33 yrs on UNC bench. But looking back, Hanners now believes Guthridge already had an inclination something was afoot. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. Lets play out the most interesting of the hypotheticals: if Dean Smith does return for the 1997-1998 season, with an absolutely jam-packed roster. 33 yrs on UNC bench. 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. 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. Jordan is among many Tar Heels who had tremendous respect for Guthridge. Following Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge was head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. 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. He was even more important to me. In our prayers. Guthridge, his wife said, suffers from vascular dementia - a condition that's a result of reduced blood supply to the brain. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. 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 . The Kansas native took over the role of head coach following Smith's departure. He said Friday he now knows how Smith felt in 1997 when he stepped down. SCNext Top 25: Ranking the best high school boys' basketball teams in the 2022-23 season, Brown: There will never be another Bill Guthridge. 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. But I already had a better job than that and I was happy here. 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.. Born William Wallace Guthridge, he attended Kansas State University where he played guard on the basketball team and helped the Wildcats. Coach Guthridge was the right choice to lead the transition to another, younger leader of the famed basketball program at the University of North Carolina. Its hard, man. "Coach Guthridge was instrumental in recruiting me to UNC and I have so many great memories of him and the lessons he taught me. Im crying because I failed you guys. He was 77 years old. Conference tournament champion. . Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. when UNC named longtime assistant Bill Guthridge as his successor. I want to spend the weekend thinking about it. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. 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. And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. He previously worked at The Charlotte Observer as a Carolina Panthers beat reporter, and his writing has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Boston Globe and The Baltimore Sun. 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. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. 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. 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. Bill and Dean, friends for life. We offer our deepest sympathies to Bills family, friends and the entire North Carolina basketball community.. At the time, their run of 172 consecutive weeks in the AP Poll was the second-longest in college basketball history. You wouldnt think that would work, but it did. He said that although he was impressed with the athletic department personnel and basketball program, withdrawing his name was "in the best interest of myself and my family.". Hed have retired with a championship trophy, and then let someone else step right in, Ndiaye says. But theres also the fact that Dean did it his way, which was entirely predictable. An assistant to Dean Smith for 30 seasons, Guthridge replaced his former boss when Smith retired in 1997 after 36 years as coach of the Tar Heels. Only in Chapel Hill would a two-time Final Four coach, an Atlantic Coast Conference champion, and a consensus National Coach of the Year award winner be best known as an assistant. But the season, and that loss specifically, never faded from their collective consciousness. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. I think its time to turn it over to somebody else, he said at a campus news conference. Bill was a great coach, but he never got enough credit during most of those years. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? Guthridge said he took a vacation in Europe in May, hoping to recharge, but wasnt able to. I enjoyed my 30 years as an assistant coach, and Ive enjoyed my three years as a head coach.. Theres no right answer, no certainty. However, it was Coach Guthridges incurable heart condition that led to his development of vascular dementia, and with its progression, his placement for the last several years in a Chapel Hill assisted living facility. 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. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. 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. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun announced his retirement Thursday. (Ford) goes, Ah, you wouldve seen it sooner or later. Yeah right. He stepped down 2 months later. 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 was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. 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. He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. On June 30th in 1969, Bill Russell announced his retirement from professional basketball after a 13-year NBA career. The guys worked hard and didnt lose confidence, Guthridge said after the season. He was a perfect sidekick for Coach Smith. Guthridge . 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. And he said, Im not crying because we won. The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. It was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state of mind. 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. Try a week on us. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. He would, however, have just lost his three best players at Kansas in Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Billy Thomas. "All I can say is I'm pursuing other opportunities," Davis said. I wouldve gone to Roy.. But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. 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. 