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Guthridge to step down UNC schedules Friday 'major news conference'
Posted: Thursday June 29, 2000 11:43 PM
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (CNNSI.com) -- North Carolina has scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon where coach Bill Guthridge will step down, sources within the university have confirmed. The decision by Guthridge, 62, was not a health-related issue, the sources said. He has decided he no longer has the energy to perform the chores associated with being head coach, much like predecessor Dean Smith in 1997. Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the Final Four twice after taking over from Smith three years ago after 30 years as an assistant. Heading into what would have been the fourth year of a five-year contract, he had compiled an 80-28 record, averaging more than 26 wins a season, but had not received a contract extension. The school will wait some time to announce a new coach, the sources said. He will most likely be someone with connections to UNC and to Smith, with former Smith assistant and Kansas head coach Roy Williams the first name on the list. Guthridge said just a few weeks ago that he planned to stay on another five or six years. "I'm still planning on going five or six more years, as long as I enjoy it and think I'm doing a good job and keeping the program where it belongs," Guthridge said in a recent interview.
Some fans criticized Guthridge this past season when the Tar Heels went through a four-game skid in January and entered the postseason with 13 losses. The inconsistent season came on the heels of a first-round NCAA tournament exit in 1999. UNC athletic director Dick Baddour has refused to comment directly on Guthridge's contract, saying the school's board of trustees discourages him from talking publicly about such personnel issues. Baddour has said he's proud of the job Guthridge has done following Smith, which he admits was not an easy task. While Williams is the favorite, other names likely to come up for one of college basketball's most prestigious job are: NBA coaches and UNC alums George Karl and Larry Brown, and 1980s Tar Heels Matt Doherty, now the coach at Notre Dame, and Buzz Peterson, who recently took over at Tulsa. Longtime assistant Phil Ford likely cost himself a shot at a promotion following his much-publicized DUI arrests. Most of the team that lost 71-59 to Florida in the Final Four will return next season. The biggest loss will be point guard Ed Cota, but he will be replaced by either highly regarded recruit Adam Boone or Ronald Curry, the Tar Heels' starting quarterback who is recovering from an Achilles' tendon injury. Seven-footer Brendan Haywood will be back in the middle and Joseph Forte, one of the most impressive freshmen in school history, will be back as the shooting guard. Among the newcomers will be top 1999 recruit Jason Parker, who is expected to be academically eligible, and 7-6 Neil Fingleton, a native of England who played his high school basketball in Worcester, Mass. CNNSI.com ACC Insider Tim Peeler, of the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record, and the Associated Press, contributed to this report.
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