What you saw was the quiet assistant sitting on the bench. 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.. In Williams second season in Chapel Hill, he won his first national championship the one the 97 team witnessed. But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. Theres no way you could dream, Hanners says, anyone would necessarily do better.. Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. He was instrumental in helping lure Williams back to North Carolina. . 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. He was on the sidelines for a record 73 NCAA Tournament victories, including 71 at Carolina and two at Kansas State. He was a father figure.". On May 13, 2015, former University of North Carolina Chapel Hill basketball coach Bill Guthridge died from heart failure. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. But against the Utes, the Tar Heels fell behind quickly and were never able to catch up. Heck, he might still be the coach at North Carolina. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. (An aside: if Doherty stays, does Mike Brey, succeeded him and still remains in South Bend, get that job, or is he elsewhere too?). The family told team spokesman Steve Kirschner that Guthridge died of heart failure and that the coach had lived with a heart condition the past seven years. 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. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? 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. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. You wouldnt think that would work, but it did. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. 2 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. 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 was even more important to me. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? He would, however, have just lost his three best players at Kansas in Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Billy Thomas. Or does Doherty get his chance regardless? Coach Guthridge had been Coach Smiths assistant coach at UNC for 30 years, so he knew Coach Smiths style, plays, and strategies inside and out. Why would you stay? 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. 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. 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. When did Bill Guthridge coach at UNC? The announcement came nearly two months after the 6-10 center led the Boston . So was Williams always fated to end up back at North Carolina? End of conversation.. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. He bought into everything. In that scenario, Williams never leaves Kansas and Ford probably never leaves North Carolina. We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. When Smith was needlessly ejected from the 1991 Final Four, it was Guthridge who was furious in the tunnel after the game. 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. Division regular season and conference tournament champion ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. The little doo-doos got him in the end, Hanners says. (LogOut/ Once he asked a manager, whose arms were full of equipment, if he had change for a quarter. 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? Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. 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 is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. Some fans criticized Guthridge last season when the Tar Heels went through a four-game losing streak in January and entered the post-season with 13 losses. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. I think its time to turn it over to somebody else, he said at a campus news conference. Recharge your batteries, they told him. North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball head coaches, North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball 198182 NCAA champions, North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball 199293 NCAA champions, Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball Coach of the Year, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach, http://static.espn.go.com/ncb/news/2000/0630/612432.html, http://www.heraldsun.com/sports/colleges/x383678526/Guthridge-again-reluctantly-takes-spotlight, "Former UNC Chapel Hill Coach Bill Guthridge Has Died", "Former UNC coach, assistant Bill Guthridge dies at 77", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Guthridge&oldid=1115268631, College men's basketball head coaches in the United States, Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches, Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players, North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball coaches, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty, Articles with dead external links from February 2018, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing cleanup from September 2022, Articles with bare URLs for citations from September 2022, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from September 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 October 2022, at 16:39. And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses. In 1993, he and his wife, Leesie, created the William W. and Elise P. Guthridge Library Fund, which helped with purchasing materials and renovation of the House Undergraduate Library. 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. Hed told reporters he expected to honor the remaining four years on his deal. Guthridge coached North Carolina to the Final Four in his first season before losing to Utah. In our prayers. Smith, who attended Guthridges retirement announcement, called the day a celebration of a fantastic career. (Robert Willett / Tribune News Service via Getty). Dean Smith unexpectedly retired as head basketball coach at North Carolina just two months before the start of the 199798 season, and Guthridge was immediately named his successor. But the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four. 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. Hanners, one of Fords close friends to this day, recalls the natural coaching instincts Ford had when the two oversaw the JV team. Ford whispered for Hanners to try running 21 defense really sagging off defenders, even inside the 3-point line. Following the 199798 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. Its very much a possibility, everyone admits. He competed in one as a player at Kansas State in 1958, was an assistant coach at 11 before directing the Tar Heels at two as head coach. 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. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. 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. Case in point. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. It was an admirable, honorable action for Smith to take and Guthridge went on to win 80 games in three seasons. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained theyd retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill. Why would a healthy 66-year-old call it quits and relinquish the chance to coach that team? Spend time with family. If he had, then thats where the what-ifs really go wild. You will be missed. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. After waiting an uncharacteristically long time to respond, he smiled and thanked me. 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. 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. Smith, after all, kept an office in the arena for several years after retirement. Looking around at his devastated players in the locker room, Guthridge realized he simply couldnt leave. Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . The little doo-doos, Smith called them, the administrative tasks just within the purview of his job responsibilities. All the things he couldnt do during the daunting in-season months. 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. 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. Ill just say this, says Dave Hanners, one of Smiths longtime assistants. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. (LogOut/ But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. A tremendously loyal person with an ego that was seemingly non-existent. He spurned offers to interview for head coaching vacancies, preferring to remain out of the spotlight and continuing to team with Smith. 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. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. Carolina Basketball confirmed the news on Twitter: Sad news. Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. Conference tournament champion. 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]. The team bus never left at 2 p.m. Why bring those up? In 2000, the Tar Heels struggled in the regular season, falling out of the polls for the first time since the start of the 199091 season. The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? 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. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. Guthridge was Smiths assistant for 30 years. 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. Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). As a coach, he was stubbornly competitive. Williams and Ndiaye both graduated. That team still went 34-4, losing to Utah in the Final Four. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. Change). 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. But if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? Our condolences go out to his family and friends.. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. 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. Guthridge was completely committed to Carolina basketball, and he wanted to make sure everyone else in the program felt the same way. 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. Baddour and Smith never had a lengthy sitdown to discuss the future. 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. 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. "When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me," Hanners says. Conference regular season champion 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. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. He was no different from Coach Smith or Coach Guthridge. 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.. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. Its another tremendous loss for our University, our basketball program and our entire community. 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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