Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge says he regrets not talking to current coach Roy Williams for three years after Williams first turned down the Tar Heels job, in 2000.

“When I retired, I had hoped that he would come back to coach, and when he didn’t, I should have handled it better,’’ Guthridge said Monday in a phone interview. “I should have communicated with him. I’m glad he took the job the second time around [in 2003] … but if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it differently.”