"I had some rawness to me." "I had some athletic ability." "He shaped all that." "He was competitive, he wanted to win, he was competitive, he wanted to win, but he never let that interfere with what he thought of you as a young man." "He was a very humble man." "He was a very proud man." "He's taught me the importance of competing and working hard and focusing on the process and the practice, as opposed to the end result and the stats." "Always respect the people you're around " "Your teammates, your peers, your professors, your parents." "We knew we were in the midst of greatness, just being on the same court with him." "I still remember, you know, the last time I actually saw him, you know?" "I couldn't do nothing but hug him." "There's not a day goes by that I don't try to make him proud of me." "That I don't try to make him proud of me." "He's still our coach." "He's still our coach." "I got a ball in my hand, I'm a little nervous, and he was telling us about the university, and it was strictly academics first, you know, basketball second, which is what I didn't want to hear" "'cause I was thinking more basketball first and academics second." "And my parents were ecstatic." "And my parents were ecstatic." "He came into my house and he said "I promise you that your son's going to have to go to class and his freshman year, if it's okay with you guys," "I'd like for him to go to church -- mandatory."" "For the very first 30 minutes of the conversation, we didn't talk about basketball." "We talked about race relations, being a good student, being a good citizen, so many other things." "When we do come down and break the press, you know, if you have it, fine, if not, then reset." "Dean Smith spent 36 seasons as the basketball coach of the university of north Carolina." "He won 879 games, had 27 consecutive seasons winning 20 or more games, made 11 final four appearances, two national championships, two national championships, and nurtured countless nba players as freshmen in chapel hill." "Smith was disciplined and humbled, innovative and creative, a fierce and fair competitor determined and hell-bent on winning and doing it his way." "And doing it his way." "The distance from here to Mike..." "I've known him since I was a junior in high school and I've never heard him swear." "Now, he would say some things to us sometimes, you'd wish he would've sworn at you." "Hold it!" "Wake up!" "Never heard him say "damn" or "hell" or anything like that." "It was just " ""James!" That was it." "Now, as I get closer, you got to get closer, all right?" "Now, as I get closer, you got to get closer, all right?" "Now, move your feet." "Keep your hands steady." "Play." "He could deliver a message that was much stronger than a 4-letter word and he could talk about" "Brian Reese stepping out of bounds in practice." "He would respond by saying "Brian, don't they have an out-of-bounds line in the Bronx?"" "Coach had that little sarcasm." "He wouldn't curse, he'd just say," ""where do you think you are?" "You're at e.A. Laney high school?"" "Sometimes, in the schoolyard, when you're playing," "Sometimes, in the schoolyard, when you're playing, you spin a pass, and I did that once, just taking it out, and he gave me one of those." ""Mike, maybe in the schoolyard, at Jersey city you throw those passes, but not here."" "So, I never did that again." ""2:31, you're going to be doing this drill, and then at 2:33, you're going to do this drill."" "It was all about commitment to the oneness." "Michael Jordan or James worthy was no better than Chuck duckett, the manager of the team, or the towel boy, literally." "You had to get broken down and learn the Carolina system from the ground up." "Go, go, go, go!" "This guy's smiling, soft-spoken, you know, came to my house, sat down on my mama's couch." "You know, we ate food." "Sat down on my mama's couch." "You know, we ate food." "That first practice, I was like "who is this guy?"" "Dean Smith's journey to chapel hill began soon after north Carolina won its first college basketball national championship in 1957." "That group of tar heels went through the season undefeated at 32-0 with a starting five made up entirely of yankee interlopers, new yorkers who had followed new yorkers who had followed the legendary coach frank mcguire from up north." "And I was enamored with coach mcguire." "I just thought the world revolved around him." "He could walk in a room, you know, with a thousand people, and he would be the only person you noticed." "He just had that special quality about him." "Mcguire spent nine seasons at Carolina, but by 1961, he wore out his welcome when the tar heels were found guilty when the tar heels were found guilty of multiple ncaa violations." "The man chosen to replace him was a little-known mcguire assistant," "30-year-old Dean Smith." "Because of the basketball scandal, when Dean took over, we were limited to 16 games." "We were limited to where we could recruit." "So, instead of being able to recruit nationally, it was just strictly in the acc area." "It was just strictly in the acc area." "So, coach Smith was really handcuffed right from the beginning." "The first few years of Dean Smith's career at north Carolina did not go well." "Despite having