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. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. 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. 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. 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. After Dean Smith retired, Bill Guthridge took over for three years and at some point, we can't remember exactly which year, Boswell struck. Dick, lets talk on Monday, but Im pretty sure Im gonna tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour remembers. 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. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision to retire from this physical life. #RIP. Ndiaye even tried cracking the ice by joking that Guthridges years as head coach probably hadnt hurt his wallet. As he famously said at Smiths retirement news conference, I always thought we would ride off into the sun together.. He had interviewed for the Texas job, which went to Rick Barnes, after the 1998 season, after all. When he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. What happened, happened. The inconsistent season came on the heels of a first-round NCAA Tournament loss in 1999. It was Guthridge who was the creator of the well-known and slightly strange departure times for Carolina travel parties. 33 yrs on UNC bench. Guthridge retired after the season, having spent the first 43 years of his adult life as a player, high school coach, and college coach. He tried to do every one of those little things that drove Coach Smith crazy. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. 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. "Mak said he gets this call from his mom: 'Mak, there's this man here in Africa, says he's your coach,' ". And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. 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. Guthridge also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. He was a friend. Ill really miss this next years team and what those guys have done for me, said Guthridge, whose team last season reached the Final Four before being eliminated in the semifinals. Graduate of the University of North Carolina. 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. Coach Guthridge made his retirement official on May 13, 2015. I wouldve gone to Roy.. But the Tar Heels suffered a soul-crushing NCAA Tournament loss that also ended Phil Fords career. 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. At Smith's retirement. I mean, the Plan B was there.. 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. "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. 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. 33 yrs on UNC bench. 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. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State, but stepped down from the post a few days later.[3]. 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. He stopped when he did because he was afraid his memory wasnt as good as it was or had been. Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. . We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. Having grown up in North Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I think it was probably just destiny.. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . Change). Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. Smith is now 82 and with some health issues. 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.". He handed out handwritten notes instead. But theres another alternate history with extreme on-court implications that might have forced his hand. He also was an assistant to Smith on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Montreal. Go play golf. 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. 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 there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. (Robert Willett / Tribune News Service via Getty). And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. Conference regular season champion People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. Penn State was a good situation, he said in an interview in 2010. 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. "My sympathies go out to his wife, Leesie, and their kids and family.". But he was also one of the most passionate members of the Carolina basketball family in the last 50 years, and was completely devoted to the Tar Heels, to Smith, and to the University of North Carolina. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. 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. Really, a championship or not is the only major differentiator between Smith and Guthridge. But part of me, at the end of the day, thinks Coach Williams was destined to end up back here. 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. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. 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. Smith wrote in his memoir, A Coachs Life, that before he retired in 1997, he told recruits: If Im not coaching, I am confident that your coach will be either Bill Guthridge, Eddie Fogler, Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl or Phil Ford, not necessarily in that order. 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. "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.". "He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. 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. Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. 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. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. He was 77. Calhoun, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, is . He was a kind soul with a strong, competitive spirit. Recharge your batteries, they told him. 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. The little doo-doos, Smith called them, the administrative tasks just within the purview of his job responsibilities. The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? 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. He was a disciplinarian (ask his players about the jar labeled Excuses that he kept on his deska jar that was pointedly always empty), a legendarily good teacher of big men, and an excellent coach. But against the Utes, the Tar Heels fell behind quickly and were never able to catch up. Former UNC coach, assistant Guthridge dies, Sizing up the player of the year winners in all 32 Division I men's conferences, Tide's Oats takes blame for Miller's 'TSA' intro, Davis within 25 points of tying Maravich's mark, New NCAA president readies for NIL, legal issues, Scheyer makes history as Duke sweeps at home, Tennessee win soured by knee injury to Zeigler, USC, OU, Seton Hall, Iowa in new hoops tourney, Houston, Alabama remain atop AP Top 25 poll. He spurned offers to interview for head coaching vacancies, preferring to remain out of the spotlight and continuing to team with Smith. abscesserator bundle dota 2, the natural approach advantages and disadvantages, Carolina and gone to school here and worked here, I always thought we ride! Health issues won the gold medal in Montreal, Smith called them, the Tar fell... Of 1997, it seemed, was no questioning the depth of their relationship below or click an to! Hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it log in: are! 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