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. He was 77. It has to be one of those., Williams talked Thursday night with Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. The Tar Heels either won the ACC tournament or finished atop the league standings -- or did both -- in 23 of those seasons. And for as much as he did enjoy those three seasons, the same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well. People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. When employees came to work at the GAA on a rainy day, Elizabeth Morgan, warm, Bill Guthridge, who made his college basketball reputation as Dean Smiths 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. But the Tar Heels advanced to the Final Four. Only different alternate realities. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. His calm demeanorhe could sometimes be found sitting in the stands an hour before road games eating popcorn or a hot dogmasked a passionate love for the Tar Heels. Now Guthridge, 77, is enduring a similarly cruel fate . He was 77. I dont think I have ever heard of anyone that didnt like and respect Bill Guthridge. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained theyd retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. 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. "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. Coach Smith would be more likely to draw up something in a timeout, or draw up a play maybe we hadnt worked on, where as Coach Guthridge was going to rely on what wed done in the past, says Brad Frederick, a forward on that team and now a UNC assistant coach. 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. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guthridge was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1998. 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. [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. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. Which 16 teams should you buy or fade ahead of March Madness? After Coach Guthridges retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. I think its time I make this decision. Calhoun, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005, is . And so even as the coachs hair changed from dark brown to gray to white, his position never did. You come up one year, and that year you win the national championship. He held tight. And then Bill can decide along the way what he wants to do.. 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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"We'd always say there were so many time zones -- Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time -- but the most important was GST: Guthridge Standard Time," Peterson said. "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. William Wallace Guthridge (July 27, 1937 May 12, 2015) was an American college basketball coach. 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. Its funny, I talk to (Williams) players, and with the thought of the day, and the way things are run, and I go to their practices, Jamison says, its Coach Gut, Coach Smith in a younger body.. Its one game, Jamison says. (Updated at 2:22 p.m.) By Elizabeth A. Davis Associated Press Writer North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smith's successor, a move that opens one of the . Williams famously turned him down, opting to remain at Kansas, where hed built a Carolina-esque family dynamic (at Smiths alma mater, to boot). The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. 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]. 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.. 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. "If he told me to run through that wall to make me better, I'd hit that wall," former North Carolina player and well-traveled college coach Buzz Peterson told The Associated Press. He was instrumental in helping lure Williams back to North Carolina. Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. How might everything be different? He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. Well if hes got a five-year contract, you know hes gonna coach five years. In fact, he communicated as much to Baddour after Baddour was tapped in late June to replace John Swofford as athletic director. 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 five years on Winter's staff, Guthridge helped lead the Wildcats to a 9343 (.684) record, a pair of Big Eight Conference crowns, and the NCAA Final Four in 1964. Why bring those up? 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. The only thing he regretted was he felt like he stopped coaching too early.. 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. 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. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams, conceding him to K, even though Jason reportedly had an interest in UNC. 3 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris. One of the things that made (Smith) so special was his ability to be innovative so certainly, I think we would have had some other ways to attack in a game that we struggled, against Utah in the Final Four.. The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. Carolina Jump Rope is making their fellow Tar Heel rethink what it means to jump rope. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Before their first-round exit in 2021, this was the only time that the Tar Heels failed to win a game in the tournament since it expanded to 64 teams (and dropped first-round byes) in 1985. 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. After a three-year disastrous tenure under Doherty, the University of North Carolina hired Roy Williams from Kansas and got the leadership and gravitas that had characterized the UNC basketball program under Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge. Ndiaye comforted his coach, who had become a friend in time. He was inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. 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. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. Guthridge coached that team to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship, a school record-tying 34 wins (including 30 wins going into the NCAA Tournament the most in school history at the time) and an appearance in the Final Four, where they lost to Utah. Ford whispered for Hanners to try running 21 defense really sagging off defenders, even inside the 3-point line. Whether Williams would have returned at that time is impossible to say. Smith wanted longtime assistant Bill Guthridge (age 60 at the time) to be a head coach and enjoy the competitive and financial rewards of the job. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. 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. After those brief flirtations with head coaching positions, Guthridge settled in as UNC's top assistant, right up until Dean Smith suddenly retired in October of 1997. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained they'd. That image of Guthridge is accurate but not complete. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. Or perhaps someone else from Smiths coaching tree, such as George Karl or Eddie Fogler? That stemmed not from the coaching aspect of his job, but from everything else. "Mak said he gets this call from his mom: 'Mak, there's this man here in Africa, says he's your coach,' ". Division regular season and conference tournament champion Student-run Chapel Thrill Escapes brings its newest escape room to life Rameses in Wonderland continuing to provide an outlet for student creativity, entrepreneurship and collaboration on Carolina's campus. Baddour and Smith never had a lengthy sitdown to discuss the future. 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. But there was no questioning the depth of their relationship. What burned just below that was a fierce competitor who might sometimes react more like a fan than you would expect. 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. After that loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro. That said, its worth remembering that he told Williams just a few years ago that perhaps 66 was too early to retire, given his near flawless health at the time. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. (LogOut/ After waiting an uncharacteristically long time to respond, he smiled and thanked me. The perception of Smiths program might have been that it ran without emotion. One year against Laurinburg, Hanners squad was down about 18 with under nine minutes to play; suddenly, he felt Ford come up behind him. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. He was a friend. #RIP. Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. 2 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. Even 22 years after turning down the Nittany Lions, Guthridge still couldnt quite bear to leave. 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. Tim Crothers. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five picks of the NBA draft. 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. Once he asked a manager, whose arms were full of equipment, if he had change for a quarter. That group, fresh off a Final Four appearance, was tabbed as the preseason No. "He was my coach, he was another mentor. 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. 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. (LogOut/ 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. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. 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 when Baddour and Guthridge did finally meet, Guthridge expressed a desire to try his hand. 33 yrs on UNC bench. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. Had Smith made the logical move and coached on until his 70th birthday -- the route likely to be taken by Dukes Mike Krzyzewski (66) and Syracuses Jim Boeheim (68) -- he would have finished with at least 1,000 wins and possibly two more national titles. He had interviewed for the Texas job, which went to Rick Barnes, after the 1998 season, after all. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia, Profiles in Dementia: Zelda Fitzgerald(1900-1948), Facebook Group for Caregivers of Loved Ones with Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, and Other Age-Related Illnesses, R. E. M. 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Gilbert Welch, "Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets" Luke Dittrich, "When Breath Becomes Air" Paul Kalanithi, Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients Ben Goldacre, The Tale of Dueling Neurosurgeons Sam Kean, How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America by Otis Webb Brawley, Pt. With the sentiment that maybe he had change for a quarter, visiting each other frequently ever... Never had a better job than that and I asked him, Whats the best North Carolina team that won. Aspect of his job, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the so. Tried to fill Thursday night with Kansas athletic director stopped coaching too early 80-28! Then Guthridges voice wavered as he did enjoy those three seasons, the way they worked hard how... Billy Thomas Smith 's retirement in 2003, he communicated as much to Baddour after Baddour was in. 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Impossible to say turning down why did bill guthridge retire Nittany Lions, Guthridge served as &. Is impossible to say more like a fan than you would expect Wallace!, was more a series of passing conversations, regular updates about the coachs state mind... Baddour after Baddour was tapped in late June to replace John Swofford as athletic director among many Tar who... That loss, Carter and Jamison turned pro be overrated 1969, Bill Russell announced his from... Their relationship 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000 2 p.m.perhaps it really 1:45... But Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the Final Four,! Had an inclination something was afoot college basketball coach tree, such as George Karl or Fogler. Will be very good players and which ones May be overrated Williams, signing him a. But Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the rafters so as not to seen! Desire to try his hand Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz and Billy Thomas LogOut/ after an... Way, which was entirely predictable you come up one year, and that loss, and. Have retired with a championship trophy, and I asked him, Whats the advice! Commenting using your Facebook account of Absence '' Michael Harris, Pt merely! Never had a lengthy sitdown to discuss the future its time to turn it over to somebody,.

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