several all-American players including Larry brown and Billy Cunningham, the tar heels were just an average team in the acc, and by the middle of his fourth season, some of the impatient fans were getting angry." "Some of the impatient fans were getting angry." "We came home on the bus from an away game at wake forest, 70 miles down the road." "We pulled into the parking lot behind the gym." "There were a number of students milling around, and I couldn't figure out what those students were doing." "I was thinking "it's unlikely they're here to welcome us home." "What are they doing?"" "Before I could react, the two Billys," "Billy galantai and Billy Cunningham, bounded from their seat at the back of the bus, bounded from their seat at the back of the bus, off and into those students and tore something down, and that's when I realized they had hung coach Smith in effigy." "Smith was shaken by the incident, but his team responded by winning 8 of the last 10 games to close 1965 at 15-9, the first of Dean Smith's 33 consecutive winning seasons." "The first of Dean Smith's 33 consecutive winning seasons." "Dean Smith was born in 1931 in emporia, Kansas, the son of strict but fair baptist parents, both of whom were educators." "His father, Alfred, was also a coach and was instrumental in integrating high-school athletics in Kansas." "In 1934, Paul Terry was a key piece in 1934, Paul Terry was a key piece of Alfred Smith's emporia high basketball team and the lone black player in the state." "When the eastern Kansas athletic association pressured Smith to remove Terry from the team, he held his ground and refused." "A few years later when the family moved to Topeka, Kansas," "Dean himself was faced with social injustice and chose to follow his father's lead." "And chose to follow his father's lead." "They had separate basketball teams " "One for the African-American children, and one for the white children." "One of the things about Dean Smith and his father were that they had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and they would not give up on a cause." "Smith approached the school principal, and soon after, Topeka high had an integrated basketball team." "But in his early years in north Carolina, but in his early years in north Carolina," "Dean Smith found himself in the middle of a racial environment that was far less forgiving." "A group of four students at north Carolina at state university in greensboro, they sat and were refused service." "They decided to protest by continuing to sit there, and then that whole initiative grew to engage other students and then that whole initiative grew to engage other students until it became a massive demonstration." "That generated activities across the south." "The sentiment of the greensboro four eventually reached chapel hill, a city still struggling to lift its own shroud of segregation." "Chapel hill was a Southern town." "It was rigidly segregated." "The hospital was segregated, public schools, of course, were segregated, restaurants were segregated -- The whole town." "Most of the interest in wanting to try and change things came through the university." "Either by the students or by progressive faculty members either by the students or by progressive faculty members who were coming in here from other areas." "One of the most visible public faces of the university was its basketball coach, whose own sense of social consciousness grew at the small church he joined upon arriving in Carolina." "I came to chapel hill in 1959 as the first pastor of a new baptist congregation that was founded on the university campus, and the day I arrived for the first sermon and the day I arrived for the first sermon" "who should join the church, but Dean Smith?" "The binkley baptist church was decidedly progressive in a part of the deeply conservative south that was still adjusting to the civil rights act of 1964." "This civil rights act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our states, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice." "To eliminate the last vestiges of injustice." "We had to put it to the test." "Dean, myself, and a black student went to the pines restaurant, all-white and segregated." "The door did not open immediately, but when they realized who it was, the door opened, we were served, and that was a milestone moment for this community." "With Dean's help, some progress had been made," "With Dean's help, some progress had been made, but at the state university of north Carolina, the basketball team was still all-white." "Coach sent me to see Rick mount." "He was going to be the first high-school athlete on the cover of sports illustrated." "I saw him play and must've been 100 coaches there." "You lined up, and you shook hands with everybody, and I think I was one of the few assistant coaches there at the time." "P he gave me no time, so I went to a pay phone, called coach." "P he gave me no time, so I went to a pay phone, called coach." "He said "what did you think?" And I said "he's all right."" "He said "all right, Larry?" "He's the best player in the country." "He's got to be better than all right."" "I said "coach, he was a fine player."" "He said, "Larry, get over it." "If he didn't give you any love, don't