I will never forget this day. It is still one of the saddest days of my life. Dean, you have been my hero since I was very young. He is a once in a lifetime coach and Im damn proud to be a TarHeel because of him. The Carolina Way baby!
spent literally the entire speech thanking people, when most people would reflect on records and such.. He cared about the PEOPLE he mentored, not the numbers he achieved. Get your priorities straight.
People who say that Dean Smith wasn't a great coach because he only won two national championships don't know what the hell they're talking about. U know how hard it is to win a NCAA title? Do u know how much luck is involved no matter how good ur team is? Do u know how many great coaches never won one? My two cents. RIP Dean Smith.
he also influenced the way the game was played ex: The "tired signal", the scorer pointing to the assist man, four corners, PG calling out the defensive plays, MULTIPLE new defensive stratagies, the "huddling up at the FreeThrow line". He is renowned for his psychological warfare with the other team/coaches
Dean Smith will be missed. He was one of the great and honest coaches of our time. His players gave him tall they had. He also had one of the highest rates for players to graduate before signing. Yes, there were a few. It is so difficult to hold back the tears and believe that he is gone. No coach today and no coach in the future will ever meet the standards he gave to his players. HE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTON AND NEVER BE MISSED by his players, his staff, the students, his fans, and by all he inspired. BONNIEBELL81
coach broke the color barrier in chapel hill! k a great coach no doubt! but coach smith was the best of all time in not just the game but what he did outside the lines!
@pepperkorn3 Thank you! Right on! Look at the players he coached that went on to win! Jordan, Perkins, Worthy, Kenny the jet Smith, J.R. Reid, Jamison, Vince Carter, Rick Fox, omg, the list goes on and on. How about coaches? Billy Cunningham coached the 1983 Sixers, Roy Williams, 400 wins at Kansas, near 700, 2 NCAA titles, Larry Brown-NCAA title, 1,000 NBA wins, NBA title, George Karl-1,000 NBA titles. No one holds a candle to Dean Smith. Not to mention what he did for race relations....
in reply to Cal Martin...here is a book one of his player's wrote: The 12 Leadership Principles of Dean Smith (by David Chadwick). David Chadwick is now a Pastor of a mega church in Charlotte.
People keep talking about how much talent he had to work with--why did all that talent choose UNC in the first place? Because Dean Smith made UNC a household name, a legendary brand. He is the reason for the talent being there to begin with. The UNC name didn't recruit itself like it does now before Dean arrived on campus.
@bamatide13 Dean Smith had class. He didn't go out and pay any of his players, he made sure they were good kids and made damn sure they graduated. That's what separated him from Wooden (and Bryant, I guess, even though he coached a different sport). Sure the facts don't lie, but it's what the facts don't tell that really tells the truth (dammit, the sounded cheesy. :D). So yeah, before I get too sappy, Dean Smith was the most respected man in basketball because he had class.
Duke fans, as much as I dislike them, respect Coach Smith. NC State fans respect no one, and no one respects them back. And the comments by people like Richard Stroker are why we have no respect for them. I'm almost positive he's a State fan. This is what they do. Despicable.
I just wish Dean would have planned it out ahead of time with Roy Williams to become his successor. Bill Guthridge was a good man, but not the right age or choice to be the succeeding coach.
@@noahfernandes7445 I thought it was time for him to retire, so I wasn't as shocked as when Coach Smith retired. I was sadder than I thought I would be, though.
It is amazing that his man couldn't win more big games. Stevie Wonder and Ronnie Millsap could have won 10 National Championships with the talent he had. He won alot of games with superior talent but under achieved in the championship department. He was no John Wooden or Bear Bryant though. He seems to be a good guy and mentor
@bamatide13 UCLA teams were bought - Fact. John Wooden 12 final fours, Dean Smith 11 final fours - Fact. Dean 12 sweet 16's in a row (most ever) - Fact. Bob Knight had only 5 final fours - Fact. Dean Smith olympic gold - Fact. Higher grad rate that both of these coaches. Bob Knight once national coach of the yr, Dean 4 times - Fact. Bear Bryant was a damn crook just like the university of alabama - and thats a damn fact. Dean 80% win pct, ties wooden, beats hell out of knight. You fail.
He's dead folks ! That's right the basketball god is dead. At the age of 83 he died Saturday February 7th 2015. He had been sick. It's O-V-E-R no time outs left. The clock has ran out, the nets have been cut down. The lights have been turned off.
sure he could have cut corners and won ten titles, but chose to not always win over cheating. he graduated over 95 pct of players and not all of them excelled in hoops. many are now coaches, bankers, businessmen, professors, etc, etc. the man and our program have nothing to be ashamed of. go throw you rocks at another target you troll.
The greatest NCAA coach ever... No this is about Dean Smith not John Wooden. Smith is the most overrated coach in the history of sports. Only 2 titles with all that talent. How could anyone possibly say that he was the best coach ever. The goal of a coach is to win, and Smith didn't get it done. And don't bother with the regular season records, means nothing with all that talent.
