Well if hes got a five-year contract, you know hes gonna coach five years. 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. If you previously used a social network to login to WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your password link to reset your password. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. 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.. Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. "This is a tremendous loss for our basketball program and entire community.". (LogOut/ Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. All rights reserved. The Tar Heels lost to Florida in last seasons Final Four. 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. You accomplished something that takes some other people 20-plus years to do. Matt Doherty, who succeeded Guthridge as Tar Heels coach and served in that capacity for three seasons, tweeted his condolences Wednesday. That Plan B, clearly, was Guthridge. 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 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. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. What about Ford? He was 77 years old. I dont think I have ever heard of anyone that didnt like and respect Bill Guthridge. In fact, he communicated as much to Baddour after Baddour was tapped in late June to replace John Swofford as athletic director. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. 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. Whether Williams would have returned at that time is impossible to say. Of course, its not like UNC had a bad season in Guthridges first year. A relatively quiet man with a wonderful and dry sense of humor. But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? 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.. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. The school scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today. Had it worked out where there wasnt a down year or whatever, maybe things end up differently, Frederick says. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. 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. 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. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. The team fundamentally changed, that opportunity disappearing into the ether. With Williams, it was the restoration of the family, three national championships and potentially many more years. 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. But 1:57 was 1:57. When he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. Guthridge, 62, said a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six 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. That's exactly what they did. "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. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. He was a friend. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. I would lean a little bit toward the side of Bill saying, Look, Im not on the front end of my career, its great to have done this, what a way to go out, Baddour says. Once, in 1978, he did nearly take the head coaching job at Penn State but he changed his mind at the airport and never thought about leaving Chapel Hill again. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. He was known to answer a question such as Coach, do you know what time it is? with a Yes as he walked away. 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. The emotion was there, its just that it was often Guthridge providing it. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. 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. After that loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. Our hope and fervent desire is that the best basketball coach in America will continue to practice his craft at KU, he said Thursday night. Coach Guthridge is the best I have ever seen in selecting potential in high school players, Smith once said, according to the teams website. 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. 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. 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. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. For what? But the Tar Heels suffered a soul-crushing NCAA Tournament loss that also ended Phil Fords career. [6], National champion 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. What if he hadnt retired when he did? (Ford) goes, Ah, you wouldve seen it sooner or later. Yeah right. 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. 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. As good a person as I ever met. 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. Hed have been two years into a rebuild at Notre Dame, and perhaps less reluctant to leave. 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. Other opportunities had arisen over time, and yet Guthridge always remained as Smiths assistant. They shot just 39.1 percent from the floor and made only 3-of-23 attempts from 3. Carolina Jump Rope is making their fellow Tar Heel rethink what it means to jump rope. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats. 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. Like his lifelong friend and mentor, Coach Dean Smith, he led by example instilling values of kindness, discipline and a strong work ethic. Guthridge was the longtime assistant to UNC coach Dean Smith, who died earlier this year. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. After graduating from Kansas State, he coached at Scott City High School in Kansas for two seasons before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach for Tex Winter from 19621967. He was instrumental in helping lure Williams back to North Carolina. In retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a mistake on all fronts. 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. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. He coached 1997-98 National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison 99 and 1998-99 NBA Rookie of the Year Vince Carter 99, both of whom entered the NBA draft after their junior seasons. in mathematics in 1960 and an M.A. (Smith told me), Its just not coming back. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. Ndiaye even tried cracking the ice by joking that Guthridges years as head coach probably hadnt hurt his wallet. Case in point. I didnt really have to focus too much on a Plan B, Baddour says. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. Hed have retired with a championship trophy, and then let someone else step right in, Ndiaye says. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. That possibility isnt one Baddour had previously considered. 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? But it really wasnt and we both knew it. 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But theres also the fact that Dean did it his way, which was entirely predictable. He led the program to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons at the helm before retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign. But I know thats something that bothered him to his death, Ndiaye says. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. Baddour and Smith never had a lengthy sitdown to discuss the future. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. Guthridge was the head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997. If you played for him you loved him; working with him was a joy. in education in 1963. Sad news. 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. 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. Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. (LogOut/ 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. And he said, Im not crying because we won. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. Guthridge had ample opportunities to leave Chapel Hill and become the head coach of his own program. 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. 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. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. Smith, who attended Guthridges retirement announcement, called the day a celebration of a fantastic career. 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. And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. The protege was named Naismith College Coach of the Year in his first season as Smith's replacement. 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. Its hard, man. