Among great coaches, we all have our favorites. Mine was Dean Smith. Whether it's "Dean Smith Time" (set your watch ahead), shot quality scrimmage scoring, the run and jump, Passing Game, or the miracle comeback (down eight against Duke with seventeen seconds to go), Dean had "it."
He also wrote one of the greatest coaching books ever, Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense.
Here are excerpts from the Showtime Dean Smith documentary.
"There's not a day goes by where I don't try to make him proud of me." - Larry Brown
"The...first thirty minutes of the conversation weren't about basketball..." - Phil Ford on being recruited
27 consecutive seasons of 20 or more wins, 11 Final Fours, 2 National Championships
"He could deliver a message....stronger than a four-letter word."
"Don't they have an out-of-bounds line in the Bronx."
Replaced Frank McGuire at age 30 after a recruiting scandal
During his fourth season, returned from Wake to find Smith hung in effigy. His team responded by winning 8 of 10 games.
Smith's father integrated Kansas High School basketball.
Smith joined the Binkley Baptist Church, a progressive church.
Smith sent Larry Brown to see Charles Scott and told Smith that Scott was better than Rick Mount, using a 1966 scholarship on Scott. "Coach Smith never once talked to me about color."
"The guy that makes the pass...is as important...as the guy that makes the bucket." (Recognizing the passer).
"He used basketball to teach us the importance of saying THANK YOU." - Hubert Davis
"You stand up for your teammate" when they come off. - Mike O'Koren
"The Four Corners could be...brutally boring...and artfully effective."
"Jordan soon learned that impressing his coach would not be that easy."
"I was the film projector carrier." - Michael Jordan
Jordan wasn't on the cover of the 1981 Sports Illustrated Carolina basketball preview.
In his fourth championship game (1982), Carolina faced Georgetown. "Go out an have fun and let it happen."
The game takes a lot out of you. The classic photo after WINNING the National Championship in 1982.
Smith said, "I'm not really that much better of a coach than I was two and a half hours ago."
Almost 97 percent of Smith's players graduated...
The Wainstein report finding Carolina athletes taking bogus classes did not tarnish Smith's teams.
"When you have the best program, most people...won't like you." - Mike Krzyzewski
1989 ACC Final...bitterness...Carolina - Duke...a lot of fouls...Carolina won 77-74. But Duke won consecutive titles in 1991 and 1992.
Carolina won the 1993 Championship against the Fab Five with in the "Timeout Game."
Smith will always be remembered not only for basketball but for social activism as well, including opposition to the death penalty.
His bond remained strong with players after they had graduated. "He would work hard to find jobs for you.'
He played for Phog Allen at Kansas and coached Michael Jordan...
"a bridge connecting old and modern basketball."
Lagniappe. "Study greatness."