Dean Smith

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Dean Smith

Dean Smith
Date of birth	February 28, 1931
Place of birth	Emporia, Kansas
Sport	Basketball
College	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Title	Head coach
Overall Record	879-254
Awards	National Coach of the Year (1977, 1979, 1982, 1993)
Championships   won	Two (1982, 1993)
School as a player
1949-53	University of Kansas
Schools as a coach
1953-1958 1958-1997	United States Air Force Academy University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball (Coach)
Gold	1976 Montreal	United States

Dean Edwards Smith (born February 28, 1931) is a retired head coach of men’s college basketball.

Originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith has been called a “coaching legend” by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”) for thirty-six years.

Smith coached UNC from 1961 to 1997 and finished his career with a record of 879 wins, which is currently the record for most victories by any NCAA Division I men's basketball coach.^[1] Smith has the 9th highest winning percentage of any men’s college basketball coach with a .776 winning percentage.^[1] During his time as head coach of UNC, UNC won two national titles and appeared in 11 Final Fours.^[2] Smith is also known for running a clean program and having a high graduation rate for his players with 96.6% players going on to graduate.^[3][4]

Many of the players and coaches that Smith worked with at UNC went on to achieve notable success in basketball. These include Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Phil Ford, Jerry Stackhouse, Roy Williams, Larry Brown, George Karl, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, Antawn Jamison, and Rasheed Wallace.

Smith was born into a coaching family; his father was the head coach of the local high school basketball team. Smith grew up playing basketball and went on to play basketball at the University of Kansas under the legendary Phog Allen. After graduating, Smith served as assistant head coach at Kansas and then went on to head coaching jobs at United States Air Force and then UNC. While at UNC, Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting UNC’s first black scholarship player Charlie Scott and pushing for equal treatment for blacks by local businesses.^[5]

Smith retired as head coach from UNC in 1997 saying that he was not able to give the team the same level of enthusiasm that he had had given it for years. Since retirement, Smith has used his influence to helped out in various charitable ventures and political activities.

Contents 1 Background 2 Years at North Carolina 3 Retirement 4 Coaching style 5 Accomplishments & Recognition 5.1 Accomplishments 5.2 Recognition 6 Political activities 7 Coaching tree 8 Trivia 9 Record of Coaching at North Carolina 10 References 11 Further reading 12 See also 13 External links

[edit] Background

Smith was born in Emporia, Kansas on February 28, 1931.^[6][7] Both of his parents were public school teachers and his father, Alfred, also coached high school basketball.^[6] While at Topeka High School Smith lettered in basketball all four years and was named all-state in baskteball as a senior.^[6][8] Smith interest in sports was not limited only to basketball. Smith also played quarterback for his high school football team and catcher for the high school baseball team.^[8]

After graduating from high school, Smith attended the University of Kansas on an academic scholarship and majored in math.^[9][8] While at Kansas, Smith continued his interest in sports by playing varsity basketball, varsity baseball, and freshman football. During his time on the varsity basketball team, Kansas won the national championship in 1952 and finished second in 1953.^[8][9] Smith's basketball coach during his time at Kansas was the legendary Forrest "Phog" Allen, who in turn was coached in college basketball by its inventor, James Naismith.^[9] After graduation, Smith served as assistant coach at Kansas in the 1953-54 season.^[10]

Smith next served a stint in the United States Air Force in Germany, and then worked at the United States Air Force Academy as head coach of its baseball and golf teams.^[10] In 1958, North Carolina coach Frank McGuire asked Smith to join his staff as an assistant coach.^[10] Smith served under McGuire for three years until 1961, when McGuire was forced to resign by Chancellor William Aycock in the wake of recruiting scandals.^[10] Aycock asked Smith, then 30 years old, to become the new head coach.^[10]

[edit] Years at North Carolina

Smith's first years as head coach were difficult. In his first season as head coach, the ACC had cancelled the Dixie Classic, an annual basketball tournament in North Carolina, because of a national point shaving scandal that included four N.C. State players (Don Gallagher, Stan Niewierowski, Anton Muehlbauer and Terry Litchfield) and one UNC player (Lou Brown).^[11] As a result of the scandal, both N.C. State and UNC de-emphasized basketball by cutting their regular-season schedules. In Smith's first season from 1961-62, UNC played only 17 games and went 8-9.^[10][12] As it turned out, this would be the only losing season he would ever suffer. In 1965, he was famously burned in effigy on the university campus after a disappointing loss to Wake Forest.^[10] After that game, his team ended up winning nine of the last eleven games.^[13] After a slow beginning, Smith turned the program into a consistent success. After the 1966 season, Smith would never finish lower than third in the ACC.^[14] His first major successes came in the late 1960s, when his teams won three consecutive regular-season and tournament championships in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and went to three straight Final Fours.

