Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. In retrospect, Smiths premature exit was a mistake on all fronts. 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. You will be missed. He was instrumental in helping lure Williams back to North Carolina. Fords reputation was growing fast as a star recruiter, having single-handedly delivered Rasheed Wallace to UNC and playing a major role in Carters eventual commitment. That possibility isnt one Baddour had previously considered. That aspect of his character first surfaced in 1972, when the University of North Carolina basketball coach left Tar Heel fans bewildered by announcing that he wanted junior star forward Robert McAdoo to turn pro rather than return for the 1972-73 season. 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. When did Bill Guthridge coach at UNC? 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 will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. That not-wanting-to-step-on-toes thing? Coach Smith always had a plan. I think its time I make this decision. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. He has a keen sense of which ones will be very good players and which ones may be overrated. 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. But part of me, at the end of the day, thinks Coach Williams was destined to end up back here. The possibilities were endless, but Baddour is certain of one thing: keeping things in the family was a must. And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. He also was an assistant to Smith on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in Montreal. Division regular season champion And everything that happened, for better or worse, led the program to where it is today. In 1998, the Bill Guthridge Distinguished Professorship in mathematics was established. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? He was 77 years old, Former UNC basketball coach Bill Guthridge passes away at age 77, UNC School of Social Work becomes new home for CEAL@UNC, expand work to advance assisted living. The next day, Kenny Smith said, assistant coach Bill Guthridge wasn't at practice. Former UNC Director of Athletics Dick Baddour: Bill was one of the most respected and admired people I have known. Guthridge, who like Smith was a Kansas native, spent 30 years as an assistant coach and had ample opportunities to leave Chapel Hill and become the coach of his own program. How might everything be different? The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. Bill Guthridge is best known in Chapel Hill as an assistant coach to Dean Smith, but that isn't the complete picture of the legendary coach. That startling decision equated to the ultimate professional sacrifice. The University of North Carolina has lost a dear friend, as haveI, andIknow that we will all miss him greatly., Im extremely saddened by the passing of Coach Guthridge, aka Coach Gut, especially coming so close to the loss of Coach Smith. 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. 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. "This is another terrible loss for the Carolina basketball family," former North Carolina player and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan said in a statement to The Associated Press. He had recently been in an assisted living facility in Chapel Hill. 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. (Ford) goes, Ah, you wouldve seen it sooner or later. Yeah right. And I said, I cant say to you with certainty what Bills gonna do, but this is how we have to approach it. Guthridge did it all with a dry wit and style. He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. But Guthridge, who died Tuesday at 77 of heart failure, was not just one of the best college basketball coaches of all time, he was an unfailingly decent man who displayed a rare degree of. "When Coach Smith announced he was retiring and that Coach Guthridge was taking over, then it all clicked into place for me," Hanners says. Guthridge would still call on Smith, after all, to speak to the team at certain times. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. 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 if Williams had declined the opportunity, as he initially did a year prior? 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. 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. Guthridge was a player and then an assistant coach at Kansas State . 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. When it was his turn as head coach, he immediately won an ACC championship and took two teams to the Final Four. Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. 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. Like his lifelong friend and mentor, Coach Dean Smith, he led by example instilling values of kindness, discipline and a strong work ethic. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. 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. WAKE FOREST: Former basketball standout Charlie Davis quit his job in the athletic department, reportedly for not being considered for advancement. Certainly, what a marvelous run of three years.. He was a father figure.". 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. 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. His desire to be a coach I dont think ever stopped, Hanners said. 33 yrs on UNC bench. 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. Guthridge joined Smith's staff for the 1967-68 season, starting out as the freshman coach and a co-assistant varsity coach and eventually becoming the Hall of Famer's most trusted assistant. He spurned offers to interview for head coaching vacancies, preferring to remain out of the spotlight and continuing to team with Smith. 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.. As an assistant, Guthridge was renowned for his success in coaching the fundamentals of pivot play to a long series of successful UNC big men, and as the Tar Heels' primary shooting coach. 2 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. (Smith told me), Its just not coming back. He was 77. Unfortunately, it took UNC two tries to find that leader. But if Williams had said no, as he did two years later, would Ford have been tapped for the job then? We offer our deepest condolences to the Guthridge family as they grieve the loss of a wonderful husband and father.. 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. 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. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. How close did Raleigh come to getting an NFL team? He said Friday he now knows how Smith felt in 1997 when he stepped down. 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. He was on the sidelines for a record 73 NCAA Tournament victories, including 71 at Carolina and two at Kansas State. In other words, why Smith walked away at the exact moment he did. Neither Davis nor athletic director Ron Wellman would comment on his departure. But when Baddour and Guthridge did finally meet, Guthridge expressed a desire to try his hand. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. 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. I mean, the Plan B was there.. He was known to answer a question such as Coach, do you know what time it is? with a Yes as he walked away. 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. (LogOut/ He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. In our prayers. Theres no right answer, no certainty. He joined the UNC staff in 1967 after five years as assistant to Tex Winter at Kansas State. Of McAdoo, it took UNC two tries to find that leader Baddour: was... A question such as coach, he got the fateful notice, after,. Jump rope clubs from around the country exit was a member of the team performs dazzling and! 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