After 36 years as the coach at North Carolina, it kept trickling down, grain by grain. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. Assistant coach Phil Ford is at right. 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. 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. But he decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching, the AP reported. 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. 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. The announcement came nearly two months after the 6-10 center led the Boston . My guess is he would not have been, and then the first call, yes, wouldve been Roy, Baddour says. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. 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. So was Williams always fated to end up back at North Carolina? Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. And althoug he believes that scenario puts more emphasis on winning than it does on building relationships and teaching the things Guthridge and Smith both loved its not out of the question. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. 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. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. He was a father figure.". #RIP. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. 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. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. He was 77. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. Theres no right answer, no certainty. 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. In his first year as head coach, he led the the team . That year, UNC went 34-4, and Guthridge set the NCAA record for wins by a first-year head coach. Coach Guthridge played an instrumental role in the programs success as an assistant under Dean Smith for three decades before making his own name as a head coach in leading North Carolina to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons. Other opportunities had arisen over time, and yet Guthridge always remained as Smiths assistant. 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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Guthridge would still call on Smith, after all, to speak to the team at certain times. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. He directed UNC to the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was named the ACC Coach of the Year. Recharge your batteries, they told him. Whatve you got to prove then?. He stepped down 2 months later. Guthridge became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. [6], National champion Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. 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. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25, earned the ACC Coach of the Year award and guided North Carolina to the Final Four before losing to Utah. 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. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. 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. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. 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. As good a person as I ever met. 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. Theres no way you could dream, Hanners says, anyone would necessarily do better.. And then Bill can decide along the way what he wants to do.. He handed out handwritten notes instead. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. For more than three decades, Coach Guthridge served this University he loved so much with a deep commitment to academic and athletic excellence. 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. 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. 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 bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. 2023 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Improving child and adolescent mental health, A message from the chancellor: We are a global university, Carolina Engagement Week Returns for a Second Year, Feb. 27 Through March 3, Book Publishing I: The Process with Christopher Ahn, Parr|Bioethics Joint Lecture: Elizabeth Barnes (University of Virginia), Disability and Health: An Its Complicated Relationship, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. How close did Raleigh come to getting an NFL team? We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. 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. Graduate of the University of North Carolina. [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. 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. So I just feel like we got robbed.. End of conversation.. But when Guthridge retired, Williamsthen playing with the Seattle Sonicsmade the effort to find a commercial flight to Chapel . We certainly had no idea; he was still the smartest guy, could recall everything he was seeing.. We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. 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. I needed Bill to tell me, Dick, yes, I want to do this, Baddour says, and he was clear that he wanted to.. Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. (Scott Sharpe/News & Observer), Standing Together With Our Black Community, Assistant Schall Named Head Volleyball Coach, After 33 Years, Volleyball Coach Sagula Retires, In Memoriam: Elizabeth B. Morgan (19302022). That team still went 34-4, losing to Utah in the Final Four. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. 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. He once told a newspaper he never left the program because the other 300 Division I head-coaching jobs weren't better than his job as an assistant. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. 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. In fact, he communicated as much to Baddour after Baddour was tapped in late June to replace John Swofford as athletic director. 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. The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. "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. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. 33 yrs on UNC bench. 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. Whether Williams would have returned at that time is impossible to say. He knows where he is and who he is, but it's often difficult for him. And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. 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. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners 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. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. We easily could have won the championship, man, Ndiaye says. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. Its very much a possibility, everyone admits. On Oct. 9, 1997, Smith called it quits. 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.. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. I wouldve never thought of that in a million years.. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams,. 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. His legacy and contributions to my life and to our University will live on and he'll be much more remembered for his sense of humor and class just as much as his coaching.". "All I can say is I'm pursuing other opportunities," Davis said. 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. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. ? Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. He was a lifetime assistant coach for whom Dean did a solid. Of course, Smith did retire. Just like Smith, Guthridge found a way to impact his players beyond teaching them offensive and defensive principles. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. I mean, the Plan B was there.. He's a native of Raleigh, N.C. Guthridge led UNC to the Final Four in his first season, but the team fell short of a championship. 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. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. You will be missed. 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 never called me at home, unless it was something dire, Hanners says, but he said, How would you feel about meeting me in the office early on Monday at 7 to go over some things before everyone gets there? Hanners obliged, trying to ease Guthridges feeling that he was somewhat out of touch. 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