It took Smith seven trips to the Final Four before winning his first national title, and then it took him nine more years to return, and two more to get another national championship.

[edit] Retirement

Smith announced his retirement on October 8, 1997. He had said that if he ever felt he could not give his team the same enthusiasm he had given it for years, he would retire.^[15] His announcement came as a shocker. Smith had been the only coach many UNC fans had ever known. Bill Guthridge, his assistant for 30 years, succeeded him as head coach.

Even in retirement, some believe that Smith still has a large influence on the current North Carolina basketball program. For example, in 2003 Smith talked to Roy Williams regarding his decision about whether or not to replace a struggling Matt Doherty as head coach.^[16] Williams had previously declined the head coaching position three years earlier when Guthridge retired.^[17]

[edit] Coaching style

Smith-coached teams varied in style, depending on the players Smith had available. But they generally featured a fast-break style, a half-court offense that emphasized the passing game, and an aggressive trapping defense that produced turnovers and easy baskets. His teams always shot the ball well. From 1970 until his retirement, North Carolina shot over 50 percent from the floor all but four years.

Smith is credited with creating or popularizing the following basketball techniques: the "tired signal," in which a player would use a hand signal (originally a raised fist) to indicate that he needed to come out for a rest^[18][19]; huddling at the free throw line before a foul shot^[18][19]; encouraging players who scored a basket to point a finger at the teammate who passed them the ball, in honor of the passer's selflessness^[18][19]; instituting a variety of defensive sets in one game^[18][20]; having the point guard call out the defense set for the team ^[18][21]; and creating a number of defensive sets, including the point zone, the run-and-jump, and double-teaming the screen-and-roll.^[8].

But stategically, Smith's is mostly associated with his implemenation of the four corners offense, a strategy for stalling with a lead near the end of the game. Smith's teams executed the four corners set so effectively that in 1985, the NCAA instituted a shot clock to speed up play and minimize ball-control offense.^[22][8] Although fellow Kansas alum John McClendon actually invented the four corners offense, Smith is better known for utilizing it in games.^[18]

Smith also instituted the practice of starting all his team's seniors on the last home game of the season ("Senior Day") as a way of honoring the contributions of the subs as well as the stars.^[23] In one season when the team included six seniors, he opted to put all six on the floor at the beginning of the game – drawing a technical foul – rather than leave one of them out.^[24].

Smith is also the author of Basketball: Multiple Offenses and Defense, which is the best-selling technical basketball book in history.^[2]

[edit] Accomplishments & Recognition

[edit] Accomplishments

Among the accomplishments of Smith:

• 879 wins in 36 years of coaching, the most of any coach in men's college basketball history.^[25] Adolph Rupp's 876 wins came after 41 years of coaching.^[3]
• 77.6% winning percentage, which puts him 9th on highest winning percentage.^[1]
• Fourth in coaching the most colleges games with 1,133.^[1]
• Most Division I 20-win seasons, with 27 consecutive 20-win seasons from 1970-1997^[3] and 30 20-win seasons total.^[1]
• 22 seasons with at least 25 wins
• 35 consecutive seasons with a 50% or better record.^[3]
• Two national championships (1982, 1993)
• 11 Final Fours (second all-time to John Wooden's 12).^[3]
• 17 regular-season ACC titles, plus 33 straight years finishing in the conference's top three and 20 years in the top two
• 13 ACC tournament titles
• 27 NCAA tournament appearances, including 23 consecutive.^[3]
• 96.6% graduation rate among players.^[3][26]
• Recruited 26 All-Americans to play at North Carolina under him.^[3]
• His players were often successful in the NBA. Five of Smith's players have been Rookie of the Year in either the NBA or ABA. Among Smith's most successful players in the NBA are Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Phil Ford, Bob McAdoo, Billy Cunningham, Kenny Smith, Walter Davis, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace. Smith coached 25 NBA first round draft picks.^[3]
• In 1976, Smith coached the United States team to a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. Smith was selected after the United States' controversial second-place finish at the 1972 games.

