On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State, but stepped down from the post a few days later.[3]. Having grown up in North Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I think it was probably just destiny.. Theyd had their disagreements, yes. Well if hes got a five-year contract, you know hes gonna coach five years. Doherty was criticized from the moment he was hired, for breaking somewhat from Smith and Guthridges family dynamic; that scrutiny only intensified in his second season, when UNC bottomed out to a program-worst record of 8-20. One of the best testaments to Guthridges impact came on that retirement day, June 30. In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA final Four twice, in 1998 and again in 2000. Following the 199798 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. You will be missed. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. 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. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . The team fundamentally changed, that opportunity disappearing into the ether. 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. 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 manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. Veteran sports reporter Peter Gammons had high praise for the former coach: Saddened to learn Bill Guthridge passed away. Guthridge was an assistant coach along with Hall of Famer John Thompson under Smith in 1976 when the U.S. won the Olympic gold medal in Montreal. Guthridge could deal with Dean's irritability, his need to control the smallest things. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. Or perhaps someone else from Smiths coaching tree, such as George Karl or Eddie Fogler? 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 people who knew him best werent surprised he went to two Final Fours in three seasons.. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. 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. 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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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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 . The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. On June 30th in 1969, Bill Russell announced his retirement from professional basketball after a 13-year NBA career. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. What about Ford? That team still went 34-4, losing to Utah in the Final Four. 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. 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.. "This is a tremendous loss for our basketball program and entire community.". 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. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. On Oct. 9, 1997, Smith called it quits. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. 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. But it really wasnt and we both knew it. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. He was a lifetime assistant coach for whom Dean did a solid. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. But when Guthridge retired, Williamsthen playing with the Seattle Sonicsmade the effort to find a commercial flight to Chapel . 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. He came up with the idea that Dean Smith, having . Postseason invitational champion It was the 14th time Guthridge participated in the Final Four. He also coached 66 players who were selected in the NBA and/or ABA drafts. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained theyd retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. 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. 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. 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. What Smith left behind was arguably the most talented team hed ever assembled: a pair of future NBA All-Stars, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison; the programs all-time assists leader, point guard Ed Cota; a lights-out shooter, Shammond Williams; a frontcourt enforcer, Makhtar Ndiaye; and much more. One of his most tempestuous relationships had been with guard Shammond Williams, who even walked off the court at Virginia on one occasion. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. We certainly had no idea; he was still the smartest guy, could recall everything he was seeing.. Guthridge coached North Carolina to the Final Four in his first season before losing to Utah. I would have been as vigorous and go after that as hard as I could possibly go.. Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. "You get old." Bill and Dean, friends for life Smith. At the time, their run of 172 consecutive weeks in the AP Poll was the second-longest in college basketball history. Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. 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. 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. Whatve you got to prove then?. 33 yrs on UNC bench. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. Guthridge retired after the season, having spent the first 43 years of his adult life as a player, high school coach, and college coach. Heck, he might still be the coach at North Carolina. 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. 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. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. 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. But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? If you previously used a social network to login to WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your password link to reset your password. [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. After waiting an uncharacteristically long time to respond, he smiled and thanked me. Conference tournament champion. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. 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. 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.. 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.. Meanwhile, Creighton coach Dana Altman withdrew his name from consideration. To combat that fatigue, every summer, Smiths assistant coaches urged him to get out and enjoy life. That season, he led the Tar Heels to a 34-4 record and the final No. In fact, most of that team reconvened in St. Louis in 2005 for Williams first championship game at North Carolina. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. "All I can say is I'm pursuing other opportunities," Davis said. 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. But Guthridge, who died Tuesday at 77 of heart failure, was not just one of the best college basketball coaches of all time, he was an unfailingly decent man who displayed a rare degree of. Unfortunately, it took UNC two tries to find that leader. 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. And as the confetti fell on UNCs first title A.D. After Dean Guthridge burst into tears alongside his former players. All rights reserved. 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. 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. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. A tremendously loyal person with an ego that was seemingly non-existent. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. He would, however, have just lost his three best players at Kansas in Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Billy Thomas. Guthridge was the head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997. Im like, Coach, we won it, congrats! Jamison remembers. He also was an assistant to Smith on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Montreal. He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. At Smith's retirement. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. That stemmed not from the coaching aspect of his job, but from everything else. The guys worked hard and didnt lose confidence, Guthridge said after the season. After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. 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. In our prayers. Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. He knows where he is and who he is, but it's often difficult for him. In other words, why Smith walked away at the exact moment he did. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. 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. 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. I didnt really have to focus too much on a Plan B, Baddour says. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision to retire from this physical life. The school scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. Matt Doherty, who succeeded Guthridge as Tar Heels coach and served in that capacity for three seasons, tweeted his condolences Wednesday. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. 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. He got his taste. 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. A relatively quiet man with a wonderful and dry sense of humor. He bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams, conceding him to K, even though Jason reportedly had an interest in UNC. But looking back, Hanners now believes Guthridge already had an inclination something was afoot. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. 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. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. 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. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". 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. In our prayers. 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. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. 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. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. Case in point. He was like Coach Guthridge in that both of them loved and bled Carolina blue so much that they never wanted to leave the program.. Guthridge was Smiths assistant for 30 years. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. But the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four. 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. 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. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. Division regular season 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. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. He still had four seasons remaining on his contract, enough to carry him to the summer of 2001. The Blue Sky Scholars Program gives scholarship support to middle-income parents and students from North Carolina. But I know thats something that bothered him to his death, Ndiaye says. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. The closest he came to leaving Chapel Hill was 1978, when he verbally accepted the head coaching job at Penn State. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. 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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. But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. 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. But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. Go play golf. #RIP, "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," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. He has saved many scholarships when he has suggested backing off certain players, and of course, has selected some great ones who matriculated at Chapel Hill., UNC coach Bill Guthridge gives instructions during a game in the 99-00 season. The Tar Heels then went 24-10 in 1998-99 but were upset by Weber State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. And he said, Im not crying because we won. He held tight. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. 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. 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. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. Guthridge, who like Smith was a. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. 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. "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. 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why did bill guthridge retire