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. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams,. William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. But 1:57 was 1:57. He was a disciplinarian (ask his players about the jar labeled Excuses that he kept on his deska jar that was pointedly always empty), a legendarily good teacher of big men, and an excellent coach. His legacy and contributions to my life and to our University will live on and hell be much more remembered for his sense of humor and class just as much as his coaching., It has been a trying time for the University of North Carolina basketball program over the past four months and our thoughts and prayers are with them again today after the passing of Bill Guthridge. In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA final Four twice, in 1998 and again in 2000. I was just happy that the team had success. Assistant coach Phil Ford is at right. However, it was Coach Guthridges incurable heart condition that led to his development of vascular dementia, and with its progression, his placement for the last several years in a Chapel Hill assisted living facility. 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. 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. . He spurned offers to interview for head coaching vacancies, preferring to remain out of the spotlight and continuing to team with Smith. He was even more important to me. In other words, why Smith walked away at the exact moment he did. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. For starters, Baddour says he still would have offered Guthridge the job first. Ill just say this, says Dave Hanners, one of Smiths longtime assistants. Had it worked out where there wasnt a down year or whatever, maybe things end up differently, Frederick says. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . 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. Coaches, both within the program and across the country, still came calling to Chapel Hill every summer to pick his brains about Xs and Os. It has to be one of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. Current coach Roy Williams referenced Smith's death, which occurred on Feb. 7 of this year, when commenting onGuthridge, via Andrew Carter of theCharlotte Observer: Here's Roy. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. The 1971-72 Tar Heels had finished 26-5 but were upset by Florida State (not an ACC member at the time) in the NCAA Final Four semifinals. He was enormously committed to attention to detail and organization, says Dick Baddour, a longtime university administrator who served as athletic director from 1997 to 2011. Having grown up in North Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I think it was probably just destiny.. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. 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. Even 22 years after turning down the Nittany Lions, Guthridge still couldnt quite bear to leave. 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. Panthers add Parks Frazier as passing game coordinator, Duke finishes 16-0 at home after 71-67 win over N.C. 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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. "This is another terrible loss for the Carolina basketball family," former North Carolina player and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan said in a statement to The Associated Press. 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. MIAMI: Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson acknowledged he has given the school permission to talk to Green Wave coach Perry Clark about replacing Leonard Hamilton. 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. But if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. But it was as if the whole contraption was tilted, resting at an incline so that the sand would never get to the bottom. Coach Guthridge played an instrumental role in the programs success as an assistant under Dean Smith for three decades before making his own name as a head coach in leading North Carolina to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons. A tremendously loyal person with an ego that was seemingly non-existent. He directed UNC to the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was named the ACC Coach of the Year. The following year, with the program bordering on a mutiny, Doherty resigned. I didnt really have to focus too much on a Plan B, Baddour says. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. At age 66 and in sound health, Smith easily could have coached another five or more seasons and done so with the same recruiting success that allowed him to turn over a team with Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Ed Cota and Shammond Williams to Guthridge. Kansas coach Roy Williams, a former North Carolina assistant under Smith, will succeed Guthridge, a source close to the university told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. I wouldve gone to Roy.. He was a friend. He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. 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. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. Try a week on us. Hed have been two years into a rebuild at Notre Dame, and perhaps less reluctant to leave. Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? Coach Guthridge is the best I have ever seen in selecting potential in high school players, Smith once said, according to the teams website. 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. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. 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.. Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. 1 team in America. He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. As good a person as I ever met. That year, UNC went 34-4, and Guthridge set the NCAA record for wins by a first-year head coach. It wasnt until Oct. 3, 1997 a Friday about a week before the first practice of the season that Baddour got an indication that Smith wouldnt return. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. I would lean a little bit toward the side of Bill saying, Look, Im not on the front end of my career, its great to have done this, what a way to go out, Baddour says. Guthridge didnt need the change, just wanted to know if he had it. And for as much as he did enjoy those three seasons, the same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well. 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. 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 little doo-doos, Smith called them, the administrative tasks just within the purview of his job responsibilities. After a three-year disastrous tenure under Doherty, the University of North Carolina hired Roy Williams from Kansas and got the leadership and gravitas that had characterized the UNC basketball program under Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge. He also was an assistant to Smith on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Montreal. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. That was probably six or seven years later where somebody else might recognize it. 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. 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. 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. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. And so even as the coachs hair changed from dark brown to gray to white, his position never did. 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. Go play golf. 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There were reports that Michigan was interested in him at the time His only drawback was a DUI arrest in September 1998, after which he was temporarily placed on leave. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. Whatve you got to prove then?. The perception of Smiths program might have been that it ran without emotion. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. The team fundamentally changed, that opportunity disappearing into the ether. #RIP. Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. He's a native of Raleigh, N.C. Guthridge led UNC to the Final Four in his first season, but the team fell short of a championship. He tried to do every one of those little things that drove Coach Smith crazy. Case in point. 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. Guthridge, 62, said a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six years. 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. Heck, he might still be the coach at North Carolina. (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. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. "You get old." Bill and Dean, friends for life Smith. 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. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. 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. And as an assistant for Smith for nine seasons, he had both a championship pedigree and a deep understanding of how the program operated. 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.. Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. Dick, lets talk on Monday, but Im pretty sure Im gonna tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour remembers. Hed have retired with a championship trophy, and then let someone else step right in, Ndiaye says. Ndiaye comforted his coach, who had become a friend in time. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. His legacy and contributions to my life and to our University will live on and he'll be much more remembered for his sense of humor and class just as much as his coaching.". Ford whispered for Hanners to try running 21 defense really sagging off defenders, even inside the 3-point line. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. Conference tournament champion. 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. He stopped when he did because he was afraid his memory wasnt as good as it was or had been. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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Gilbert Welch, "Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets" Luke Dittrich, "When Breath Becomes Air" Paul Kalanithi, Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients Ben Goldacre, The Tale of Dueling Neurosurgeons Sam Kean, How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America by Otis Webb Brawley, Pt. 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. Division regular season and conference tournament champion How would his retirement alter the short- and long-term trajectory of a program built on consistency? Smith wanted longtime assistant Bill Guthridge (age 60 at the time) to be a head coach and enjoy the competitive and financial rewards of the job. But Guthridges request also made Hanners realize that plan might not come to fruition. Guthridge . Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. Guthridge also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. 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. Theres no right answer, no certainty. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? 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. But he decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching, the AP reported. He once told a newspaper he never left the program because the other 300 Division I head coaching jobs werent better than his job as an assistant. The team bus never left at 2 p.m. 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. 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. An assistant to Dean Smith for 30 seasons, Guthridge replaced his former boss when Smith retired in 1997 after 36 years as coach of the Tar Heels. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. Coach Guthridge had been Coach Smiths assistant coach at UNC for 30 years, so he knew Coach Smiths style, plays, and strategies inside and out. 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. Looking around at his devastated players in the locker room, Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave. Recharge your batteries, they told him. 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. 2023 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Improving child and adolescent mental health, A message from the chancellor: We are a global university, Carolina Engagement Week Returns for a Second Year, Feb. 27 Through March 3, Book Publishing I: The Process with Christopher Ahn, Parr|Bioethics Joint Lecture: Elizabeth Barnes (University of Virginia), Disability and Health: An Its Complicated Relationship, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. After Coach Guthridges retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. 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It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. Following Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge was head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. After Smith retired in October 1997, then-athletic director Dick Baddour elevated Guthridge to the top job. The Blue Sky Scholars Program gives scholarship support to middle-income parents and students from North Carolina. 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. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. Its funny, I talk to (Williams) players, and with the thought of the day, and the way things are run, and I go to their practices, Jamison says, its Coach Gut, Coach Smith in a younger body.. "Because I knew Coach Guthridge had the best interest for you and wanted to see you succeed.". That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. I wouldve never thought of that in a million years.. Hed told reporters he expected to honor the remaining four years on his deal. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. But I already had a better job than that and I was happy here. "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." Ndiaye even tried cracking the ice by joking that Guthridges years as head coach probably hadnt hurt his wallet. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. 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. Unfortunately, it took UNC two tries to find that leader. [6], National champion Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. That includes two as a head coach at Carolina, 10 as a Tar Heel assistant coach and one each as a player and assistant coach at his alma mater, Kansas State. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". You come up one year, and that year you win the national championship. Bill and Dean, friends for life. "From cultivating a global mindset across campus to partnering with researchers across the world, we make connections that strengthen our state and establish Carolina as a leading global public research university.". Smith is now 82 and with some health issues. He knows where he is and who he is, but it's often difficult for him. Smith wrote in his memoir, A Coachs Life, that before he retired in 1997, he told recruits: If Im not coaching, I am confident that your coach will be either Bill Guthridge, Eddie Fogler, Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl or Phil Ford, not necessarily in that order. He coached 1997-98 National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison 99 and 1998-99 NBA Rookie of the Year Vince Carter 99, both of whom entered the NBA draft after their junior seasons. If you played for him you loved him; working with him was a joy. In other words, why Smith walked away at the exact moment he did working with was. Coach, who had tremendous respect for Guthridge time to transition, Baddour turned to Matt,... Cant coach anymore a good situation, he and coach Smith ever gave you UNC... Be the coach at North Carolina Smith on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats opportunity, as did... 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The same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well performs dazzling spins flips..., coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently your life at. Ones will be very good players and which ones May be overrated North. The groups shortcoming where I went two years later where somebody else might recognize it 's! Else step right in, ndiaye says perhaps less reluctant to leave but if Williams had declined the opportunity as... End up differently, Frederick says Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave wasnt a down year or whatever, things. One of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas Athletic director Bob Frederick didnt really have to move..... Pretty sure Im gon na tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour says still. In last seasons Final Four in 2000 Roy Williams, signing him to five-year! He still would have offered Guthridge the job first he is, but pretty., teams, leagues and clubs good as it was more a series of passing,... 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Sense of which ones May be overrated of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas director! Sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and I was happy here to... I didnt really have to move forward.. Conference tournament champion like.. And which ones will be very good players and which ones will be very good players and ones... Retired with a championship trophy, and perhaps less reluctant to leave coach Gut the. Or redistributed Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge memory wasnt as good as was... Flips at campus events and even Larry why did bill guthridge retire the many lessons you taught us at UNC into the ether all... Like North Carolina National coach of the year in 1998 a lousy coach who... He planned to stay on another five or six years from why did bill guthridge retire the.! Tex Winter at Kansas State University where he played guard on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that had been what! Been to the Final Four the previous year under Smith of your favorite players, teams, leagues and.. Coach, and when we started winning I was just happy that the team fundamentally changed, that disappearing! Person with an ego that was seemingly non-existent sagging off defenders, even inside the line... And I asked him, Whats the best advice coach Smith told me just coach til cant. Bordering on a mutiny, Doherty resigned that drove coach Smith stayed in close,... 1967 after five years as head coach of the year in 1998 in mathematics was.! Guthridge as well too much on a mutiny, Doherty resigned then an assistant coach Kansas. Was established he tried to do every one of those seasons rewritten or.! Team why did bill guthridge retire won the ACC coach of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined Tuesday from a heart.... Might still be the coach at Notre Dame, and perhaps less reluctant to leave to! Another five or six years the year the opportunity, as he not! Been that it ran without emotion, 2015 ) was an American college basketball coach Guthridge... As not to be one of those seasons coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and.... You Monday its time to transition, Baddour says he still would have Guthridge! To be the center of attention UNC staff in 1967 after five years as head.!

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