The N&O published an excerpt from Roy Williams’ recently released autobiography, “Hard Work, A Life On and Off The Court” that details how the Roy ultimately came to the decision to stay at Kansas in 2000. Nothing really surprising to that part of the story. It is known that Roy was very torn between both schools and at the end of the day he wanted to follow through on a promise he made to Nick Collison to coach him throughout his Kansas career. The interesting detail to the story has to do with the time period beginning in April, 1997 until Roy was offered the job after Bill Guthridge’s retirement.
In April 1997 Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge, Coach Fogler, and I met in Fort Myers, Florida, for a two-day golf vacation. During that trip, Coach Smith brought up the idea that he was thinking of retiring before the start of the next season. The subject of me possibly replacing him came up. “I can’t tell you if I would take the job, because I don’t know what I’d tell my players,” I said. “Somebody tell me what I would tell my players.”
Coach Smith retired in October. It was a sad day for college basketball and for me, because the man I saw as the role model for our entire sport was walking away. By that time, Coach Guthridge had decided to be his successor, but in my mind Coach Guthridge was only going to coach North Carolina for one season. He and I talked regularly during his first year, and he wavered about whether he wanted to coach UNC for a second season in 1999. He decided to come back, and then we spent another season talking periodically about whether he would coach a third. Whenever the subject of who would take his place came up, I told Coach Guthridge that I just didn’t know what I would do if faced with that possibility. Those conversations drove me crazy because I was constantly enduring these heart-wrenching thoughts about having to make a choice between the two schools I dearly loved, Kansas and North Carolina. So when Coach Guthridge decided to remain at UNC for a third season in 2000, I called Coach Smith and told him that I was never going to even think about the North Carolina job again until it was actually open.
What I find compelling here is the small spark which set off a six year long wildfire in UNC basketball. That spark was the decision by Dean Smith to announce his retirement in October as opposed to April. Once it was slated to go down that way, there was no way Roy was leaving Kansas right before the start of basketball practice which left you with only one alternative and that was Guthridge. Which was fine. Dean had his reasons for handling it that way. He always said he never wanted to make the decision at the end of the season since that is when you are most exhausted. Dean also wanted to leave a loaded roster in place and if he announces after the season, the chances players leave for the NBA increases. In my mind there is no faulting Dean’s initial logic on the transition from his tenure to Guthridge. The real issue crops up with how long Guthridge ended up staying. Roy says he thought it would be one year which was a safe bet. The UNC team was a preseason Final Four favorite and there was a great chance Guthridge could win a national title with them, then ride off into the sunset. That did not happen but all throughout that year Roy stayed in contact with Guthridge trying to gauge whether the UNC job would be open. I am guessing the way UNC lost in the 1998 Final Four left a bad taste in Guthridge’s mouth so he came back for 1999 and then 2000 all the while keeping Roy on a string as to when the job might open up. It becomes clear after Guthridge signs up for a 3rd season that Roy is fed up waiting on the job to open up so he tells Dean that he will not think about it until something actually happens.
When the job does finally open in 2000, various dominoes have fallen at Kansas including Roy bringing in a solid recruiting class which he has often cited as the one that restored his faith(so to speak) in college basketball. Roy had reached a point where he was not happy with how recruiting worked and even considered a jump to the NBA. Then he brought in the class which included Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison including a promise to coach Collison to the conclusion of his college career. Once that was set into motion, getting Roy out of Kansas became a tougher proposition or rather tougher than it may have been had Guthridge coached one season then retired.
This information also sheds new light on why Guthridge was upset with Roy after he turned down the UNC job the first time. Due to the constant contact between Roy and Guthridge, it is easy to see why the Guthridge assumed Roy would come in as soon as the former retired. However, Roy apparently became annoyed with what can only be described as Guthridge’s dawdling. I have always thought and this seems to confirm it that had Roy been tapped as soon as Dean retired or after only one season of Guthridge heading the program, he would have left Kansas for Chapel Hill. However because Guthridge strung out his tenure and the conditions on the ground in Lawrence changed in terms of Roy’s relationship to specific players, when the job did open up, it was no longer a slam dunk. In fact it came down to a perfect tie between the two jobs and Roy broke the tie by acting out of loyalty, which was exactly what Dean had taught him to do.
The bottom line is it simply took six years longer than it probably should have to get Roy to Chapel Hill and doing the tremendous things he has done in the past five seasons. It all worked out in the end but the process we all went through to reach it is fascinating nonetheless.
