A Dean Smith Retrospective - SCACCHoops.com

A Dean Smith Retrospective

by WebMaster

Posted: 2/25/2015 2:02:52 PM


Guest Blogger James Franklin shares his thoughts on Dean Smith.

College basketball lost in icon in coaching circles earlier this month, as Dean Smith passed away at age 83. In a way, he was more than just a coaching legend that helped the North Carolina Tar Heels win 2 national championships. He is a link to the beginning of the game, and that is something people will always remember.

When Smith was a player at the University of Kansas, his head coach was Phog Allen. Known as one of the best coaches of all time, Allen was coached by the inventor of the game of basketball, James Naismith. That means Smith was one of the few people connected so closely to the early beginnings of the sport.

After serving as an assistant Akkad says, Air Force and North Carolina, Dean Smith took over as head coach for the Tar Heels in 1961. He would remain the head coach until 1997, making him one of the longest tenured college basketball coaches of all time. During that era, he was able to make 11 Final Fours, win 13 ACC tournament championships an 17 regular season ACC championships. The four-time national Coach of the year was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame way back in the 1980s.

With so much success on the court, some people forget that he was also very successful at making an impact in other ways. He was always focused on making sure he had student-athletes willing to put work in while at school. With a 96.6% graduation rate and a clean program during his entire tenure, he was well respected for doing things the right way.

The Tar Heels are currently coached by Roy Williams, a man who played junior varsity in the program coached by Smith. The legacy of Dean Smith will continue to carry on, as one of his pupils leads the program that plays their games at the Dean E. Smith Center.

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