We certainly had no idea; he was still the smartest guy, could recall everything he was seeing.. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. 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. And had Smith gone until age 71 or 72, as did Kentuckys Adolph Rupp, Carolina would have won another 50-60 games and the transition to Roy Williams might have happened seamlessly. in education in 1963. And by the end of every summer, Smith returned freshly rejuvenated. After Smith retired in October 1997, then-athletic director Dick Baddour elevated Guthridge to the top job. 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. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. When Roy Williams declined the opportunity to be Carolinas head coach in 2000, he had to mend more hurt feelings with Guthridge than with Smith. Theres no right answer, no certainty. Guthridge's did, too, and during Smith's funeral and memorial services, Williams, knowing the end could be near, told former players and current ones to spend time with Guthridge. 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. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . 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. 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. The little doo-doos, Smith called them, the administrative tasks just within the purview of his job responsibilities. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. With Williams, it was the restoration of the family, three national championships and potentially many more years. After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. While serving as an assistant coach, Guthridge turned down several head coaching opportunities, preferring to remain in Chapel Hill working alongside Smith. But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. Guthridge coached three years and took the Tar Heels to two Final Fours. 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. End of conversation.. The family told team spokesman Steve Kirschner that Guthridge died of heart failure and that the coach had lived with a heart condition the past seven years. Meanwhile, Creighton coach Dana Altman withdrew his name from consideration. 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. 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. Why would you stay? 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. 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. (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 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. In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA final Four twice, in 1998 and again in 2000. For more than three decades, Coach Guthridge served this University he loved so much with a deep commitment to academic and athletic excellence. In that July or August period, when Coach Smith basically told Coach Guthridge for the very last time in his life, Im not ready, Im not gonna do it again, then I think Coach Guthridge told him at that point that hed really like to try, Hanners 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. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. But the Tar Heels suffered a soul-crushing NCAA Tournament loss that also ended Phil Fords career. 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. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams, conceding him to K, even though Jason reportedly had an interest in UNC. He bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. Go play golf. And as an assistant for Smith for nine seasons, he had both a championship pedigree and a deep understanding of how the program operated. That was probably six or seven years later where somebody else might recognize it. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. He still had four seasons remaining on his contract, enough to carry him to the summer of 2001. That's exactly what they did. Try a week on us. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. 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. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. 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. Guthridge, who like Smith was a Kansas native, spent 30 years as an assistant coach and had ample opportunities to leave Chapel Hill and become the coach of his own program. The complaints turned to praise after the teams unlikely Final Four appearance. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. 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. 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. Had it worked out where there wasnt a down year or whatever, maybe things end up differently, Frederick says. Hed grown up in North Carolina, graduated from the university, won a championship as an assistant under Smith and had built a successful program as the coach at Kansas. "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. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. Whether Williams would have returned at that time is impossible to say. He spurned offers to interview for head coaching vacancies, preferring to remain out of the spotlight and continuing to team with Smith. How might everything be different? I think its time I make this decision. He was 77 years old. 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. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. Division regular season and conference tournament champion "You get old." Bill and Dean, friends for life Smith. Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. Guthridge retired after the season, having spent the first 43 years of his adult life as a player, high school coach, and college coach. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. After 36 years as the coach at North Carolina, it kept trickling down, grain by grain. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. In retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a mistake on all fronts. "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. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. If you previously used a social network to login to WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your password link to reset your password. "Mak said he gets this call from his mom: 'Mak, there's this man here in Africa, says he's your 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. "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. In Williams second season in Chapel Hill, he won his first national championship the one the 97 team witnessed. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." Before their first-round exit in 2021, this was the only time that the Tar Heels failed to win a game in the tournament since it expanded to 64 teams (and dropped first-round byes) in 1985. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. One of his most tempestuous relationships had been with guard Shammond Williams, who even walked off the court at Virginia on one occasion. You accomplished something that takes some other people 20-plus years to do. "He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. Once he asked a manager, whose arms were full of equipment, if he had change for a quarter. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. 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. Guthridge became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . The fact that he felt like he failed us.. Having grown up in North Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I think it was probably just destiny.. 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. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. Unfortunately, it took UNC two tries to find that leader. 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. He was a lifetime assistant coach for whom Dean did a solid. Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. We easily could have won the championship, man, Ndiaye says. Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. It has to be one of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.. Williams and Ndiaye both graduated. On May 13, 2015, former University of North Carolina Chapel Hill basketball coach Bill Guthridge died from heart failure. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. 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. He was known to answer a question such as Coach, do you know what time it is? with a Yes as he walked away. 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. 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. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. You wouldnt think that would work, but it did. He also was an assistant to Smith on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Montreal. [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. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. Its funny that were doing this story, Jamison says. "I'd always set my time to GST, 10 minutes ahead.". But looking back, Hanners now believes Guthridge already had an inclination something was afoot. He handed out handwritten notes instead. I dont think he went in that summer thinking, Im not gonna be the basketball coach by fall, Baddour says. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. That year, UNC went 34-4, and Guthridge set the NCAA record for wins by a first-year head coach. Or perhaps someone else from Smiths coaching tree, such as George Karl or Eddie Fogler? People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. 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. But Baddour explained to the chancellor that because of Williams respect for Guthridge, hed never have taken the job over his friend. 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. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. He always knew what he was doing.. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. 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. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. 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. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. But it really wasnt and we both knew it. 1 team in America. Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. Case in point. Postseason invitational champion 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. That group, fresh off a Final Four appearance, was tabbed as the preseason No. It left at 1:57 p.m. His reasoning? What you saw was the quiet assistant sitting on the bench. (Smith told me), Its just not coming back. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses. Dean Smiths hourglass, it seemed, had an endless amount of sand. That team reached the Final Four and almost reached the title game even though Jamison and Williams missed 22 field-goal attempts in a 65-59 semifinal loss to Utah. His lack of recruiting is why they went 8-20 shortly thereafter. 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. He was on the sidelines for a record 73 NCAA Tournament victories, including 71 at Carolina and two at Kansas State. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. 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? You will be missed. Other opportunities had arisen over time, and yet Guthridge always remained as Smiths assistant. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . Well if hes got a five-year contract, you know hes gonna coach five years. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. 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. I mean, the Plan B was there.. 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. 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. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. What about Ford? "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. Because before we can consider what might have been, we have to understand why everything played out as it did. By the way, Dean Smith basically forced UNC to hire Guthridge, his long-time assistant, when El Deano suddenly retired in October 1997, just before the beginning of the hoops season. 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. 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. Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. He tried to do every one of those little things that drove Coach Smith crazy. Of course, Smith did retire. 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. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. He had interviewed for the Texas job, which went to Rick Barnes, after the 1998 season, after all. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. 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.. Tim Crothers. Making the Final Four is a tremendous accomplishment but its not what you chase. As they were chatting, Guthridge, who died in 2015, grabbed Ndiayes arm. Hed told reporters he expected to honor the remaining four years on his deal. 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. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision to retire from this physical life. Or does Doherty get his chance regardless? Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. Guthridge always why did bill guthridge retire as Smiths assistant ``, Roy: `` I 'd set... For three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams, it was the restoration of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity I dont he! Time to GST, 10 minutes ahead. `` WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your link. 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