Dean Smith (1) (1931–2015)

Every chapter in the book features an historical snippet or principle from Smith (read by Smith himself), then a recollection by a former player, and then an application of the principle to business by a guy with a doctorate in business administration.

Up until now, I’ve always hated Carolina basketball and Dean Smith. I disliked that he broke Adolph Rupp’s all-time winning record. I thought he was overrated, all of those years but only 2 NCAA Championships to his name. My parents told me the stories of how he would beat the old UK teams with his “4-corners” offense. “Stall ball,” and how all of Memorial Coliseum would boo him for just dribbling out the clock.

Perhaps I’d also always been a little jealous of Carolina. They have much a much more star-studded alumni list than Kentucky…

1995 was the most crucial year in my memory. Rasheed Wallace threw Andre Riddick against a goal post, and all the world remembers is the choke hold that Riddick put on Wallace a couple plays later (Carolina came back and won an ugly game in the 2nd half). From what I understood, Smith had told the players to play rough, because Kentucky was intimidated by rough play. “Dirty,” I thought.

What I didn’t know until I read this book was that Wallace and the entire UNC team ran laps in practice because of his technical fouls. That was Smith’s rule that he kept all through his tenure: If someone gets a technical foul, the whole team runs in practice. No exceptions.

If someone simply cursed in practice, the whole team ran. Dean Smith has morals, no exceptions.

Dean Smith was very driven to win, but also was innovative. He recruited guys that respected their coaches and families. He graduated over 90% of his players, with something like 50% going on to graduate school. He never had an NCAA investigation or infraction.

His teams beat Duke (they seem to be having a hard time doing that these days).

He explains in the book how he designed the “4-Corners” offense and why many people remember it only as “stall ball” or cheating. He and his players preferred to run, and press. He found the 4-corners the best way to keep the lead late in the game, and teams definitely weren’t able to stop it. The shot clock stopped it, when it was introduced, and he preferred that because he preferred to run and score quickly.

Charles Scott, the first black ACC player, tells a story of how UNC came to Lexington in '68 and beat a hostile UK team, not by the 4-corners, but by stopping UK's offense. Rupp ran the same play over and over, and wouldn't change his plan. UNC had already scouted and prepared for it, and thus stifled UK's offense.

Smith was a pioneer in recruiting Scott. On his recruiting visit to Chapel Hill, Smith took Scott to his own all-white church. This meant a lot to him as a black athlete.
He adapted his methods with each team, and often changed strategies to fit each team.

Former Carolina players come back and contribute to the program. They help run summer scrimmages, and many have become coaches themselves. They don’t get into scandals.

The faculty highly praised and gave Dean Smith awards themselves. Many are quoted as saying he was one of the best teachers on campus. They liked the positive attention he brought the school, and the fact that the students were had such a high graduate and post-graduate success rate. You don’t see that mutual admiration from coaches and professors at many colleges today.

The Carolina Way of coaching and practicing has influenced a lot of teams. The continuity of Smith’s program carries over to the style they play today, and his players have become some of the best coaches in basketball. Guys like Felton, May, & McCants stuck around because they wanted to get UNC back on top and keep the tradition alive.

The book changed a lot of my thinking about Smith, and definitely increased my respect for him and his program. I misjudged him.… (mehr)