worry about it."" "He said, "well, look " "There's a kid in laurinburg, north Carolina, that I think we have a responsibility to go see." "You know, we don't want to lose an in-state player."" "I drove down to laurinburg." "I watched Charles run up and down the court about three times." "About three times." "I ran to a pay phone." "I said "coach, you got to get down here." "This kid's better than Rick mount."" "Lo and behold, we drive up, and coach saw the same qualities I saw." "Dean Smith had made up his mind." "It was time to put the full-court press on racism." "Coach Smith, the first thing he asked me was what did I want to be called, and I said "well, my mother named me Charles."" "That's what coach Smith always called me, "Charles."" "He never called me "Charlie," he always called me "Charles."" "And also something that he did and also something that he did a little different than everybody else was that he had me go out with the freshmen on the team, who would be guys that I would be playing with" "when I got to school there, and there was a friendliness there that I felt comfortable around." "The real topper was that I visited Carolina, they had smokey Robinson and the miracles and the temptations, and I thought any school that had smokey Robinson and the miracles and the temptations was a school I can enjoy being at." "The educational foundation, obviously, means a great deal to our basketball team, in particular." "Means a great deal to our basketball team, in particular." "Obviously, the scholarship money comes from this group of individuals, and we couldn't have fine players in the university without scholarships." "In 1966, Smith used one of those scholarships on Charles Scott, the first African-American athlete to receive one at north Carolina." "And, by his sophomore year, Scott was already a star." "And, by his sophomore year, Scott was already a star." "But, to Dean Smith, Charles was just another player." "His relationship was one that I felt comfortable with as someone that would take care of me and mentor me." "And not only that " "Never once did the conversation come up about me being black." "Coach Smith never talked to me about color." "One day, I was late for practice." "One day, I was late for practice." "He told me to go run the stairs." "So, I was running the stairs, and I was running the stairs, and, about 25 minutes, I was still running the stairs." "I had to ask him " " I said, "coach Smith, did you see me?"" "He said, "oh, I forgot you were running the stairs,"" "and I said, "how could you forget the only black guy you got on your team?" "Didn't you not know that one black spot wasn't on the court anymore?"" "With Scott and other all-Americans, like Larry Miller, north Carolina was in the middle of three straight final four appearances." "In the middle of three straight final four appearances." "As for Smith, he was entering a three-decade period of sustained excellence where his unique, homespun basketball innovations were on full display." "Somebody made a basket, it was his responsibility to point to the guy who made the pass at him." "His approach was "the guy that makes the pass is just as important, if not more important, than the guy that makes the bucket."" "Not only were we encouraged, it was a requirement." "I think some guys now do it just to be cool in the nba, but, man, that was a must." "Some players went so far as to thank the guy who made the pass to them who made the pass to the guy who got the bucket." "To them who made the pass to the guy who got the bucket." "He used basketball to teach us the importance of saying "thank you."" "Unselfish and playing hard are 1 and 1, and if you're tired, you can't play hard." "If you gave the "tired" signal, which is basically a fist in the air, he would substitute for you." "And when you go to the bench, when you're ready, and when you go to the bench, when you're ready, you say "coach, I'm ready,"" "and you put yourself back in the game." "But if he took you out, and you didn't give the "tired" signal, because he didn't think you were playing hard," "It may be a while before you got back in the game." "The other thing I thought, and this is a little thing coach Smith had, one of your teammates then comes out of the game, you stand up, and you clap for him." "You stand up, and you clap for him." "And number 40, Bruce Buckley, steps in for Mike o'koren." "You stand up, you give your teammate a standing ovation." "Come on, who thinks of stuff like that?" "He did." "Without question," "Dean Smith's most identifiable innovation was the four-corners offense." "Although he wasn't its originator," "Smith was its most visible proponent." "When he felt his team was overmatched," "Dean would often call for the four corners" "Dean would often call for the four corners at the start of the game." "It was designed to keep the ball out of the other team's hands." "And, in an era without a shot clock, that would sometimes feel like an eternity." "Throw!" "Duke decided not to come out and play us." "They stayed back in the three-second area, bunched in a zone, and defied us to come and play." "So, large portions of the game, one guy was standing there near the half-court line with the ball under his arm near the half-court