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I don’t even want to think about what could have been if Gut had left after one year and Roy had come back. Wait, I just did. Man that sucks…
Interesting article, really makes me want to go buy the book now. It also makes things a lot clearer. I, like many, expected Roy to take the reins when Dean retired. Then when Guthridge took over I figured ok, Dean is rewarding him for his many years of service knowing that Gut would never get a head coaching job anywhere. Gut would coach a year, two at the most and retire. Whatever happened during his tenure happens and then we have a hall of fame coach waiting in the wings to take over. When Roy turned us down I was shocked. Hearing all this now it makes perfect sense. It also shows me that we have exactly what we thought we were getting in Roy Williams; one of the greatest coaches of all time that is a man of his word.
Yeah we can look back and say “what if”. But we never know what might have happened along the way either. For all my disappointment in 2000 I wouldn’t change a thing.
“I don’t even want to think about what could have been if Gut had left after one year and Roy had come back.”
Jason (call me Jay) Williams most likely ends up at Carolina instead of Duke, probably an additional Carolina Natty, and the 8 win season never happens.
But maybe 2005 and 2009, don’t happen either. All in all Carolina Basketball has turned out pretty well, even if Roy showed up in Chapel Hill 5 years after the initial plan.
All this really does is add more fuel to the fire that Gutheridge was the main culprit for running the North Carolina basketball program into the crapper.
Must…keep…negative…Guthridge…comment…to…myself!
How does that saying go? “We plan. God laughs.” Something like that.
scl11,
give the man a break. i was in school throughout his tenure and i endured the doh era. i’m still waiting for my refund on my athletics fee i had to pay as part of student fees. but ultimately, gut was done in by the circumstances of everyone knowing that he was just a temp. so many years of loyal service to unc. i give him a pass (i also give doh a pass… A for effort). and that’s much easier done after 2 national championships.
Hopefully when Roy Williams retires many years from now, he will do so remembering this sequence of events. But it is bound to be a huge project to find a suitable successor. So enjoy it while you can sportsfans.
“I don’t even want to think about what could have been if Gut had left after one year and Roy had come back. Wait, I just did. Man that sucks…”
The proper statement should be, “…if Gut had left after one year and IF Roy had come back…”
No matter what is said in the book, no one can take it as a certainty that Roy would have comeback, just as it wasn’t a certainty after the 2000 season.
Maybe Roy doesn’t come back.
Maybe, instead of Doh, who would have been a year younger, UNC went outside of the family and hired Calipari, who had just been fired by the Nets.
Maybe UNC starts a 4-5 year run with great players, only to have the programs reputation destroyed, because, well, that is what Calipari does.
Maybes are worthless. The Doh years happened and quite frankly, I think that is a good thing. The success of the last 5 years has been far more enjoyable with that as a backdrop.
This is old news to anyone who read “Blue Blood” back in 2005. Chansky covers Roy’s 2000 decision in great detail.
I guess all things happen for a reason. As much as it sucked watching the Heels fall apart during the 8-20 debacle, it did make me appreciate what we have as fans of UNC basketball. It also showed me how it must feel to be a fan of certain other schools, and boy does that suck even more.
“give the man a break”
Why? As I mentioned in my post all of this has worked out for the best when we look back on it with 20/20 hindsight. But my point was Gut was the main reason for the debacle that became Carolina’s program in the early part of this decade because for some reason (ego, $, etc.) Gut held onto the reigns too long and expected Roy to bail him out in the end. That is why I have always contended that Guthridge not Doherthy was the driving factor of the failures from 2001 to 2003.
I respect Guthridge’s loyalty to Dean Smith and Carolina basketball for his many years as an assistant coach, but he was an absolute failure as a head coach and I just don’t get why it keeps getting shoved on the fan base that we should hold him in the same light as Dean, Roy, and Mcquire. Guthridge choked away a title in 1998 with his “6 starter” rotations, and then he emptied the cupboard with poor recruiting decisions and an inability to lure the elite talent to Chapel Hill do to everyone knowing he was a short-term solution. In the end Guthridge did what was best for him, instead of what was best for the Carolina program and expected Roy to save the day and clean up his mess once he was done playing Head Coach; which is disappointing considering it was out of character when in comparison to his previous tenor as an assistant coach.
Do we know for certain all the motivations behind all that happened? Is there any room for possibility that gut didn’t act entirely out of self interest but what he believed was best solution for the circumstances presented?
I think there is room. As long as there is, I’m not throwing the guy under the bus.