in mathematics in 1960 and an M.A. As early as April and May, Bill Guthridge Smiths primary assistant for some 30 years reached out to Hanners about doing extra study of the teams offensive and defensive sets. 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. (Scott Sharpe/News & Observer), Standing Together With Our Black Community, Assistant Schall Named Head Volleyball Coach, After 33 Years, Volleyball Coach Sagula Retires, In Memoriam: Elizabeth B. Morgan (19302022). He wasnt going to entertain a room full of boosters with behind the scenes stories. He played or coached in 14 Final Fours, more than any person in NCAA history. 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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. That group, fresh off a Final Four appearance, was tabbed as the preseason No. Hed been given a five-year contract when he took over for Smith, because the administration feared recruits would stop coming if they thought Guthridge could retire at any moment. 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. "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. But if Smith was selfless in his handling of McAdoo, it was nothing compared to Smiths shocking retirement on Oct. 9, 1997. 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. He was even more important to me. Coach Smith had so many strengths and very few weaknesses, and the weaknesses that he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. (Ford) goes, Ah, you wouldve seen it sooner or later. Yeah right. Heck, he might still be the coach at North Carolina. 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. (LogOut/ Guthridge spent 31 seasons as an assistant to Smith, the winningest coach in college basketball history. He stopped when he did because he was afraid his memory wasnt as good as it was or had been. At Smith's retirement. The Parsons, Kan., native posted an 80-28 record in three seasons as Carolinas head coach, leading the 1998 and 2000 teams to the Final Four. If he had, then thats where the what-ifs really go wild. 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. "He was my coach, he was another mentor. The death of Guthridges mother, Betty, 96, two days before the Tar Heels played Tennessee at Knoxville in the NCAA South Regional semifinals also contributed to a difficult season. 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. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . 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. 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. Because I know Coach Smiths plan long-term, at least at that time, was to prepare the team for Phil to take over.. At that point, Baddour turned to Matt Doherty, who had been the coach at Notre Dame for just one season. Ndiaye comforted his coach, who had become a friend in time. Certainly, what a marvelous run of three years.. Guthridge went 80-28 from 1997 to 2000 before retiring in June 2000. Recharge your batteries, they told him. As he famously said at Smiths retirement news conference, I always thought we would ride off into the sun together.. Guthridge became head coach after Smith retired in 1997 and coached the team for three seasons.UNC coach Roy Williams called Guthridge a key . Theres no right answer, no certainty. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. And with Guthridge having gotten his shot, there would have been no issues of whose turn it was. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for then-Kansas coach Roy Williams, signing him to a five-year contract. 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? Because that was supposed to be something that we accomplished together.. "I'd always set my time to GST, 10 minutes ahead.". And come Monday, he got the fateful notice. The careers and lives of the two coaches from Kansas were solidly intertwined. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. So why leave?, His dry sense of humor was legendary among his players. He coached 1997-98 National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison 99 and 1998-99 NBA Rookie of the Year Vince Carter 99, both of whom entered the NBA draft after their junior seasons. He was extremely special, important to every player, every coach who ever worked here. Coach Smith began showing signs of cognitive impairment before Coach Guthridge did. Smith, after all, kept an office in the arena for several years after retirement. Thank you Coach Gut for the many lessons you taught us at UNC. No, I couldnt even consider that, Smith said. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. Hed have been a lifer, Hanners says. Neither Davis nor athletic director Ron Wellman would comment on his departure. Coach Smith always had a plan. Lets say youve got a 35-year-old guy. (An aside: if Doherty stays, does Mike Brey, succeeded him and still remains in South Bend, get that job, or is he elsewhere too?). "Because I knew Coach Guthridge had the best interest for you and wanted to see you succeed.". The guys worked hard and didnt lose confidence, Guthridge said after the season. North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge retired Friday after three years as Dean Smiths successor, a move that opens one of the most prestigious jobs in college sports. 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. Guthridge's did, too, and during Smith's funeral and memorial services, Williams, knowing the end could be near, told former players and current ones to spend time with Guthridge. 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 I know thats something that bothered him to his death, Ndiaye says. When Smith was needlessly ejected from the 1991 Final Four, it was Guthridge who was furious in the tunnel after the game. How would his retirement alter the short- and long-term trajectory of a program built on consistency? In public, he was never going to be the center of attention. In 1976, he also served as an assistant coach to Smith as the United States won the gold medal in men's basketball at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. 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. Together, they taught us basketball is secondary. (Robert Willett / Tribune News Service via Getty). 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. 33 yrs on UNC bench. 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. 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 he retired as head coach in 2000, he knew he wouldnt be able to get through telling his staff about his departure. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? 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. Dean Smith unexpectedly retired as head basketball coach at North Carolina just two months before the start of the 199798 season, and Guthridge was immediately named his successor. You come up one year, and that year you win the national championship. 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. You accomplished something that takes some other people 20-plus years to do. Doherty was criticized from the moment he was hired, for breaking somewhat from Smith and Guthridges family dynamic; that scrutiny only intensified in his second season, when UNC bottomed out to a program-worst record of 8-20. Jamisons teammates and Hanners and Baddour all agree. Im crying because I failed you guys. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. At which point, Baddour faced as unenviable a position as any athletic director in the country: Who do you hire to fill Dean Smiths shoes? Prior to that, Guthridge served as Smith's assistant coach for 30 years. While serving as an assistant coach, Guthridge turned down several head coaching opportunities, preferring to remain in Chapel Hill working alongside Smith. Baddour says he never got that far down the line because of Guthridges interest. 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. Revisionist history does offer some diverging paths, though. 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. 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. Baddour was scheduled to travel with the football program that day for a game at TCU, but before leaving he spoke to Smith on the phone. Following his stint at Kansas State, Guthridge moved to North Carolina to join the staff of fellow Kansas native Dean Smith. 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. 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