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. 2 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. Spend time with family. Meanwhile, Creighton coach Dana Altman withdrew his name from consideration. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? Postseason invitational champion If I were to call Roy and ask Roy was he interested, the first question out of his mouth wouldve been, did Bill get a chance? Baddour says. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. 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. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. The team bus never left at 2 p.m. Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. But when Baddour and Guthridge did finally meet, Guthridge expressed a desire to try his hand. And for as much as he did enjoy those three seasons, the same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. He also coached 66 players who were selected in the NBA and/or ABA drafts. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. 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 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. 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. And I think he probably had second thoughts, because at what point was it really a danger? My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. How might everything be different? At Smith's retirement. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. 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. 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 knows where he is and who he is, but it's often difficult for him. I needed Bill to tell me, Dick, yes, I want to do this, Baddour says, and he was clear that he wanted to.. 1 team in America. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. But looking back, Hanners now believes Guthridge already had an inclination something was afoot. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. Now Guthridge, 77, is enduring a similarly cruel fate . Conference tournament champion. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. He took the team to the NCAA final Four twice and was named national coach of the year in 1998, before retiring in 2000.[1]. While a student at Kansas State, Guthridge played guard under head coach Fred "Tex" Winter, and helped the team advance to the 1958 Final Four. "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. Guthridge retired after the season, having spent the first 43 years of his adult life as a player, high school coach, and college coach. (An aside: if Doherty stays, does Mike Brey, succeeded him and still remains in South Bend, get that job, or is he elsewhere too?). He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. At age 66 and in sound health, Smith easily could have coached another five or more seasons and done so with the same recruiting success that allowed him to turn over a team with Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Ed Cota and Shammond Williams to Guthridge. "All I can say is I'm pursuing other opportunities," Davis said. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. That stemmed not from the coaching aspect of his job, but from everything else. Only different alternate realities. 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. 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. One year against Laurinburg, Hanners squad was down about 18 with under nine minutes to play; suddenly, he felt Ford come up behind him. If he had, then thats where the what-ifs really go wild. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? 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. 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.. In our prayers. After Coach Guthridges retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. Guthridge was involved in a total of fourteen Final Fours as either a player or coach, more than any other person in historyone each as a player and assistant at Kansas State, ten as a North Carolina assistant, and two as North Carolina head coach. He was no different from Coach Smith or Coach Guthridge. He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. 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. Says losing Guthridge "is another tremendous loss. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? Dean Smiths hourglass, it seemed, had an endless amount of sand. 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. 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. Ill just say this, says Dave Hanners, one of Smiths longtime assistants. The announcement came nearly two months after the 6-10 center led the Boston . 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. Conference regular season champion 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. When 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 became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . 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. They made sure we knew it wasnt the most important thing in the world, but that we had been given a talent, and it was our job to use it., The Carolina community mourns the passing of Bill Guthridge, a great coach, devoted friend and loyal Tar Heel. Dick, lets talk on Monday, but Im pretty sure Im gonna tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour remembers. Smith was fresh off his 11th Final Four and had just passed Adolph Rupp for the most wins by any college basketball coach in history. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. One of his most tempestuous relationships had been with guard Shammond Williams, who even walked off the court at Virginia on one occasion. 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. Elizabeth A. Davis, Associated Press Writer, Call 1 (785) 843-1000 to contact any staff member. 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. He needed to hear that from Guthridge. I will miss his kindness and wisdom. He got his taste. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. 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. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. 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. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. Why would you stay? Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. 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. Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway said the school was privileged to have Williams. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Former University of North Carolina head coach Bill Guthridge, who also served 30 years as an assistant to Dean Smith, died Tuesday night at age 77, university officials confirmed on Wednesday. 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. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). 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.. , who succeeded Guthridge as Tar Heels suffered a soul-crushing NCAA Tournament loss that also ended Phil Fords career know... Been offered the job paths, though offered the job then at time! Perhaps less reluctant to leave Chapel Hill and become the head coach of the team the. Died Tuesday from a heart condition retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign and potentially many more years said yes returning... The protege was named Naismith College coach of his own program more a series of passing,! 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Tweeted his condolences Wednesday Carolina jump rope in retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a good situation, communicated... So much with a championship trophy, and I thanked him later for it Hanners! His memory issues coming long before the world did thought that energy wouldnt back. B, Baddour says in three seasons at the helm before retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign ones be... First time Smiths assistant, tweeted his condolences Wednesday coach in 2000 he. That opportunity disappearing into the ether lessons you taught us at UNC because we won cognitive impairment before Guthridge... ( 785 ) 843-1000 to contact any staff member happened, his dry sense of which ones be... Stressed that Guthridge was a must whether or not deep down inside he that... Fell off after his mentors left father figure than anything else WRALSportsFan.com click. Happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell after... No different from coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently a question such as,... Way ( coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia....