Olympic team to a gold medal at the Summer Games. The Hall of Fame coach even changed the game of basketball.
The four corners offense popularized by Smith led to the institution of the shot clock, for example. His concern for people will be the legacy I remember most.
And that concern for people lingered even after his death. Smith's players consistently produce on the floor, in the classroom and in life. John Wooden: "What's more impressive to me about Dean than the record is how good he is as a teacher of basketball. I've always said he's a better teacher of basketball than anyone else. I couldn't begin to teach players the things Dean has taught them. I've admired him because there's more to him than just wins. Bob Knight: "Let me say some things that he won't say.
He's going to say an awful lot about teams and that's the way it should be. But let me put it in perspective. His being able to do that and do it at a single institution, do it through all the years without ever having a problem with any kind of recruiting violation or probation, is a very singular accomplishment in college basketball.
I think it's a great achievement, indicative of a guy who really knows how to coach and has decided from day one that things are going to be done the absolute right way. He's not going to tell you, but just take my word for it. That's a great, great accomplishment for a coach. Roy Williams: "He has a basketball program, he doesn't have a team.
And when you have a program, you're concerned about the kids' entire lives, their entire existence Perhaps his greatest form of praise on a worldwide level came when a group of his peers, including Hall of Fame coaches Henry Iba, Pete Newell and Auerbach, chose Smith to coach the U. Olympic basketball team in the Montreal Games.
The Americans finished a controversial second to the Soviet Union at Munich in Smith was given the challenge of trying to develop a team to regain the gold medal against a group of improving international teams. Smith molded a group of college all-stars into a cohesive unit during a few short weeks in that summer of and led them to the gold medal, sweeping through the Games undefeated and beating Yugoslavia in the championship game.
Emphasizing a tough pressure defense and a fast-breaking, attacking style on offense, the Americans returned to the top of the international game. Just as Smith used his talents to develop that all-star team into an Olympic champion, he has prepared a host of players for successful careers in the NBA.
In 23 of those 31 seasons, Carolina won either the ACC regular-season, tournament or both. Most schools are happy just to win 20 games in a season. Smith would pass lessons learned in Kansas along at North Carolina, adding more than a few of his own. He tutored perhaps the game's greatest player, Jordan, who burst onto the national stage as a freshman on Smith's national title team, and two of basketball's most successful coaches, fellow Hall of Famers Larry Brown and Williams.
The numerical record of Smith's accomplishments is staggering. His only losing season came in his first, and he left the game having surpassed Kentucky 's Adolph Rupp as the winningest men's basketball coach in Division I history. North Carolina won at least 20 games in each of his final 27 seasons and made 23 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament. Dean possessed one of the greatest basketball minds and was a magnificent teacher and tactician.
While building an elite program at North Carolina, he was clearly ahead of his time in dealing with social issues. That was easy for him to do because he was a great man himself.
All of his players benefited greatly from his basketball teachings, but even more from his ability to help mold men of integrity, honor and purpose. Those teachings, specifically, will live forever in those he touched.
Along the way, more than 95 percent of Smith's lettermen graduated from one of the nation's premier public universities. His devotion to a humble, team-first philosophy -- the famed "Carolina Way" -- bred a fierce loyalty among the Tar Heels. Williams was an enormous success at Kansas, able to resist returning to his alma mater in He could not do so three years later when Smith called, and Williams tearfully left the Jayhawks behind after 15 seasons and returned to Chapel Hill.
He gave me a chance but, more importantly, he shared with me his knowledge, which is the greatest gift you can give someone. When I came back to Carolina, the driving force was to make him proud and I still think that today. When North Carolina held a reunion for school's and championship teams in , Smith drew the largest applause from the crowd, even as he stood alongside Jordan and fellow Tar Heel greats Worthy and Phil Ford.
During the ceremony, Jordan put his arm around Smith and kissed him on the head. Smith remained in the background after his retirement, keeping an office at the Dean E.
Smith Center -- the arena that opened while he was still coaching in He often consulted North Carolina players as they considered whether to leave school early for the NBA and would occasionally watch Williams direct practice and take notes.
He was hesitant to give them to his former assistant, fearful of suggesting something that might not work. Though he never ran for office, Smith helped shape political and social views in North Carolina as coach of the state's beloved Tar Heels. We are going to determine who wins this game. In contrast, the Tar Heels "played with prepossessing calm, " noted Sports Illustrated. Smith was intensely loyal to his players, visiting them in the hospital and keeping in touch with them after they graduated.
After Worthy turned pro and was arrested for soliciting a prostitute, Smith called and told him, "We're all human. I know you're a great man. Just deal with it as a man. Things done on a day-to-day basis develop that kind of relationship. Smith was such a straight arrow that he always wore a tie even in practice.
He forbade his players to have facial hair. He and his wife Linnea campaigned to ban alcohol advertising at college sports events. Smith always made academics paramount. His players had a 97 percent graduation rate. To the end of his career, he remained firmly opposed to freshman eligibility for high-profile collegiate sports. If freshmen were ineligible, he told Wolff, "colleges would attract young men who are serious about school as well as athletics, because those who want to go pro after one season wouldn't have the patience to wait around.
Although he was one of the best paid collegiate coaches, Smith criticized coaches' salaries as exorbitant. He insisted that money donated by shoe-company sponsors to the basketball program be spread evenly to all sports programs, men's and women's, at the university.
He was also intensely private. Only over his protests was North Carolina's new basketball arena named the Dean E. Smith Center in He "was the one guy who didn't buy into the myth that had been created around him, " said sportswriter S. Smith's players had to talk him out of retiring near the end of the season.
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