line with the ball under his arm for minutes at a time." "And people were throwing things," "Yelling and screaming and so forth." "After Duke's 21-20 win in the 1966 acc tournament," "Smith's offense was ridiculed." "But that didn't stop him from using it " "Even if his players hated it." "The score at half time is 7-0." "Not football, this is north Carolina basketball versus Duke basketball." "The score is 7-0 at half time." "The score is 7-0 at half time." "You could look it up." "After the game, reporters come in." ""Mike, what about the first half, the stall?"" ""Quite frankly, I didn't want to stall, he did!"" "Pointing to coach Smith." "I get a call." "It's a Sunday." "I get a call." ""Coach Smith wants to see you in the office."" ""Oh, shoot."" "So, I go in, and he sits me down." "So, I go in, and he sits me down." "He says, "Mike, you know, we feel like we have a very successful program here at north Carolina, and we win a lot of games, and we feel we do it the right way."" "He says, "listen " "I'll do the coaching, you do the playing."" ""Yes, sir, coach."" "Walked out of there." "Next day at practice, I had to put the weighted vest on and go up and down the Carmichael auditorium stairs pretty much the whole practice." "He got his point across." "While the four corners was often brutally boring," "While the four corners was often brutally boring, it could also be artful and effective." "Especially in the hands of Phil Ford, north Carolina's legendary point guard." "In order for the four corners to work, you had to have five very good ball-handlers on the court, because everybody had to handle the ball at one point in time." "The defense, at some point, says, "well, we can't just sit back." "We have to go pressure,"" "we have to go pressure,"" "and then, when they would pressure Phil Ford, we would have a bunch of different options to score, whether it was guys going back-door or ball going into a corner or Phil Ford, who can blow past anybody at any point he wanted." "A lot of times, the other team, out of frustration, would come down and take a quick shot, and we'd come down and do the same thing." "Before you know it, it was a snowball effect, and we were up 8 or 9 points, and that was usually the game." "And we were up 8 or 9 points, and that was usually the game." "When Smith had the right pieces, his Carolina teams ran the four corners to perfection and rarely gave up the lead." "Oh, Carolina goes to the four corners, they're in their famous four-corner offense, a man in each corner." "As long as it meant their heels were winning," "Carolina fans tolerated the snail-like pace of the four corners." "But just about everyone else thought it had no place in the game." "Thought it had no place in the game." "The best way that you can say that it was great is because the other team hated it so badly." "It droves coaches crazy." "I mean, especially "lefty" driesell." "Lefty could not stand it." "He'd start cussing the four corners a week before he played Carolina." "But the more he did it, the more coach fired it at him." "When the shot clock was introduced in the mid-80s, the four corners went the way of the set shot." "But, before it became obsolete," "Smith used it to his full advantage." "Smith used it to his full advantage." "The heels followed their three consecutive trips to the final four in the late '60s, with two more in the '70s and another in 1981." "But they all ended the same way no national championships." "After two decades as a head coach," "Dean Smith had an impeccable reputation" "Dean Smith had an impeccable reputation as a teacher and a leader, but his inability to win the big one, especially in years when his teams were filled with future nba stars, made him an easy target with the national media." "I'm sure, in his quiet moments, if you're a human being, and your job is to try to do something, and you haven't achieved that yet, yeah, of course, and you haven't achieved that yet, yeah, of course," "but he never allowed us to see it." "If you lost a game, coach Smith took the blame." "If you won a game, he said, "I had great players." "I couldn't have done it without my players."" "By the early 1980s," "Smith's teams were again loaded with talent, especially 1982 with James worthy, the centerpiece of a legendary team-in-the-making." "Sam Perkins was a sophomore, Matt Doherty, a sophomore," "Sam Perkins was a sophomore, Matt Doherty, a sophomore," "Jimmy black was our senior leader point guard, and then, we added this young freshman from Wilmington, north Carolina, about 165 pounds, this kid named, uh..." "I-I forget, sometimes." "I think his name was Michael Jordan." "First time I saw Michael, I was like, first time I saw Michael, I was like," ""this guy is so confident..." "That it's scary."" "I was the best guy on the team at the time." "He sought me out and started to like, in a friendly way, like, bully me." "That playful arrogance might've worked on his teammates, but Jordan soon learned that impressing his coach would not be as easy." "Uh, you never really get comfortable uh, you never really get comfortable where you felt like " "Coach made sure that you didn't feel like, you know, you belonged." "He always wanted that hunger to always be out there." "He