Guthridge . He always knew what he was doing.. 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. 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. 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. Coaches, both within the program and across the country, still came calling to Chapel Hill every summer to pick his brains about Xs and Os. In other words, why Smith walked away at the exact moment he did. (LogOut/ Bill and Dean, friends for life. 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. Coach Smith always had a plan. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. 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. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. 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. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. (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. Matt Doherty, who succeeded Guthridge as Tar Heels coach and served in that capacity for three seasons, tweeted his condolences Wednesday. "Because I knew Coach Guthridge had the best interest for you and wanted to see you succeed.". The University of North Carolina has lost a dear friend, as haveI, andIknow that we will all miss him greatly., Im extremely saddened by the passing of Coach Guthridge, aka Coach Gut, especially coming so close to the loss of Coach Smith. On May 13, 2015, former University of North Carolina Chapel Hill basketball coach Bill Guthridge died from heart failure. Smith died on Feb. 7 after suffering for years from a neurological disorder that robbed him of his memories. But the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four. Coach Guthridge is the best I have ever seen in selecting potential in high school players, Smith once said, according to the teams website. 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. Sad news. The closest he came to leaving Chapel Hill was 1978, when he verbally accepted the head coaching job at Penn State. He stepped down 2 months later. 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. Smith is now 82 and with some health issues. He was 77. Think about it: Youve been an assistant coach for 30-plus years. He was a father figure.". 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.. Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. "He was my coach, he was another mentor. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. . 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? Not only did he coach me on the freshman team, he was my coach, another mentor, a friend, a father figure, a big brother for me just like he was for so many players. 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. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. I was just happy that the team had success. 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. "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. But it was as if the whole contraption was tilted, resting at an incline so that the sand would never get to the bottom. Theres no right answer, no certainty. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. Like his lifelong friend and mentor, Coach Dean Smith, he led by example instilling values of kindness, discipline and a strong work ethic. 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. The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. 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. In fact, most of that team reconvened in St. Louis in 2005 for Williams first championship game at North Carolina. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. When Lefty Driesell declined to shake Smiths hand in the mid-1980s, it was Guthridge who was incensedand had to be prevented from chasing down Driesellnot Smith. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. I dont think I have ever heard of anyone that didnt like and respect Bill Guthridge. 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Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams, conceding him to K, even though Jason reportedly had an interest in UNC. Maybe Phil Ford wouldve been the head coach then, Ndiaye says. 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 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. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). 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. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". Postseason invitational champion So was Williams always fated to end up back at North Carolina? Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. Its hard, man. 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. But the Tar Heels suffered a soul-crushing NCAA Tournament loss that also ended Phil Fords career. He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. Guthridge joined Smith's staff for the 1967-68 season, starting out as the freshman coach and a co-assistant varsity coach and eventually becoming the Hall of Famer's most trusted assistant. 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. When he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. I didnt really have to focus too much on a Plan B, Baddour says. He couldnt generate enough energy to get through all of that., Some background: In the years leading up to his retirement specifically every spring after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament Smith expressed a sense of exhaustion to the people around him. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. In his first year as head coach, he led the the team . Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. Theyd had their disagreements, yes. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. I would have been as vigorous and go after that as hard as I could possibly go.. 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. He got his taste. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. Yeah, Id say that was more likely than unlikely., I wouldve gone to where I went two years later, he says. [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. But Guthridges request also made Hanners realize that plan might not come to fruition. After 36 years as the coach at North Carolina, it kept trickling down, grain by grain. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. The inconsistent season came on the heels of a first-round NCAA Tournament loss in 1999. 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 wouldve never thought of that in a million years.. Looking around at his devastated players in the locker room, Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave. 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. 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. Of course, its not like UNC had a bad season in Guthridges first year. Certainly, what a marvelous run of three years.. Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. 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. 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. But obviously, the better head coach -- one of four or so best head coaches of all time in his sport -- and the decision to retire was seriously flawed by emotion. MIAMI: Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson acknowledged he has given the school permission to talk to Green Wave coach Perry Clark about replacing Leonard Hamilton. What burned just below that was a fierce competitor who might sometimes react more like a fan than you would expect. But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. 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. