Tar Heel Sports Network color analyst Eric Montross stopped by The David Glenn Show on Thursday to talk about the life of former UNC basketball coach Bill Guthridge. The 7-foot Montross played for North Carolina from 1990-94, during some of Guthridge’s final years as an assistant.
“Every time I hear his name, particularly now after his passing, I just smile,” Montross said. “He was so compassionate. He was just this incredible motivator. He was a determined teacher, and he wanted so much to enable his players with the teaching.”
Even though he wasn’t a center during his playing days, Guthridge built a reputation for developing elite post players. Montross, who was the ninth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, says his old coach deserves a lot of credit.
“That was one of the incredible qualities of Coach Guthridge,” Montross said of Guthridge’s ability to coach big men. “He was able to not only understand the game from the perspective of the post players, but he was able to explain it and teach it, and then we as players saw validation not just in practice, but also in games.”
Montross also discussed Guthridge’s sense of humor and told stories of the rigorous workouts Guthridge would run big men through before practice. Click below to hear the full interview: