Guthridge was criticized last season by alumni and fans for losing five games at home the most since World War II and for a record that dropped to 18-13 after a first-round defeat in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. I needed Bill to tell me, Dick, yes, I want to do this, Baddour says, and he was clear that he wanted to.. Bill Guthridge, who led North Carolina to two Final Four appearances in his three seasons as coach of the Tar Heels, will announce his retirement at a news conference Friday, The Associated Press has learned. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . Like his lifelong friend and mentor, Coach Dean Smith, he led by example instilling values of kindness, discipline and a strong work ethic. Copyright 2013 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. Think about it: Youve been an assistant coach for 30-plus years. If Bill Guthridge doesnt look familiar to you as a UNC-Chapel Hill head basketball coach, theres a very good reason for that. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. Heading into what would have been the fourth year of a five-year contract, Guthridge compiled an 80-28 record, but had not received an extension. The following year, with the program bordering on a mutiny, Doherty resigned. North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. I was just happy that the team had success. (LogOut/ Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. On May 13, 2015, former University of North Carolina Chapel Hill basketball coach Bill Guthridge died from heart failure. The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. Guthridge was completely content in the role of a lifetime assistant and the Smith/Guthridge combo would have been weakened had Guthridge retired early. Guthridge also gave to the University away from basketball. . "When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me," Hanners says. 33 yrs on UNC bench. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. Its one game, Jamison says. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. Guthridge was an assistant coach along with Hall of Famer John Thompson under Smith in 1976 when the U.S. won the Olympic gold medal in Montreal. 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. 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. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? 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. When Smith was needlessly ejected from the 1991 Final Four, it was Guthridge who was furious in the tunnel after the game. 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. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. But 1:57 was 1:57. [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. They shot just 39.1 percent from the floor and made only 3-of-23 attempts from 3. 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. 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. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. He came up with the idea that Dean Smith, having . If you previously used a social network to login to WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your password link to reset your password. ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. Calhoun, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, is . 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.. (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. 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. Guthridge was the head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997. I would have been as vigorous and go after that as hard as I could possibly go.. He stayed (rather than leave for a head coaching job at another university) because he was enjoying what he was doing and why leave something you know is good for the unknown. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. 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. After that loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Its another tremendous loss for our University, our basketball program and our entire community. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Carolina Basketball confirmed the news on Twitter: Sad news. 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. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. I wouldve gone to Roy.. Hed grow bored of golf, and once that happened, his staff knew hed summoned up the energy for another go-around. What you saw was the quiet assistant sitting on the bench. He always knew what he was doing.. Division regular season and conference tournament champion In retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a mistake on all fronts. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. Smith, who attended Guthridges retirement announcement, called the day a celebration of a fantastic career. He was an unbelievable assistant to Coach Smith. When it was his turn as head coach, he immediately won an ACC championship and took two teams to the Final Four. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. 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]. Even 22 years after turning down the Nittany Lions, Guthridge still couldnt quite bear to leave. Guthridge was the longtime assistant to UNC coach Dean Smith, who died earlier this year. 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 year against Laurinburg, Hanners squad was down about 18 with under nine minutes to play; suddenly, he felt Ford come up behind him. The emotion was there, its just that it was often Guthridge providing it. Why would you stay? Change). 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. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. After Dean Smith retired, Bill Guthridge took over for three years and at some point, we can't remember exactly which year, Boswell struck. 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. 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. He stepped down 2 months later. (LogOut/ 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. And as the confetti fell on UNCs first title A.D. After Dean Guthridge burst into tears alongside his former players. Guthridge was completely committed to Carolina basketball, and he wanted to make sure everyone else in the program felt the same way. But when Guthridge retired, Williamsthen playing with the Seattle Sonicsmade the effort to find a commercial flight to Chapel . Without question, every opportunity that I would have to hire Roy Williams. But Guthridges request also made Hanners realize that plan might not come to fruition. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. 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. I talk to Coach Williams all the time, and I asked him, Whats the best advice Coach Smith ever gave you? And he said, Antawn, Coach Smith told me just coach til you cant coach anymore. 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