University of North Carolina Athletics
Memories of a Gentleman Coach
July 5, 2000 | Men's Basketball
July 5, 2000
As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up." Bill Guthridge doesn't need me or anyone else to trumpet his accomplishments, because anyone who knows the game of basketball knows he can flat out coach. Maybe he wasn't as excitable as you would like, and he didn't bait referees for 40 minutes, or even scream during timeouts when his team was trailing. But since when do those things mark the measure of a coach? Or a man? Every basketball person I know in the ACC tells me Bill Guthridge did what no one thought could be done - he followed a legend and carved out a spot in history for himself. His accomplishments in three quick seasons as head coach are enough to make any young coach envious. They complete a basketball resume that began in the 1950s in Parsons, Kan., and extended through Manhattan, Kan., and Chapel Hill.
Guthridge won 80 of 108 games, won an ACC title and directed two of his three teams to the Final Four, college basketball's holy land. He is one of only five coaches in the storied history of America's best basketball conference to advance to the Final Four on more than one occasion. He was National Coach of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year. He kept alive the three streaks Carolina fans have come to cherish on an annual basis - each of his teams won 20 or more games, finished in the top three in the ACC standings and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Given a chance to spend some time with the team, I'll remember much more than the wins and losses, although I probably enjoyed the 80 wins more than anything. What I will choose to remember most about Coach Guthridge and his teams are the special moments. There were a lot of them.
I'll remember sitting in a room at the Los Angeles Athletic Club the afternoon Antawn Jamison received the Wooden Award as the 1998 National Player of the Year. In addition to Jamison and the other finalists, Coach Wooden was visiting with a who's who of college coaches - Roy Williams, Lute Olsen and Bill Guthridge. I thought how special it must be after 30 years as Coach Smith's assistant for Coach Guthridge to be on par with the game's great head coaches.
I'll remember the postgame celebrations in the locker room, before we opened the doors and allowed the media in to talk to the players. Like the one in Greensboro in '98 after the Tar Heels beat Connecticut to win the NCAA East Regional and advance to the Final Four. There were plenty of tears shed by players and coaches alike in that dressing room that night. Jamison, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, and others were happy for themselves, but you knew they were happiest for the man they called Coach Gut.
It's hard to imagine a locker room more emotional than the one this past March when Carolina beat top-seed Stanford in the second round of the Tournament. When Coach tried to thank the players for the effort they gave, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, including administrators, staff and players. When CBS commentator and former Tar Heel superstar James Worthy walked in and let loose, the place really went nuts. As good as everyone felt for the players, you couldn't have been in that room and not felt great for Guthridge. It was a most remarkable scene.
I remember what assistant coach Dave Hanners told me after we beat Purdue in the finals of the Great Alaska Shootout, a tournament in Guthridge's first month as head coach. It was a close game, down to the final few possessions and Carolina won when Shammond Williams hit a key shot. Hanners said coaches Phil Ford, Pat Sullivan and he were so excited, shouting out instructions as the final minutes ticked off. Meanwhile, Guthridge was calmly instructing his players, breaking down the game situation exactly as it was to unfold. Hanners said for a minute he forgot Coach Smith had retired because Guthridge reacted exactly as Smith would have.
Later that year, Shammond actually walked off the court at Virginia in the middle of the first half. Think of that for a moment - the No. 1 team in the country, down by about 10 points, national television audience and the senior captain got upset and left the floor. How did the rookie coach react? He got with Williams at the half, talked to him to find out why he was upset and then benched him for the rest of the game. After the game, there was no big problem, no major incident. They talked and handled it like a coach and player should. Crisis averted, Williams was disciplined, but played the next game, and Coach earned a new level of respect from his players.
Do you know which player flew in from out of town last week when he heard his coach was about to retire? Absolutely, Shammond Williams did. The Seattle Sonics guard said out of respect for Coach Guthridge, he simply could not have been anywhere else.
I remember the wry smile and sense of accomplishment Coach felt after Carolina beat Tulsa to go to the Final Four. Every time someone said how great they felt for Coach, he quickly reminded us this game is about the players and we should all feel great for them. When a Birmingham, Ala., writer ripped him the morning after UNC beat Missouri in the first round, one member of the traveling party made copies for the players to read at breakfast. Coach got upset, collected all the copies and said not to mention it again. How did the players feel about the article? Well, another member of the UNC party confronted the writer after beating Stanford and got an ovation from the players on the team bus. "Don't mess with our coach" was their response.
I remember the feeling in Charlotte in 1999 when we upset Maryland in the ACC Tournament semifinals. The Terrapins were very good and had blown us out in College Park just weeks before, but a great game plan and an inspired bunch of Tar Heels led by Ademola Okulaja were simply too much for the Terps. Sure, Guthridge had won the ACC title a year before, but people said that team was loaded with great talent. Getting back to the ACC championship game the following year with four new starters may have been an even greater achievement. People should remember that win, because it was a great one for Carolina.
Guthridge is one of the most competitive people I have ever known. It used to eat at him the way people would criticize Coach Smith when Smith was head coach, but as the boss, Guthridge deflected all the criticism away from his players and directly at himself. He handled it with grace and dignity, never once blasting back at his critics.
Some people said he didn't get upset on the bench, he didn't fire up his guys. Well, a lot of games I sit right next to the bench and I can assure you that wasn't the case. Even in his first season, I recall several occasions - against Virginia Tech in Charlotte, in the 50-point win over Florida State and the first half of the NCAA Tournament game against UNC Charlotte - when he got irate in huddles. Most fans and media didn't know it, because his style was never to embarrass his players. The reason he was upset in all three instances was the same - we weren't playing Carolina basketball. That means the players were not hustling, diving for loose balls and playing unselfishly.
I remember starting his first season 17-0 then losing in overtime at Maryland. The students stormed the floor and we almost got crushed by the crowd as we exited the floor. Two police officers and I were escorting Coach off the floor and we literally were getting crushed up against the basket. I remember thinking, "Coach is 60 years old and has three bodyguards helping him off the floor. Last year, he was 59 and an assistant and I'll bet none of us helped him off the floor."
When we finally got off the court, Coach took about a minute with the players in the locker room, walked out and said after his first-ever loss as head coach, "Well, it's late and they probably have deadlines, so let's go talk to the media." Just like that.
Well, just like that, Coach Guthridge is retired. Thirty-three remarkable seasons in Chapel Hill, almost 40 in the coaching profession. He's one of a kind and will be awfully hard to replace. Thankfully he has his health, a wonderful family, plenty of hobbies and interests. Most important, he will still be here. Just not as head coach. Carolina basketball won't be the same without him.
- Steve Kirschner, Director of Media Relations