made sure you understood where you were." "Even though you're a highly recruited guy, you're the lowest on the totem pole." "That means you carry balls, you go get water, you carry film projectors -- It doesn't matter." "So, I was the film-projector carrier." "So, you're in a suit, you're on the road -- whatever." "You're carrying that projector." "You're carrying that projector." "Before the 1982 season, it was clear to everyone that Michael Jordan was headed for the starting lineup " "Even sports illustrated." ""Please let us put Michael on the cover with the other four guys."" ""Not gonna do it." "Not gonna have a freshman on the cover and, after all, you're not gonna name my starting lineup."" "I think it bugged Michael a little bit." "I mean, I understood it." "I understand it more now." "I was a little disappointed then." "I was a little disappointed then." "Even though I knew he knew it was me." "He felt like I didn't deserve to be on there because I hadn't played the game yet." "Coach?" "Well, that's something that he felt very passionate about is that you earn your right." "Jordan was missing from the cover of s.I.'S college basketball preview." "But he was in the starting lineup, and with him, north Carolina won its first 13 games, rising to the ♪1 ranking in the country." "Rising to the ♪1 ranking in the country." "My teammates gave me, you know, open shots and picking for me and giving me good passes." "The heels finished the season at 27-2, won the acc tournament, and eventually found themselves in another final four, where James worthy put on a remarkable show against Houston in the national semifinal." "Coach Smith always gave you the green light " "Coach Smith always gave you the green light " "If you saw it, take it." "And I saw a Lane, and I took it." "It was a monster dunk that kind of set the tone." "I threw it down pretty good." "I elevated, kept elevating, and twisted in the air." "Even for me, that was pretty damn awesome." "The final against Georgetown and Smith's old friend John Thompson produced an epic battle." "Three times before, Dean had been on the brink three times before, Dean had been on the brink of an ncaa title, and this time, despite a 28-point performance from worthy, he was still in danger of losing his fourth championship game." "32 seconds to go." "A 1-point lead for Georgetown." "Coach says "okay, we're exactly where we want to be." "We're in great shape."" "And, to be honest with you, I sort of." "Coughed a little bit so I could turn my head 'cause I wanted to check the score, 'cause I wanted to check the score, to make sure I hadn't made a mistake." "But he said it two or three times " ""we're going to decide who wins this game."" "I looked at our guys, and everybody's got a little taller, and everybody's got a different look on their face, and as we're going out of the huddle, he patted Michael on the rear end and said," ""if you get a shot, Michael, knock it down."" "Coach used to always say this -- "I prepared you for this." "Now, just go out and have fun and let it happen."" "In all honesty, I just went out and let it happen." "In all honesty, I just went out and let it happen." "You know, he told me" "I would have an opportunity to shoot the ball." "When it rotated back to me, with no hesitation, I just let it go." "The time, 18." "Shot " " Jordan!" "Michael Jordan!" "Look for a "sleepy" Floyd." "Oh, he threw it to the wrong man!" "He threw it to worthy!" "It's over!" "It's over!" "North Carolina has won the 1982 ncaa championship." "North Carolina has won the 1982 ncaa championship." "We win the national championship." "You know, everybody's running around, hugging everybody, and I hugged coach Smith, and I said," ""I'm just so happy for you, just to shut those people up,"" "and he made a statement that I've never forgotten." "He said "you know, I'm not really that much a better coach than I was 2.5 hours ago."" "Someone who deserved something so much finally got what he deserved." "There was no doubt that with or without the championship, he was a great coach, but you need to have those accolades to go along with it." "For Dean Smith, it was a championship 21 years in the making." "For legendary north Carolina photographer Hugh Morton, it only took an instant to make one memorable photograph." "Coach Smith is leaning up against the wall." "Coach Smith is leaning up against the wall." "He may be having a cigarette." "I'm there with my head down 'cause I'm trying to find breath." "I don't have anything left." "And Jimmy black is exhausted from crying." "He's just sitting there." "I have a picture of that scene in my at-home office, and I had a friend, and he said," ""what in the world have you got a picture of Carolina losing up here?"" "I said, "what are you talking about?"" "I said "hey!" "That's after they won the national championship in '82."" "He said, "you've got to be kidding." "I said, "that picture's a great reflection" "I said, "that picture's a great reflection of what that game takes out of you."" "After hitting the championship- winning shot as a freshman," "Michael Jordan might've expected an easier ride in his remaining years in chapel hill." "Jordan did his part." "He was a first-team all-American as a sophomore and