Bill Guthridge
Encyclopedia
Bill Guthridge is a retired American college basketball
coach.
Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for 30 years as Dean Smith
's assistant at the University of North Carolina
. Following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge served as head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. He took the team to the NCAA Final Four
twice in his three seasons and was named national coach of the year in 1998, before retiring in 2000.http://static.espn.go.com/ncb/news/2000/0630/612432.html
, and graduated with a B.S.
in Mathematics
in 1960 and an M.A.
in Education in 1963. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity. While a student at Kansas State, Guthridge played guard under head coach Fred "Tex" Winter
, and helped the team advance to the 1958 Final Four
. 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 1962-1967. In five years on Winter's staff, Guthridge helped lead the Wildcats to a 93-43 record, a pair of Big Eight Conference crowns and the 1964 NCAA Final Four
. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats.
Following his stint at Kansas State, from 1967-1997 Guthridge was an assistant at the University of North Carolina under head coach Dean Smith
, a fellow Kansas native. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. 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
.
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. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. While serving as an assistant coach, Guthridge turned down several head coaching opportunities, preferring to remain in Chapel Hill working alongside Smith. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State
, but stood down from the post a few days later.
, signing him to a five-year contract.
In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four
twice, in the 1998 tournament
and again in the 2000 tournament
. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four
the previous year under Coach Smith. With a wealth of returning talent, Guthridge instituted a "six starters" system, whereby the team's top six players, Antawn Jamison
, Vince Carter
, Ed Cota
, Shammond Williams
, Ademola Okulaja
and Makhtar N'Diaye rotated positions in the starting five. 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
. Following the 1997-1998 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year
award.
The next season, the team earned a #3 seed in the 1999 NCAA tournament
, but it was upset in the first round by Weber State
– to date, the only time that the Tar Heels have failed to win a game in the tournament since it dropped first-round byes in 1982. In 2000, the team struggled in the regular season, falling out of the polls for the first time since the start of the 1990-91 season. The team finished 18-13 – UNC's worst regular-season record in 11 years. However, the team came alive in the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
. With the 8th seed in the West Region, they upset top-seeded Stanford
in the second round and continued on to the Final Four, where the Tar Heels lost to Florida
. After the 2000 season, Guthridge retired from coaching.
College basketball
College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
coach.
Guthridge initially gained recognition after serving for 30 years as Dean Smith
Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
's assistant at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. Following Dean Smith's retirement in 1997, Guthridge served as head coach of the Tar Heels for three seasons. He took the team to the NCAA Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
twice in his three seasons and was named national coach of the year in 1998, before retiring in 2000.http://static.espn.go.com/ncb/news/2000/0630/612432.html
Background
Guthridge attended Kansas State UniversityKansas State University
Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
, and graduated with a B.S.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
in 1960 and an M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in Education in 1963. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
fraternity. While a student at Kansas State, Guthridge played guard under head coach Fred "Tex" Winter
Tex Winter
Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter is a Hall-of-Fame American basketball coach, and innovator of the triangle offense.-Early life:...
, and helped the team advance to the 1958 Final Four
1958 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1958 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 11, 1958, and ended with the championship game on March 22 in...
. After graduating from Kansas State, he coached at Scott City
Scott City, Kansas
Scott City is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,816.-Geography:Scott City is located at...
High School in Kansas for two seasons before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach for Tex Winter from 1962-1967. In five years on Winter's staff, Guthridge helped lead the Wildcats to a 93-43 record, a pair of Big Eight Conference crowns and the 1964 NCAA Final Four
1964 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1964 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 9, 1964, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in Kansas...
. He also was head golf coach for the Wildcats.
Following his stint at Kansas State, from 1967-1997 Guthridge was an assistant at the University of North Carolina under head coach Dean Smith
Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel...
