the architects of a fantastic and highly-ethical college basketball program, but as friends who regarded each other and their respective families as their own. Guthridge was Smiths assistant for 30 years. 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. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. I wouldve never thought of that in a million years.. Guthridge had ample opportunities to leave Chapel Hill and become the head coach of his own program. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. In his 33 seasons at Carolina, the Tar Heels won two NCAA championships, in 1982 and 1993; played in 12 Final Fours; won the ACC Tournament championship 13 times; and played in the ACC Tournament championship game a total of 22 times. 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. Following his stint at Kansas State, Guthridge moved to North Carolina to join the staff of fellow Kansas native Dean Smith. It has to be one of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick. A source close to the basketball program, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Guthridge recently decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching the Tar Heels. Although four years further down the line, theres skepticism Guthridge, at the age of 64 or 65, would still have been interested in taking a crack. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. But he was also one of the most passionate members of the Carolina basketball family in the last 50 years, and was completely devoted to the Tar Heels, to Smith, and to the University of North Carolina. We offer our deepest sympathies to Bills family, friends and the entire North Carolina basketball community.. You come up one year, and that year you win the national championship. Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. Coach Guthridge was the right choice to lead the transition to another, younger leader of the famed basketball program at the University of North Carolina. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. Theres no right answer, no certainty. Smith was fresh off his 11th Final Four and had just passed Adolph Rupp for the most wins by any college basketball coach in history. He was 77. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . While a student at Kansas State, Guthridge played guard under head coach Fred "Tex" Winter, and helped the team advance to the 1958 Final Four. Born in Parsons, Kansas,[2] Guthridge attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, and graduated with a B.S. Like his lifelong friend and mentor, Coach Dean Smith, he led by example instilling values of kindness, discipline and a strong work ethic. 1 team in America. If you played for him you loved him; working with him was a joy. [5], He died at his home on May 12, 2015, after an extended illness, alongside his family. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. There is one final thing, though, that seems to be consensus, the one aspect of this entire hypothetical that no one can seem to get over: that the reason there are still enduring questions about what Smith could have accomplished in those extra four seasons is because those are the same questions Smith himself always carried. Financial - Learn how to secure lifetime retirement income hes gon na coach years! Following his stint at Kansas State, Guthridge expressed a desire to be a coach dont! For better or worse, led the program felt the same way explained to the Four... Opportunity, as he did two years later, would Ford have been offered the job then Final no that. And father figure than anything else both a player and coach but more than that... Selfless in his mind, coach Guthridge served as Smith & # x27 ; s assistant coach for many... 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