again as a junior, as well as the national player of the year." "As well as the national player of the year." "But, when Carolina fell short of the final four, critics called out Dean Smith for not allowing his star player to reach his fill potential." "I think that's b.S." "Coach was probably the biggest advocate of my professional career and the biggest reason why my professional career turned out to be the way it is." "I went to the university of north Carolina" "I went to the university of north Carolina with strictly athleticism." "No knowledge of how to play the game." "Now, if you want to say he held me back because I averaged 30 points in the pros, that was a teaching process for me, you know, and I took it as that, and I learned a lot under his tutelage." "It made me so much better as a professional basketball player that every time someone says that, they have no understanding for the education, they have no understanding for the education, for what he taught all his players." "When the time came for Jordan to leave Carolina after his junior year, he sought and received" "Dean Smith's full blessing and encouragement." "He was doing what he thought was in the best interest of the player, and how many coaches would've told one of their best players." ""I think you ought to go"?" "He sat me and my family down and says, you know," ""I only would recommend a guy to go to the pros if he goes in the top-5 picks." "If he goes in the top-5 picks." "He's already done his due diligence."" "When he said he thought he was one of the best Carolina players ever, you know, that told me a lot." "It turned out great for Chicago, it turned out great for me, and it obviously turned out great for Michael." "One final lesson that Smith taught Jordan was the value of an education." "He insisted Michael come back to Carolina to get his degree, and he did so in a way that benefited both Jordan and his family." "That benefited both Jordan and his family." "Living up to the promise that he made to my mom when I first got there, that I was going to graduate." "So, he built it in my Chicago Bulls contract that if I went back and graduated," "I would earn a certain amount of money, and that was motivating for me to go back, but at the same time, it was one of those situations that he would appease my parents." "When it became common for players to leave school early for the nba," "Dean Smith would often advocate on their behalf." "Dean Smith would often advocate on their behalf." "We congratulate Jerry on a tremendous chance to achieve a goal he's had since he was very young, and that's to be a professional basketball player." "He would, however, urge them to return to chapel hill for their degree." "Through the years, almost 97% of Smith's players graduated, so many were shocked to hear his name in a 2014 news story." "So many were shocked to hear his name in a 2014 news story." "The university of north Carolina at chapel hill is reeling from a scandal involving athletes taking bogus classes and receiving inflated grades for almost two decades." "The classes were in the African- and afro-American-studies department." "Carolina itself conducted an investigation, led by former federal prosecutor Kenneth wainstein, that exposed an unprecedented case of academic fraud." "...the student were to get that grade, ...the student were to get that grade, and the grading would be done pretty much without regard to the quality of the paper." "It was determined that nearly 1,500 athletes at north Carolina were given credit for nonexistent classes as part of an organized scheme to keep them sports-eligible." "Although the period in question started in 1993 and did overlap with Smith's last four years as Carolina's coach, the report found no evidence that Dean was aware of any wrongdoing." "That Dean was aware of any wrongdoing." "I'd like to think that he would be appalled to read the wainstein report because it doesn't comport with all these other things that we saw." "I think he always wanted his players to attack a challenge, whether it's academic or athletic, and not find some shortcut." "He believed in rigor and rules." "We had to go to class, and we had to perform our best that we could in class, as well." "Back then, we didn't have private planes, back then, we didn't have private planes, we flew commercial." "When we would play 8:00, 9:00 games, we would wake up at 4:00 in the morning and take the first commercial flight back home so we can get back to chapel hill to make our classes." "And all the coaching staff would check our classes." "I mean, that was important to him." "For most of his first 25 years in the acc," "Dean Smith held court as the top coach in the conference," "Dean Smith held court as the top coach in the conference, but with that lofty status came a guarded personality that some of his fellow coaches perceived as arrogance." "Jimmy would mess around a little bit in a nice way at a meeting 'cause Dean would always time it where he'd be the last person." "And at one of our acc meetings," "Jimmy told me and Bobby cremins, he says, "let's hide." "Let's go in the bathroom." "We'll watch as he comes down the hall, let him go in first, then we'll come in."" "Let him go in first, then we'll come in."" "So, stuff