Spend time with family. 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. Bill Guthridge was a gentleman coach, but a fierce competitor, and an incredibly loyal member of Dean Smiths staff for three decades, said UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham. 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. But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? 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. We offer our deepest condolences to the Guthridge family as they grieve the loss of a wonderful husband and father.. He stepped down 2 months later. "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.". The flip side of reality offers another interesting scenario: What if Guthridge had led that group to a win over Utah, and then over Kentucky in the championship game. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. In his first year as head coach, he led the the team . 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. Whatve you got to prove then?. You come up one year, and that year you win the national championship. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. 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. Guthridge, who like Smith was a. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. The university made a huge misstep when it hired former UNC player, Matt Doherty, a young, untested coach in the league of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and a 180-degreechange from the coaching styles of Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge, as its head basketball coach in 2000, when Coach Guthridge retired. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. "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. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. Although his individual achievements showcased his ability as a head coach, Guthridge always seemed content working with Smith to develop a top program at North Carolina. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. A source close to the basketball program, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Guthridge recently decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching the Tar Heels. But he decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching, the AP reported. That's exactly what they did. When it was his turn as head coach, he immediately won an ACC championship and took two teams to the Final Four. 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. When he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? 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? I dont think he went in that summer thinking, Im not gonna be the basketball coach by fall, Baddour says. "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." 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. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. Guthridge coached that team to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship, a school record-tying 34 wins (including 30 wins going into the NCAA Tournament the most in school history at the time) and an appearance in the Final Four, where they lost to Utah. But 1:57 was 1:57. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. Then he retired, too. It left at 1:57 p.m. His reasoning? He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . Hed have been two years into a rebuild at Notre Dame, and perhaps less reluctant to leave. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. Theres no way you could dream, Hanners says, anyone would necessarily do better.. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. On Oct. 9, 1997, Smith called it quits. Suggestion to Return DismissedWhen Guthridge retired after leading his third team to another Final Four, I interviewed Smith about the amazingly long and successful partnership the two coaches -- Smith a Kansas grad and Guthridge from Kansas State -- had enjoyed. Its hard, man. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. Had McAdoo returned, Smiths team would have been much better positioned to deal with David Thompsons stunning impact on NC State, the ACC and the nation. Veteran sports reporter Peter Gammons had high praise for the former coach: Saddened to learn Bill Guthridge passed away. Guthridge was the longtime assistant to UNC coach Dean Smith, who died earlier this year. So I just feel like we got robbed.. But it really wasnt and we both knew it. 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. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. In our prayers. 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. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. Even 22 years after turning down the Nittany Lions, Guthridge still couldnt quite bear to leave. 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. If he had, then thats where the what-ifs really go wild. 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. 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Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. Its funny that were doing this story, Jamison says. Matt Doherty, who succeeded Guthridge as Tar Heels coach and served in that capacity for three seasons, tweeted his condolences Wednesday. He was even more important to me. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. 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. After Smith retired in October 1997, then-athletic director Dick Baddour elevated Guthridge to the top job. "He was my coach, he was another mentor. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. 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. The emotion was there, its just that it was often Guthridge providing it. Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. 33 yrs on UNC bench. You will be missed. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. (Updated at 2:22 p.m.) By Elizabeth A. Davis Associated Press Writer North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smith's successor, a move that opens one of the . 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. But theres also the fact that Dean did it his way, which was entirely predictable. 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. The protege was named Naismith College Coach of the Year in his first season as Smith's replacement. Without question, every opportunity that I would have to hire Roy Williams. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. As they were chatting, Guthridge, who died in 2015, grabbed Ndiayes arm. College Basketball Coach. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. 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. 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. 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. He led the program to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons at the helm before retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign. 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. "This is a tremendous loss for our basketball program and entire community.". It has to be one of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. And by the end of every summer, Smith returned freshly rejuvenated. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. 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. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. And so even as the coachs hair changed from dark brown to gray to white, his position never did. As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. 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. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. There is one final thing, though, that seems to be consensus, the one aspect of this entire hypothetical that no one can seem to get over: that the reason there are still enduring questions about what Smith could have accomplished in those extra four seasons is because those are the same questions Smith himself always carried. A Tar Heel passing him in the hallway might greet him with a quick head nod and a greeting of, Coach. Guthridge would invariably respond with a similar head nod and, Player.. Why bring those up? 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. What burned just below that was a fierce competitor who might sometimes react more like a fan than you would expect. