Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I think its time I make this decision. Not only did he coach me on the freshman team, he was my coach, another mentor, a friend, a father figure, a big brother for me just like he was for so many players. I think its time to turn it over to somebody else, he said at a campus news conference. 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. Why would a healthy 66-year-old call it quits and relinquish the chance to coach that team? 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. My guess is he would not have been, and then the first call, yes, wouldve been Roy, Baddour says. But it is my opinion that he expected, when he first told me that, that he would continue to be the coach.. The closest he came to leaving Chapel Hill was 1978, when he verbally accepted the head coaching job at Penn State. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Bill and Dean, friends for life. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. 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. What happened, happened. 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. 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. The school scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today. Matt Doherty, who played at UNC while Guthridge was an assistant and then became the school's head coach after Guthridge retired, sent along his condolences: Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. We easily could have won the championship, man, Ndiaye says. The Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program is one of the first research programs focused exclusively on addressing the gap in child and adolescent mental health services. Recharge your batteries, they told him. Why would you stay? 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.. The protege was named Naismith College Coach of the Year in his first season as Smith's replacement. But he decided he did not have the energy to continue coaching, the AP reported. 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. Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. He still had four seasons remaining on his contract, enough to carry him to the summer of 2001. Following his stint at Kansas State, Guthridge moved to North Carolina to join the staff of fellow Kansas native Dean Smith. Its funny that were doing this story, Jamison says. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State before joining the Tar Heels staff in 1967. 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. 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. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. He directed UNC to the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was named the ACC Coach of the Year. College Basketball Coach. He was even more important to me. All the scheduling calls, speeches for adoring donors, piles and piles of paperwork that accompanied seemingly everything he did. After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. He handed out handwritten notes instead. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. Dick, lets talk on Monday, but Im pretty sure Im gonna tell you Monday its time to transition, Baddour remembers. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. Chapel Hill, N.C. For all of his wins and championships, the Olympic gold medal, tactical innovations, social impact and fertile coaching tree, Dean Smiths unselfishness defined his career to an enormous, but often overlooked, extent. The University is currently operating under normal conditions. He was a friend. I would have been as vigorous and go after that as hard as I could possibly go.. When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me, Hanners says. Ill just say this, says Dave Hanners, one of Smiths longtime assistants. But it really wasnt and we both knew it. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. Former UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour: Bill was one of the most respected and admired people I have known. 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He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. 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 that July or August period, when Coach Smith basically told Coach Guthridge for the very last time in his life, Im not ready, Im not gonna do it again, then I think Coach Guthridge told him at that point that hed really like to try, Hanners says. That possibility isnt one Baddour had previously considered. 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 like Coach Guthridge in that both of them loved and bled Carolina blue so much that they never wanted to leave the program.. But Baddour explained to the chancellor that because of Williams respect for Guthridge, hed never have taken the job over his friend. 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.. Or does Doherty get his chance regardless? He formed a successful partnership with Dean Smith that lasted three decades until Smith retired in 1997. In fact, Guthridge has been involved with 13 teams which have reached the Final Four-as a player at Kansas State in 1958, as an assistant coach with the Wildcats in 1964, as a Tar Heel assistant coach in 1968, 1969, 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 1997, and as UNC's head coach in 1998.. Did Musselman coach in the NBA? What burned just below that was a fierce competitor who might sometimes react more like a fan than you would expect. How might everything be different? When Bill Guthridge retired as North Carolina's basketball coach in the summer of 2000, it set off a chain reaction that touched the lives of dozens of people in his profession. "Mak said he gets this call from his mom: 'Mak, there's this man here in Africa, says he's your coach,' ". What Smith left behind was arguably the most talented team hed ever assembled: a pair of future NBA All-Stars, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison; the programs all-time assists leader, point guard Ed Cota; a lights-out shooter, Shammond Williams; a frontcourt enforcer, Makhtar Ndiaye; and much more. And that brings us full-circle, back to the original what-if: What if Dean Smith had finished out his contract, which ran through the end of the 2000-01 season? Guthridge didnt need the change, just wanted to know if he had it. 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. We didnt play well for just five minutes, and that decided the game.. 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. 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. We certainly had no idea; he was still the smartest guy, could recall everything he was seeing.. 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. But 1:57 was 1:57. 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. He is one of five people to have appeared in the Final Four as both a player and coach. We offer our deepest condolences to the Guthridge family as they grieve the loss of a wonderful husband and father.. So I just feel like we got robbed.. Watch more top videos, highlights, and B/R original content, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. 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. Guthridge became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. 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. 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. Smith and Guthridge had long maintained theyd retire together, the natural conclusion to a three-decade partnership in Chapel Hill. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. In our prayers. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. As he famously said at Smiths retirement news conference, I always thought we would ride off into the sun together.. And as an assistant for Smith for nine seasons, he had both a championship pedigree and a deep understanding of how the program operated. He was a kind soul with a strong, competitive spirit. He was no different from Coach Smith or Coach Guthridge. Conference regular season champion Guthridge was the longtime assistant to UNC coach Dean Smith, who died earlier this year. 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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