[edit] Recognition

Smith received a number of personal honors during his coaching career. He was named the National Coach of the Year four times (1977, 1979, 1982, 1993) and ACC Coach of the Year eight times (1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1988, 1993). Smith was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on May 2, 1983, two years after being enshrined in the North Carolina Hall of Fame.

Smith was the first recipient of the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement, given by the University of North Carolina Committee on Teaching Awards for "a broader range of teaching beyond the classroom." He has also been awarded honorary doctorates by Eastern University and Catawba College.

The basketball arena at UNC, the Dean Smith Center, was named for Smith. It is also widely referred to as the "Dean Dome". In 1997, upon his retirement, Smith was named Sportsman of the Year by the magazine Sports Illustrated. ESPN named Smith one of the five all-time greatest American coaches of any sport.

In 1998 he won the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, presented at the annual ESPY Awards hosted by ESPN.^[27]

On November 17, 2006, Smith was recognized for his impact on college basketball as a member of the founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was one of five, along with Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, John Wooden and Dr. James Naismith, selected to represent the inaugural class^[28].

[edit] Political activities

Smith was one of the most prominent liberals in a traditionally conservative state. Politically, he is best known for promoting desegregation. In 1964, Smith joined a local pastor and a black UNC theology student to integrate The Pines, a Chapel Hill restaurant. He also integrated the Tar Heels basketball team by recruiting Charlie Scott as the university's first black scholarship athlete.^[29] In 1965, Smith helped Howard Lee, a black graduate student at UNC, purchase a home in an all-white neighborhood.^[8]

He opposed the Vietnam War and, in the early 1980s, famously recorded radio spots to promote a freeze on nuclear weapons. He has been a prominent opponent of the death penalty. In 1998, he appeared at a clemency hearing for a death-row inmate and pointed at then-Governor Jim Hunt: "You're a murderer. And I'm a murderer. The death penalty makes us all murderers." As head coach, he periodically held UNC basketball practices in North Carolina prisons.^[30]

While coach, he was recruited by some in the Democratic Party to run for the United States Senate against incumbent Jesse Helms. He declined. But in retirement, he has continued to speak out on issues such as the war in Iraq and gay rights.^[31][30]

Although a staunch Democrat, Smith did support one of his former players, Republican Richard Vinroot, for governor of North Carolina in 2000.^[32][33]

In 2006, Smith became the spokesperson for Devout Democrats, an inter-faith, grassroots political action committee designed to show why religious Americans vote for Democrats. Smith was featured in an ad that is running in newspapers across North Carolina and was featured in an Associated Press article. ^[34]

[edit] Coaching tree

One hallmark of Smith's tenure as coach was the concept of the "Carolina Family," the idea that anyone associated with the program was entitled to the support of others. Many of his former players and assistant coaches have followed Smith into the coaching profession.

• Roy Williams, former KU coach and current UNC coach
• Bill Guthridge, Smith's successor at UNC
• Matt Doherty, a former Smith player and former UNC coach who now coaches at Southern Methodist University
• George Karl, a point guard under Smith, currently coach of the Denver Nuggets
• Larry Brown, a former Smith player, most recently coach of the New York Knicks, winner of championships in both the NBA (Detroit Pistons) and college (Kansas)
• Eddie Fogler, former National Coach of the Year at Vanderbilt
• Billy Cunningham, coach of the 1983 NBA champion Philadelphia 76ers
• Jeff Lebo, coach at Auburn
• Buzz Peterson, coach at Coastal Carolina
• Mitch Kupchak, general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers
• Tony Shaver, reserve point guard under Smith, now head coach at William & Mary
• Terry Truax, former Smith assistant and former head coach at Towson University
• Randy Wiel, former Smith player and former head coach at Middle Tennessee State and the University of North Carolina at Asheville