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. And I think he probably had second thoughts, because at what point was it really a danger? 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. 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. Capital Financial - Learn how to secure lifetime retirement income. But I already had a better job than that and I was happy here. The fact that he felt like he failed us.. You will be missed. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. If my answer was no, then Roy wouldve had absolutely zero interest. "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. 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. Theyd had their disagreements, yes. He played or coached in 14 Final Fours, more than any person in NCAA history. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. Thats impossible to know, but Williams was also returning a top-five team, one that was expected to compete for a championship in its own right. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. "I'd always set my time to GST, 10 minutes ahead.". 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. Hed have been a lifer, Hanners says. He said to me, I have felt this way before, but in the early fall, Ive always gotten the energy back, and I expect that thats gonna happen, but I do want to alert you to the possibility that it might not. Whether or not deep down inside he thought that energy wouldnt come back, I dont know the answer to that. 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. 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. I think its time I make this decision. Smith is now 82 and with some health issues. He always knew what he was doing.. He was extremely special, important to every player, every coach who ever worked here. 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. How might everything be different? All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. Coach Smith would be more likely to draw up something in a timeout, or draw up a play maybe we hadnt worked on, where as Coach Guthridge was going to rely on what wed done in the past, says Brad Frederick, a forward on that team and now a UNC assistant coach. As good a person as I ever met. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. But part of me, at the end of the day, thinks Coach Williams was destined to end up back here. End of conversation.. He was a kind soul with a strong, competitive spirit. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . Ndiaye comforted his coach, who had become a friend in time. That team still went 34-4, losing to Utah in the Final Four. Guthridge . The Kansas native took over the role of head coach following Smith's departure. But when Baddour and Guthridge did finally meet, Guthridge expressed a desire to try his hand. Conference tournament champion. When did Bill Guthridge coach at UNC? "He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. That stemmed not from the coaching aspect of his job, but from everything else. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State, but stepped down from the post a few days later.[3]. I would have been as vigorous and go after that as hard as I could possibly go.. 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. 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. 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. Smith, who attended Guthridges retirement announcement, called the day a celebration of a fantastic career. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. When Coach Smith died, Coach Guthridge knew that his friend was gone, but he quickly moved back to their time together when they were younger and dementia had not knocked on their doors yet. Williams and Ndiaye both graduated. With a wealth of returning talent, Guthridge instituted a "six starters" system, whereby the team's top six players, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Ed Cota, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja, and Makhtar N'Diaye rotated positions in the starting five. Assistant coach Phil Ford is at right. 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. The Tar Heels then went 24-10 in 1998-99 but were upset by Weber State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 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. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. 33 yrs on UNC bench. "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.". Graduate of the University of North Carolina. 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. 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. If you played for him you loved him; working with him was a joy. Case in point. In his tenure at UNC, Guthridge coached five National Players of the Year, six ACC Players of the Year, five ACC Rookies of the Year and 28 first-team All-ACC players. 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. He was 77 years old. Im crying because I failed you guys. At one point he thought he wanted to be a head coach, but he also decided that he really enjoyed Coach Smith and the program here and why should he leave when he has what he thought was the perfect job., Bill was uniquely special. 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. After 36 years as the coach at North Carolina, it kept trickling down, grain by grain. Its very much a possibility, everyone admits. Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. Smith, after all, kept an office in the arena for several years after retirement. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. Division regular season champion 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. "Because I knew Coach Guthridge had the best interest for you and wanted to see you succeed.". Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. He set NCAA records for most wins by a first-year head coach with 34, and for wins in his first two years with 58. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. And that brings us full-circle, back to the original what-if: What if Dean Smith had finished out his contract, which ran through the end of the 2000-01 season? He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. Coach Smith always had a plan. I think its time to turn it over to somebody else, he said at a campus news conference. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. What happened, happened. 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. #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. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. His lack of recruiting is why they went 8-20 shortly thereafter. I really believe thats exactly what happened.. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. 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 the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four. He said Friday he now knows how Smith felt in 1997 when he stepped down. 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.. After that loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro. (Smith told me), Its just not coming back. 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. The Blue Sky Scholars Program gives scholarship support to middle-income parents and students from North Carolina. Born in Parsons, Kansas,[2] Guthridge attended Kansas State University in Manhattan, and graduated with a B.S. And then Bill can decide along the way what he wants to do.. 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. 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 was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smiths successor, a move that opens one of the most prestigious jobs in college sports. 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. A relatively quiet man with a wonderful and dry sense of humor. After Coach Guthridges retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. The Tar Heels lost to Florida in last seasons Final Four. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. Why would a healthy 66-year-old call it quits and relinquish the chance to coach that team? Bill and Dean, friends for life. In Williams second season in Chapel Hill, he won his first national championship the one the 97 team witnessed. 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. Guthridge wasn & # x27 ; t at why did bill guthridge retire 2003, he was my coach and... 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