like that, to be mess around and, to be quite frank with you," "I didn't understand his level." "It's lonely." ""Why are you a little bit aloof?"" "Well, when you walk in the room, and you're the best guy, you have the best program, probably, most of the people in that room are not going to like you." "Everyone in the room wanted to beat him more so than one another." "So, I'm encouraged." "By the mid-1980s, that was especially true of one coach," "By the mid-1980s, that was especially true of one coach, just a few miles down tobacco road " " Duke's Mike krzyzewski." "They both lorded over their programs, in their ways." "I mean, if you think of it in political or ideological terms," "Dean Smith was the Roosevelt new-deal liberal." "He believed in setting up this big bureaucracy that people submitted their individuality to and then the whole team benefited." "Whereas krzyzewski was much more the kind of sun belt republican." "Whereas krzyzewski was much more the kind of sun belt republican." "He knew we were different." "I think a lot of other people tried to be like them, and they used Dean as the barometer of who they were going to be, and I didn't want to be them." "I wanted to be us, but I wanted to be us at that level." "The first time coach k openly challenged Smith was in January of 1984, when the top-ranked heels came to durham." "He was mad because they wouldn't get his substitutes in the game." "He was mad because they wouldn't get his substitutes in the game." "He'd send a sub up, and they wouldn't blow the horn to get him in." "So, he goes up there -- They're in a close game " "He goes up there and pounds on the scorers' table." "And it was our scorers' table, so that made me angry." "And nothing happened." "There was no technical foul, so I was angry and I just said, right after the game," "I said "look, you know, it's a double standard."" ""There's a double standard in this league " "One for Carolina, and one for the rest of us."" "That burned coach up." "That burned coach up." "Five years later, in 1989, the personal animosity between the two coaches reached new heights when Smith became incensed after spotting one of the Cameron crazies with an inflammatory sign." "The "Jr can't Reid" thing " "It really wasn't that big of a deal to me." "I mean, I heard about the Duke crazies and how talented and funny they were, so, you know, for me, I was kind of let down, that was the best that they had for me." "I'm like "man, I must not be any good." "I'm like "man, I must not be any good." "They didn't even work hard, you know, to get something funny to say about me."" "But coach Smith took it a different way and, of course, he mentioned that he thought it was a lot to do, you know, with race." "Initially, Smith lashed out against the Duke fans for stepping over the line." "Then, he threw fuel on the fire by defending Reid and his teammate Scott Williams, openly pointing out that the s.A.T. Scores of his two black players were higher than those of Duke's white stars were higher than those of Duke's white stars" "Christian laettner and Danny ferry." "Smith's point might've been well-intentioned, but it led to one of the most intense games in the history of the rivalry, a 1989 acc tournament final." "They were hollering back and forth at each other." "Krzyzewski would say, "quit coaching my players!"" "And coach would say, "somebody ought to coach them." "You're not doing it."" "Never any separation between the two." "It was absolutely brutal." "It was absolutely brutal." "I don't want to say hatred, but it was competitiveness at the highest level, maybe over the brink a little bit for both squads." "Laettner is grabbed and thrown." "A lot of stoppages, a lot of fouls." "And Scott Williams is down for the third time." "I don't know if they waived the three-knockdown rule." "A lot of jabs thrown and who was going to be around in the late rounds to throw the knockout punch." "Reid." "Reid again." "Final." "Final." "Reid scores and then yells at ferry." "Really challenged and taunt at ferry." "We were all scratched up, beat up, all of us looked like we had been in a street fight." "North Carolina celebrates." "77-74." "Carolina, first time since '82, has won the acc tournament." "That was the best part, you know?" "We got to hoist him up there, and of course he didn't want us to put him up." "It's like "yeah, coach, we're getting you up here."" "For Smith and Carolina, the satisfaction of beating Duke in '89 didn't last long." "The blue devils went on to win consecutive ncaa championships in 1991 and 1992, and for the first time in the history of the heated rivalry, the balance of power shifted." "Everybody was talking about Christian laettner and Bobby Hurley and Grant hill and Bobby Hurley and Grant hill and Duke hanging two banners was just enough motivation for us." "We'd come into our locker room, and in everyone's locker, taped into the mirror, was the image of the Louisiana superdome, and it had" ""1993 ncaa champions -- the university of north Carolina."" "I never had the guts to ask him about it, but it had coach Smith written all over it." "Carolina responded to Smith's ploy, winning 34 games and eventually reaching the ncaa championship final the ncaa championship final