[edit] Trivia

• In 1991, Smith was ejected from a Final Four game after receiving two technical fouls.^[35][36]
• Smith is one of only three coaches to have won a gold medal, an NIT championship and an NCAA championship.^[3]
• Smith is one of only two people that have both played on and coached a winning NCAA championship basketball team.^[3] The other is Bobby Knight.
• Smith was devastated after North Carolina beat Kansas in the 1957 triple overtime NCAA championship game. Smith had coached some of the Kansas team when they were freshmen and he had not yet taken the job at North Carolina.^[37]
• Smith's father, Alfred, also coached basketball and coached the Emporia High Spartans to the 1934 state title in Kansas with the first black basketball player in Kansas tournament history.^[6]

[edit] Record of Coaching at North Carolina

Season	Overall Record	ACC Record	Postseason
1961-62	8-9	7-7	ACC tournament first round
1962-63	15-6	10-4	ACC tournament semifinal
1963-64	12-12	6-8	ACC tournament semifinal
1964-65	15-9	10-4	ACC tournament first round
1966-67	26-6	12-2	NCAA Final Four
1967-68	28-4	12-2	NCAA runner-up
1968-69	27-5	12-2	NCAA Final Four
1969-70	18-9	9-5	NIT first round
1970-71	26-6	11-3	NIT champion
1971-72	26-5	9-3	NCAA Final Four
1972-73	25-8	8-4	NIT semifinal
1973-74	22-6	9-3	NIT first round
1974-75	23-8	8-4	NCAA Sweet 16
1975-76	25-4	11-1	NCAA first round
1976-77	28-5	9-3	NCAA runner-up
1977-78	23-8	9-3	NCAA first round
1978-79	23-6	9-3	NCAA first round
1979-80	21-8	9-5	NCAA first round
1980-81	29-8	10-4	NCAA runner-up
1981-82	32-2	12-2	NCAA champion
1982-83	28-8	12-2	NCAA Elite Eight
1983-84	28-3	14-0	NCAA Sweet 16
1984-85	27-9	9-5	NCAA Elite Eight
1985-86	28-6	10-4	NCAA Sweet 16
1986-87	32-4	14-0	NCAA Elite Eight
1987-88	27-7	11-3	NCAA Elite Eight
1988-89	29-8	9-5	NCAA Sweet 16
1989-90	21-13	8-6	NCAA Sweet 16
1990-91	29-6	10-4	NCAA Final Four
1991-92	23-10	9-7	NCAA Sweet 16
1992-93	34-4	14-2	NCAA champion
1993-94	28-7	11-5	NCAA second round
1994-95	28-6	12-4	NCAA Final Four
1995-96	21-11	10-6	NCAA second round
1996-97	28-7	11-5	NCAA Final Four
All seasons	879-254	364-136
Source: Sports Illustrated (1997)[38] and Detroit News.[39]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Dean Smith, John Kilgo, Sally Jenkins: A Coach’s Life. My 40 years in college basketball. New York 2002, ISBN 0375758801
• Dean Smith, Gerald D. Bell, John Kilgo, Roy Williams: The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching, ISBN 0143034642
• Dean Smith: Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense, ISBN 0205291198
• David Scott: Quotable Dean Smith: Words of Insight, Inspiration, and Intense Preparation by and about Dean Smith, the Dean of College Basketball Coaches., ISBN 193124927X
• Art Chansky: Dean's Domain: The Inside Story of Dean Smith and His College Basketball Empire, ISBN 1563525402
• Art Chansky: The Dean's List: A Celebration of Tar Heel Basketball and Dean Smith, ISBN 0446520071
• Ken Rosenthal Dean Smith: A Tribute, ISBN 1582610037

[edit] See also

• North Carolina Tar Heels
• UNC-Duke rivalry

[edit] External links

• 30 minute video interview with Dean Smith by UNCTV
• CNNSI archive movie on news coverage of retirement (.mov)

Preceded by: Frank McGuire

UNC men's basketball head coach 1961–1997

Succeeded by: Bill Guthridge

North Carolina Tar Heels Head Basketball Coaches
Cartmell • Doak • Peacock • Boye • Shepard • McDonald • Sanborn • Ashmore• Shepard• Skidmore • Lange • Carnevale • Scott • McGuire • Smith • Guthridge • Doherty • Williams