At Smith's retirement. He led his first team to the 1998 Final Four and had two players, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, selected in the top five . Conference regular season champion Ford whispered for Hanners to try running 21 defense really sagging off defenders, even inside the 3-point line. Its hard, man. Assistant coach Phil Ford is at right. 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. After Coach Guthridge's retirement in 2003, he and Coach Smith stayed in close contact, visiting each other frequently. "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. But in hindsight, Hanners says there were clues that everything might not have been like normal. In his first year as head coach, he led the the team . But more than just that team, Smith left behind a mound of questions. What you saw was the quiet assistant sitting on the bench. 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. Dean Smiths hourglass, it seemed, had an endless amount of sand. The manager put down his stuff and rifled through his pockets. We ended up beating em easily, and I thanked him later for it, Hanners says. 1 "The End of Absence" Michael Harris, Pt. Fast-forward to present day, and he has surpassed Smith in both national championships and wins. He couldnt generate enough energy to get through all of that., Some background: In the years leading up to his retirement specifically every spring after the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament Smith expressed a sense of exhaustion to the people around him. What happened, happened. Meanwhile, Creighton coach Dana Altman withdrew his name from consideration. End of conversation.. It was profoundly hard for Coach Guthridge to watch his lifetime friend become forgetful and lose the memories they shared together, not just as the architects of a fantastic and highly-ethical college basketball program, but as friends who regarded each other and their respective families as their own. And so those players, all of them, kick around the questions to this day. That team reached the Final Four and almost reached the title game even though Jamison and Williams missed 22 field-goal attempts in a 65-59 semifinal loss to Utah. Copyright 2013 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. For starters, Baddour says he still would have offered Guthridge the job first. Its not fair, but thats just the way it is for assistant coaches, Smith said. The ones he did have Coach Guthridge tried to fill. He saw his memory issues coming long before the world did. 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. We easily could have won the championship, man, Ndiaye says. The emotion was there, its just that it was often Guthridge providing it. His lack of recruiting is why they went 8-20 shortly thereafter. Which put Baddour on the search for a long-term replacement for the first time. Why would you stay? Following the 199798 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year award. Were the best North Carolina team that never won a championship. 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. 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Hed grown up in North Carolina, graduated from the university, won a championship as an assistant under Smith and had built a successful program as the coach at Kansas. Thats impossible to know, but Williams was also returning a top-five team, one that was expected to compete for a championship in its own right. He once told a newspaper he never left the program because the other 300 Division I head coaching jobs werent better than his job as an assistant. Because that was supposed to be something that we accomplished together.. One year against Laurinburg, Hanners squad was down about 18 with under nine minutes to play; suddenly, he felt Ford come up behind him. In fact, most of that team reconvened in St. Louis in 2005 for Williams first championship game at North Carolina. They shot just 39.1 percent from the floor and made only 3-of-23 attempts from 3. The first is, if Guthridge hadnt wanted the job, would Williams have taken it? That group, fresh off a Final Four appearance, was tabbed as the preseason No. Sad news. 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. [5], He died at his home on May 12, 2015, after an extended illness, alongside his family. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four the previous year under Smith. By the way, Dean Smith basically forced UNC to hire Guthridge, his long-time assistant, when El Deano suddenly retired in October 1997, just before the beginning of the hoops season. Guthridge was Smiths assistant for 30 years. He was on the sidelines for a record 73 NCAA Tournament victories, including 71 at Carolina and two at Kansas State. He came up with the idea that Dean Smith, having . People could misinterpret 2 p.m.perhaps it really meant 1:45, or maybe 2:15. Note: Former University of North Carolina mens basketball coach Bill Guthridge passed away May 12. (LogOut/ But it was all as a team, no one mans fault or wrongdoing for the groups shortcoming. He stopped when he did because he was afraid his memory wasnt as good as it was or had been. Maybe Phil Ford wouldve been the head coach then, Ndiaye says. Former University of North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge, 77, died Tuesday from a heart condition. In our prayers. 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. Theres no right answer, no certainty. If Williams had said no, then who might have been offered the job? 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. 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 77. in mathematics in 1960 and an M.A. 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. Bill and Dean, friends for life. It was very, very much real and something Smith had to balance with the sentiment that maybe he had left too soon. He is probably best remembered for his loyalty to Smith, who died in February at age 83. ", Roy: "I think that not only did he coach me on the freshman team he was another mentor. Former UNC Coach Bill Guthridge passed away last night at age 77 w/ family at his side. "He, like Coach Smith, was more of a mentor and father figure than anything else. Its not what gets remembered for the rest of your life, at least not at a place like North Carolina. 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. In his tenure at UNC, Guthridge coached five National Players of the Year, six ACC Players of the Year, five ACC Rookies of the Year and 28 first-team All-ACC players. It didnt bother me that I was a lousy coach, and when we started winning I was a better coach. I needed Bill to tell me, Dick, yes, I want to do this, Baddour says, and he was clear that he wanted to.. 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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Guthridge coached North Carolina to the Final Four in his first season before losing to Utah. Whatve you got to prove then?. Longtime North Carolina basketball coach Bill Guthridge died Tuesday night. The little doo-doos, Smith called them, the administrative tasks just within the purview of his job responsibilities. 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 as the confetti fell on UNCs first title A.D. After Dean Guthridge burst into tears alongside his former players. He got his taste. He will certainly be remembered for what he did as opposed to what else he might have done. He was North Carolina basketball, the constant as the new building was built in his honor and the banners in the rafters accumulated, the link from Scott to Ford to Jordan to Stackhouse. Once he asked a manager, whose arms were full of equipment, if he had change for a quarter. Following Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge was head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. He would sneak into practices, hide way up in the rafters so as not to be seen. 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. Ironically, both coaches developed dementia along the way (Coach Smith died in January 2015 of complications from dementia). 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. On June 30th in 1969, Bill Russell announced his retirement from professional basketball after a 13-year NBA career. 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. His legacy and contributions to my life and to our University will live on and he'll be much more remembered for his sense of humor and class just as much as his coaching.". I wouldve gone to Roy.. He had interviewed for the Texas job, which went to Rick Barnes, after the 1998 season, after all. Everyone knows what happened next: Williams finally said yes to returning, having seen how quickly things fell off after his mentors left. 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. 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.
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