Only different alternate realities. And for as much as he did enjoy those three seasons, the same obligations that wore Smith down got to Guthridge as well. Smith is now 82 and with some health issues. Williams famously turned him down, opting to remain at Kansas, where hed built a Carolina-esque family dynamic (at Smiths alma mater, to boot). When coach Smith retired in 1997, after a tenure of 36 season, Guthridge took over the job to begin a reign of great basketball playing at UNC. That startling decision equated to the ultimate professional sacrifice. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. When Roy Williams declined the opportunity to be Carolinas head coach in 2000, he had to mend more hurt feelings with Guthridge than with Smith. I mean, the Plan B was there.. when UNC named longtime assistant Bill Guthridge as his successor. 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. He was a father figure.". Its one game, Jamison says. He held tight. The spring of 1997, it seemed, was no different. 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. But when Guthridge retired, Williamsthen playing with the Seattle Sonicsmade the effort to find a commercial flight to Chapel . He tried to do every one of those little things that drove Coach Smith crazy. The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. 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. When did Bill Guthridge coach at UNC? 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. Case in point. There were reports that Michigan was interested in him at the time His only drawback was a DUI arrest in September 1998, after which he was temporarily placed on leave. Guthridge, 62, said a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six years. I remember telling the chancellor that, Baddour says. I think its time I make this decision. 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. But I know thats something that bothered him to his death, Ndiaye says. The school scheduled a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today. 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 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 it was as if the whole contraption was tilted, resting at an incline so that the sand would never get to the bottom. Just a really good man who made Carolina, the ACC and college basketball better.. Neither Davis nor athletic director Ron Wellman would comment on his departure. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Guthridge had once accepted Penn States head coaching vacancy in the 1970s, only to return to Chapel Hill before his connecting flight to State College. As he would prepare for a basketball practice or game, he was equally intense about attention to detail in scheduling or whatever.. That was quelled, but the chancellor had another thought: To the chancellor and many fans Williams was the obvious choice to succeed Smith. The team performs dazzling spins and flips at campus events and even competes against other universities and jump rope clubs from around the country. Ndiaye remembers taking his son for a campus tour years later, and Guthridge coming out of the Smith Center to greet him. Go play golf. So was Williams always fated to end up back at North Carolina? 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. Guthridge retired after the season, having spent the first 43 years of his adult life as a player, high school coach, and college coach. Then Guthridges voice wavered as he began to apologize I feel like its my fault. 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. "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 also took a less talented team to the Final Four in 2000. Dean Smiths hourglass, it seemed, had an endless amount of sand. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. I really believe thats exactly what happened.. For more than three decades, Coach Guthridge served this University he loved so much with a deep commitment to academic and athletic excellence. Smith, after all, kept an office in the arena for several years after retirement. My time is in the past now and we have to move forward.. He was a kind soul with a strong, competitive spirit. (Smith told me), Its just not coming back. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 announcement came nearly two months after the 6-10 center led the Boston . It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. Guthridge didn't bother to recruit Jason Williams, conceding him to K, even though Jason reportedly had an interest in UNC. He led the program to a pair of Final Four appearances in three seasons at the helm before retiring following the 1999-2000 campaign. "Needless to say I'm tired of having meetings like this." Theres no way you could dream, Hanners says, anyone would necessarily do better.. The people who knew him best werent surprised he went to two Final Fours in three seasons.. "I'd always set my time to GST, 10 minutes ahead.". 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. Then there are the other options from Smiths tree: Karl and Fogler and even Larry Brown. But against the Utes, the Tar Heels fell behind quickly and were never able to catch up. "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 would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. Following the 199798 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. in education in 1963. End of conversation.. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. He had interviewed for the Texas job, which went to Rick Barnes, after the 1998 season, after all. Hed have been two years into a rebuild at Notre Dame, and perhaps less reluctant to leave. 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? The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? The Tar Heels then went 24-10 in 1998-99 but were upset by Weber State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. North Carolina made 10 trips to the Final Four and won two national championships during the time Smith and Guthridge spent together. So I just feel like we got robbed.. The only people who came to know about that line of succession, so to speak, were Baddour, Smith, Guthridge and then-chancellor Michael Hooker, who expressed some concerns about Guthridges age early on. Theres no right answer, no certainty. I really liked the attitude of the team, the way they worked hard and how they were rewarded finally. Hed told reporters he expected to honor the remaining four years on his deal. Perhaps, at last, somewhere in his mind, Coach Guthridge finally made the decision it was time for him to retire from this physical life. Other opportunities had arisen over time, and yet Guthridge always remained as Smiths assistant. And by the end of every summer, Smith returned freshly rejuvenated. 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. 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? Did Bill Guthridge win national championship? At the time, their run of 172 consecutive weeks in the AP Poll was the second-longest in college basketball history. Im like, Coach, we won it, congrats! Jamison remembers. . Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway said the school was privileged to have Williams. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report. "I'm extremely saddened by the passing of Coach Guthridge, aka 'Coach Gut,' especially coming so close to the loss of Coach Smith," Jamison, who was national player of the year during Guthridge's first season as coach, said in a statement. 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. In our prayers. We offer our deepest sympathies to Bills family, friends and the entire North Carolina basketball community.. Guthridge could deal with Dean's irritability, his need to control the smallest things. Guthridge took over when Smith retired after 36 seasons in October 1997. It was Guthridge who was the creator of the well-known and slightly strange departure times for Carolina travel parties. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State, but stepped down from the post a few days later.[3]. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. The little doo-doos got him in the end, Hanners says. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. At Smith's retirement. Tim Crothers. If you previously used a social network to login to WRALSportsFan.com, click the Forgot your password link to reset your password. I dont think he went in that summer thinking, Im not gonna be the basketball coach by fall, Baddour says. Then he retired, too. As good a person as I ever met. 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