, a fellow Kansas native. From 1972 onward, he was Smith's top assistant. 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
1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
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. Guthridge also handled many day-to-day responsibilities in the program and oversaw UNC's summer basketball camps. While serving as an assistant coach, Guthridge turned down several head coaching opportunities, preferring to remain in Chapel Hill working alongside Smith. On one occasion, he actually accepted the head coaching post at Penn State
Penn State Nittany Lions men's basketball
The Penn State Nittany Lions basketball team is a NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the Pennsylvania State University. They are a member of the Big Ten Conference and play home games at the 15,261-seat Bryce Jordan Center, moving there from boisterous Rec Hall during the 1995–96...
, but stood down from the post a few days later.
Head coaching career
Dean Smith unexpectedly retired as head basketball coach at North Carolina just two months before the start of the 1997-98 season, and Guthridge was named his successor. School officials stressed that Guthridge was not merely a placeholder for Roy WilliamsRoy Williams
-Sports:*Roy Williams , New Zealand athlete*Roy Williams , 1952 Summer Olympics Canadian team member...
, signing him to a five-year contract.
In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
twice, in the 1998 tournament
1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 1998, and ended with the championship game on March 30 at the Alamodome in San Antonio,...
and again in the 2000 tournament
2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 2000, and ended with the championship game on April 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana...
. In 1998, Guthridge inherited a team that had been to the 1997 Final Four
1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1997, and ended with the championship game on March 31 in Indianapolis, Indiana...
the previous year under Coach Smith. With a wealth of returning talent, Guthridge instituted a "six starters" system, whereby the team's top six players, Antawn Jamison
Antawn Jamison
Antawn Cortez Jamison is an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association . He currently plays power forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was a member of the USA National Team for the 2006 FIBA World Championships...
, Vince Carter
Vince Carter
Vincent Lamar "Vince" Carter is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns. He is a shooting guard who can also play small forward....
, Ed Cota
Ed Cota
Eduardo Enrique Cota is an American professional basketball player. The 6' 0", 195-lb. point guard played for Atlas Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski in Poland. He is currently living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina....
, Shammond Williams
Shammond Williams
Shammond Omar Williams is a naturalized Georgian professional basketball player who grew up in the United States . The 6'1" combination point guard/shooting guard is known for his long-range shooting accuracy...
, Ademola Okulaja
Ademola Okulaja
Ademola Okulaja, is a former German professional basketball player. The last team he played for were the Brose Baskets from Germany...
and Makhtar N'Diaye rotated positions in the starting five. Guthridge coached that team to the Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
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
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
. Following the 1997-1998 season, several organizations named him National Coach of the Year and he received the Naismith College Coach of the Year
Naismith College Coach of the Year
Naismith College Coach of the Year Award is an award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to one men's and one women's NCAA Division I collegiate coach each season since 1987...
award.
The next season, the team earned a #3 seed in the 1999 NCAA tournament
1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St....
, but it was upset in the first round by Weber State
Weber State University
Weber State University is a public university located in the city of Ogden in Weber County, Utah, USA. It was founded in 1889 and is a coeducational, publicly supported university offering professional, liberal arts and technical certificates, as well as associate, bachelor's and master's degrees...
– to date, the only time that the Tar Heels have failed to win a game in the tournament since it dropped first-round byes in 1982. In 2000, the team struggled in the regular season, falling out of the polls for the first time since the start of the 1990-91 season. The team finished 18-13 – UNC's worst regular-season record in 11 years. However, the team came alive in the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 2000, and ended with the championship game on April 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana...
. With the 8th seed in the West Region, they upset top-seeded Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in the second round and continued on to the Final Four, where the Tar Heels lost to Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. After the 2000 season, Guthridge retired from coaching.
Record as head coach
See also
- NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coachesNCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coachesThis is a list of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Regional Championships by coach. The current names of the NCAA Tournament regions are the East, Southeast, Southwest, and West...
- NCAA Men's Division I Elite Eight appearances by coachesNCAA Men's Division I Elite Eight appearances by coachesA list of the most NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Elite Eight appearances by coaches since expansion to 64 teams in 1985.-Elite Eight appearances by coach since NCAA expansion to 64 teams in 1985:...