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. He played or coached in 14 Final Fours, more than any person in NCAA history. 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. Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. Former UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour: Bill was one of the most respected and admired people I have known. Conference regular season champion He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats. Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. 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. Whatve you got to prove then?. He wasnt an electric radio show guest. (LogOut/ 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. Of course, Smith did retire. North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. 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. That possibility isnt one Baddour had previously considered. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. 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. 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. 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Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . He needed to hear that from Guthridge. 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 perception of Smiths program might have been that it ran without emotion. (LogOut/ You wouldnt think that would work, but it did. That was the presumption Baddour and the basketball program operated under. Guthridge was Smiths assistant for 30 years. 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. Whether Williams would have returned at that time is impossible to say. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.. What if he hadnt retired when he did? End of conversation.. Ndiaye even tried cracking the ice by joking that Guthridges years as head coach probably hadnt hurt his wallet. 33 yrs on UNC bench. That season, he led the Tar Heels to a 34-4 record and the final No. He was and has been overshadowed and a bit lost in the shuffle of UNC basketball coaches by his lifelong friend, former UNC head coach Dean Smith (1961 to 1997), and current UNC head coach Roy Williams, who was an assistant coach along with Guthridge at UNC from 1978 to 1988. 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. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. That startling decision equated to the ultimate professional sacrifice. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. On Oct. 9, 1997, Smith called it quits. Conference tournament champion. 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. Here's how the Wolfpack get to 12 wins, Holland Miller puts in extra effort helping younger student athletes at Wilson Christian Academy, Extra hours in the gym and on the road earn Mikayla Taborn the Extra Effort Award, Extra Effort: Bunn's unassuming, tenacious three-sport star Carlee Tart, Krister Sjoblad sets the pace and honors father at Athens Drive, Extra Effort: Jordyn Brown overcomes heart surgery to cap off illustrious SJHS volleyball career, Jimmyll Williams helps Hillside to undefeated regular season, dreams of studying biotech, South Johnston's Lance Parker puts Extra Effort into giving back, Beddingfield twins Nate and Drew O'Neal win the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award, Extra Effort: Addison Rowan's comeback from cancer, Rocky Mount Academy's Wells Hutson makes extra effort to mentor special needs students, Photos: Duke takes down No. That aspect of his character first surfaced in 1972, when the University of North Carolina basketball coach left Tar Heel fans bewildered by announcing that he wanted junior star forward Robert McAdoo to turn pro rather than return for the 1972-73 season. But if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? He said Friday he now knows how Smith felt in 1997 when he stepped down. Why would you stay? Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. 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. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. Carolina Basketball confirmed the news on Twitter: Sad news. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. 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. The Kansas native took over the role of head coach following Smith's departure. Guthridge had ample opportunities to leave Chapel Hill and become the head coach of his own program. Buffalo Brothers - 1/2 Price Appetizers 4:30pm-6:00pm Monday - Friday, Holliday: State and Carolina headed in different directions for the final two weeks, Brownlow: Angst will be at an all-time high as NC State hosts hated rival UNC, Holliday: Miami puts the Heels back on the bubble, Brownlow: NC State, Duke and UNC all seek to avoid two losses in a row as crunch time hits, Holliday: Pivotal road trips for NC State and Duke, Brownlow: Saturday's matchup marks the beginning of a new Carolina-Duke era, Holliday: Could this be Keatts' best ACC season? Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. As they were chatting, Guthridge, who died in 2015, grabbed Ndiayes arm. Case in point. And by the end of every summer, Smith returned freshly rejuvenated. He led the program to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons at the helm before retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign. 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. 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 named National Coach of the Year in 1997-98 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Atlanta Tipoff Club (Naismith Award), CBS/Chevrolet, the Columbus (Ohio) Touchdown Club and The Sporting News. One of the best testaments to Guthridges impact came on that retirement day, June 30. 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. Bill Guthridge was consistently portrayed as a quiet gentleman. Coach Guthridge made his retirement official on May 13, 2015. Guthridge was the longtime assistant to UNC coach Dean Smith, who died earlier this year. 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. Guthridge also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. The Tar Heels lost to Florida in last seasons Final Four. Guthridge would still call on Smith, after all, to speak to the team at certain times. He was a part of 867 wins in 33 seasons at Carolina and 960 college coaching victories overall, including 93 wins on the staff at Kansas State. #RIP. But I know thats something that bothered him to his death, Ndiaye says. We offer our deepest condolences to the Guthridge family as they grieve the loss of a wonderful husband and father.. "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. Guthridge coached three years and took the Tar Heels to two Final Fours. After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. When it was announced last week that Smith would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, I could not help but think back to that interview in 2000 while also thinking about what might have been. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. 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. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. Recharge your batteries, they told him. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. "This is a tremendous loss for our basketball program and entire community.". 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 . But it really wasnt and we both knew it. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. 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