The Kansas native took over the role of head coach following Smith's departure. For more than three decades, Coach Guthridge served this University he loved so much with a deep commitment to academic and athletic excellence. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. He was known to answer a question such as Coach, do you know what time it is? with a Yes as he walked away. His legacy lives on in each of the players who were privileged to call him Coach and countless Tar Heels and people across the nation who admired him. Looking around at his devastated players in the locker room, Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave. He was a kind soul with a strong, competitive spirit. The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? Showdown in Durham: NC State and Duke battle for ACC, NCAA seeding, Brownlow: NC State, Duke and Carolina all look to avenge ACC losses on busy basketball Saturday, Welter: I'm not mad, Carolina, just disappointed, AP source: Panthers to meet with QB Derek Carr at combine. When Smith was needlessly ejected from the 1991 Final Four, it was Guthridge who was furious in the tunnel after the game. 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. Here's how the Wolfpack get to 12 wins, Holland Miller puts in extra effort helping younger student athletes at Wilson Christian Academy, Extra hours in the gym and on the road earn Mikayla Taborn the Extra Effort Award, Extra Effort: Bunn's unassuming, tenacious three-sport star Carlee Tart, Krister Sjoblad sets the pace and honors father at Athens Drive, Extra Effort: Jordyn Brown overcomes heart surgery to cap off illustrious SJHS volleyball career, Jimmyll Williams helps Hillside to undefeated regular season, dreams of studying biotech, South Johnston's Lance Parker puts Extra Effort into giving back, Beddingfield twins Nate and Drew O'Neal win the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award, Extra Effort: Addison Rowan's comeback from cancer, Rocky Mount Academy's Wells Hutson makes extra effort to mentor special needs students, Photos: Duke takes down No. The Tar Heels lost to Florida in last seasons Final Four. 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. 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. Bill Guthridge, who made his college basketball reputation as Dean Smith's trusted right-hand man then took Carolina to two Final Fours in three years as head coach after his mentor retired has died after a long illness. 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. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. Whats best for the players future has to come first, Smith said of the way he dealt with McAdoo, who became the second overall pick the in 72 NBA draft. We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. He tried to do every one of those little things that drove Coach Smith crazy. Division regular season and conference tournament champion Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. Guthridge, 62, said a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six years. 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. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats. But he decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching, the AP reported. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. Case in point. He was a lifetime assistant coach for whom Dean did a solid. He was no different from Coach Smith or Coach Guthridge. 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. The perception of Smiths program might have been that it ran without emotion. The Blue Sky Scholars Program gives scholarship support to middle-income parents and students from North Carolina. Hed told reporters he expected to honor the remaining four years on his deal. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. 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. "We'd always say there were so many time zones -- Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time -- but the most important was GST: Guthridge Standard Time," Peterson said. 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. As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. 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. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. 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. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. Seeded eighth in the South region, North Carolina upset top-seeded Stanford in the second round and continued to the Final Four, where they lost to Florida. He was even more important to me. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. If you played for him you loved him; working with him was a joy. "I'd always set my time to GST, 10 minutes ahead.". Having grown up in North Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I think it was probably just destiny.. Former UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour: Bill was one of the most respected and admired people I have known. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. My guess is he would not have been, and then the first call, yes, wouldve been Roy, Baddour says. 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. Watch more top videos, highlights, and B/R original content, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. If he had, then thats where the what-ifs really go wild. At which point, Baddour faced as unenviable a position as any athletic director in the country: Who do you hire to fill Dean Smiths shoes? Why bring those up? Heading into what would have been the fourth year of a five-year contract, Guthridge compiled an 80-28 record, but had not received an extension. "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. 2023 Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. 08/08: Dean Smith to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom, 06/29/2011: Smith, Coach K, Yow honored by Naismith, 10/21/2008: UNC's Smith to receive Lapchick Character Award, 02/18/2008: ACC To Honor Dean Smith, Lorenzo Charles, other Greats, Bio Jobs Hub: Find a great-paying job that changes lives, even yours. It was Guthridge who was the creator of the well-known and slightly strange departure times for Carolina travel parties. 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. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. For 30 of his 33 years at Carolina, Guthridge was the behind-the-scenes guy scouting opponents, making sure players got to class on time, disciplining players, getting the players on the bus or airplane and into the hotel, working with office staff on the smallest of details, and recruiting the latter, unlike many coaches, he said he enjoyed immensely. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. "Though he was a head coach for a short time, he gracefully carried on a culture and legacy that many thought could not be perpetuated.". Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. 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 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. 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. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. 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. "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. 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. Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. [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. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. If my answer was no, then Roy wouldve had absolutely zero interest. We offer our deepest sympathies to Bills family, friends and the entire North Carolina basketball community.. 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. Guthridge had once accepted Penn States head coaching vacancy in the 1970s, only to return to Chapel Hill before his connecting flight to State College. But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. Hanners, one of Fords close friends to this day, recalls the natural coaching instincts Ford had when the two oversaw the JV team. 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. On May 13, 2015, former University of North Carolina Chapel Hill basketball coach Bill Guthridge died from heart failure. All rights reserved. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. So was Williams always fated to end up back at North Carolina? He was instrumental in helping lure Williams back to North Carolina. "When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me," Hanners says. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. Guthridge also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. 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. William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. SCNext Top 25: Ranking the best high school boys' basketball teams in the 2022-23 season, Brown: There will never be another Bill Guthridge. 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. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. 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. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). 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. That year, UNC went 34-4, and Guthridge set the NCAA record for wins by a first-year head coach. Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. He was 77. It was an admirable, honorable action for Smith to take and Guthridge went on to win 80 games in three seasons. The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. Even 22 years after turning down the Nittany Lions, Guthridge still couldnt quite bear to leave. While serving as an assistant coach, Guthridge turned down several head coaching opportunities, preferring to remain in Chapel Hill working alongside Smith. He bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. In fact, Guthridge has been involved with 13 teams which have reached the Final Four-as a player at Kansas State in 1958, as an assistant coach with the Wildcats in 1964, as a Tar Heel assistant coach in 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997, and as UNC's head coach in 1998.. Did Musselman coach in the NBA? He was and has been overshadowed and a bit lost in the shuffle of UNC basketball coaches by his lifelong friend, former UNC head coach Dean Smith (1961 to 1997), and current UNC head coach Roy Williams, who was an assistant coach along with Guthridge at UNC from 1978 to 1988. . Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. On June 30th in 1969, Bill Russell announced his retirement from professional basketball after a 13-year NBA career. 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. 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. 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. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. . His loss is deeply felt by our university and the basketball world. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. 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. He wasnt an electric radio show guest. Neither Davis nor athletic director Ron Wellman would comment on his departure. Coach Smith always had a plan. in education in 1963. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. And then Bill can decide along the way what he wants to do.. That aspect of his character first surfaced in 1972, when the University of North Carolina basketball coach left Tar Heel fans bewildered by announcing that he wanted junior star forward Robert McAdoo to turn pro rather than return for the 1972-73 season. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. I needed Bill to tell me, Dick, yes, I want to do this, Baddour says, and he was clear that he wanted to.. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. He directed UNC to the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was named the ACC Coach of the Year. That was probably six or seven years later where somebody else might recognize it. That group, fresh off a Final Four appearance, was tabbed as the preseason No. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. He always knew what he was doing.. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. 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 had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. I think its time I make this decision. "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. Both played college ball in that state -- Smith at Kansas, Guthridge at Kansas State -- and coached at their alma maters before coming to North Carolina. 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 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.". Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. #RIP. Coach Guthridge made his retirement official on May 13, 2015. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. After that loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained theyd retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. "Because I knew Coach Guthridge had the best interest for you and wanted to see you succeed.". 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. 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When he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. When it was announced last week that Smith would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, I could not help but think back to that interview in 2000 while also thinking about what might have been. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. He held tight. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. My guess is that Coach Guthridge probably never came back from that place after Coach Smiths death and I would speculate that Coach Smiths death may have been the final straw of an increasingly-unfamiliar and disconnected life for Coach Guthridge. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Sad news. And he said, Im not crying because we won. Postseason invitational champion 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. I wouldve never thought of that in a million years.. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. 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? Im like, Coach, we won it, congrats! Jamison remembers. When employees came to work at the GAA on a rainy day, Elizabeth Morgan, warm, Bill Guthridge, who made his college basketball reputation as Dean Smiths trusted right-hand man then took Carolina to two Final Fours in three years as head coach after his mentor retired has died after a long illness. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. 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. Everybody would have loved Coach Ford to get the opportunity, Frederick says. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses, and the weaknesses that he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. Im crying because I failed you guys. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. Guthridge was criticized last season by alumni and fans for losing five games at home the most since World War II and for a record that dropped to 18-13 after a first-round defeat in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The school scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today. Maybe Phil Ford wouldve been the head coach then, Ndiaye says. Following Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge was head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. And as the confetti fell on UNCs first title A.D. After Dean Guthridge burst into tears alongside his former players. Williams famously turned him down, opting to remain at Kansas, where hed built a Carolina-esque family dynamic (at Smiths alma mater, to boot). And by the end of every summer, Smith returned freshly rejuvenated. Guthridge would still call on Smith, after all, to speak to the team at certain times. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. 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. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. Graduate of the University of North Carolina. Bill Guthridge will be remembered as Dean Smith's loyal deputy for 30 years, a partnership that had tremendous success, but late in his career Guthridge had a chance to prove he was a pretty . "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. On Oct. 9, 1997, Smith called it quits. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. Then he retired, too. The following year, with the program bordering on a mutiny, Doherty resigned. He also coached 66 players who were selected in the NBA and/or ABA drafts. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. Capital Financial - Learn how to secure lifetime retirement income. 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. Bill and Dean, friends for life. Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway said the school was privileged to have Williams. 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. What burned just below that was a fierce competitor who might sometimes react more like a fan than you would expect. 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. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. 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. Once he asked a manager, whose arms were full of equipment, if he had change for a quarter. 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. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses. The people who knew him best werent surprised he went to two Final Fours in three seasons.. I tell people that Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge are my light-skinned fathers, said Antawn Jamison, who was the National Player of the Year for the 1998 team that Guthridge guided to the Final Four. Telling his staff about his departure Smith to take and Guthridge went on win! Retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill coach! 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