against the fab five of Michigan." "There's that passing lob." "Trailing late in the second half of the game, his team once led by 10 points." "Smith stuck to his coaching principles and trusted his players." "Coach Smith gets four "tired" signals." "All of a sudden, he starts sending in people." "He's got four substitutes in there and Billy packer's ripping him on television." "Dean Smith went to the bench again." "You have Williams, who's been his top scorer, you have Williams, who's been his top scorer, and Reese on the bench." ""Coach, what are you doing?" "!"" "A lot of people in the stands, they were raising their eyebrows." "Oh, my gosh, George lynch is going out." "Derrick Phelps is taking a break." "It caught a lot of people's attention because it was the national championship game." "But, in fact, that would've been a departure from what we had done all year long." "Kicked out to montross." "That was lynch." "They got the break." "Carolina can take the lead." "Smith's calculated risk worked, and his well-rested team took a 2-point lead with 20 seconds to play." "Took a 2-point lead with 20 seconds to play." "The referee missed it." "Webber brings it into the front court." "There are no time outs remaining." "Too many time outs." "That's a technical foul." "He called a timeout, and Michigan doesn't have any." "...north Carolina is the 1993 national champion." "On the same superdome court where Smith won his first and only title 11 years earlier, where Smith won his first and only title 11 years earlier, once again, it was an opponent's mistake that defined the final play." "But luck really had little to do with it." "Every situation that happened to us that year, he prepared us for." "There was not one thing that we didn't cover." "Donald Williams called a timeout in practice, and he put us on the end line and made us run for Donald Williams calling a timeout." "...on defense that you might learn something from." "...on defense that you might learn something from." "Get him!" "Get him!" "No one, not even the coaching staff " "Bill guthridge, Phil Ford " "Would stand up on that bench and call a timeout without coach Smith giving them the go-ahead." "So, for our season to end like it did with Michigan, you know, we can look back and say," ""I remember that day in November Donald called a timeout."" "It's an unusual friendship." "I know people would not think that we became really good friends, but we did." "I love Dean Smith, you know?" "I respect him as much as anybody that I've been around in coaching, and I understand him." "A lot of the things that we've gone through " "The sustained excellence and the expectations " "Are very, very similar." "It's like brothers in arms." "One thing coach k and coach Smith." "One thing coach k and coach Smith certainly had in common was winning." "By the time he reached his 36th year at Carolina," "Dean Smith had amassed enough victories to make history and pass adolph rupp " "At the time, the winningest coach in the long history of college basketball." "But the glare of the spotlight wasn't for him." "He thought it took away from the players, it took away from the program, it put him in a spotlight that he didn't want to be in." "It was never his goal to break rupp's record." "He probably didn't know what rupp's record was." "He probably didn't know what rupp's record was." "He was not comfortable with it at all and he told me at one time he may quit the day before, and I said, "you cannot do that." "We're going to hogtie you." "You cannot do that."" "There was almost a conspiracy of his former players, who got together and who said, "look, whatever it takes, we're not going to let him retire before he breaks the record."" "Dean Smith is the winningest coach in the history of college basketball, in the history of college basketball," "877 career victories." "They start chanting his name, "Dean!" "Dean!" "Dean!"" "And he sprints like a track star to get off that court." "He genuinely did not think he had done anything." "And I'm telling you -- He meant it." "Coach, we want to give you a present from past, present, and us " "A present from past, present, and us " "A Jersey with 877 wins." "Well, aren't you nice." "I've never been this surprised." "Thank you." "I might even try that on." "But more important for us, we'd like to get number 27 up in Syracuse." "That's exactly what I told them today." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Smith won 2 more games in 1997 to reach his 11th final four." "But an unexpected loss to Arizona but an unexpected loss to Arizona in the national semifinal would bring an abrupt end to his 36th season." "When his team regrouped for the following season," "Dean welcomed them back with a surprise announcement." "I remember, clear as day." "I mean, we getting ready for the season." "Coach said "well, I want you guys to come back to the Smith center."" "You know, we expecting we gonna talk about you know, we expecting we gonna talk about the up and coming season." "As soon as you walk in, something is different." "I have decided to resign as head basketball coach of the university of north Carolina." "If I can't give this team that enthusiasm," "I said I would get out, and that's honestly how I feel." "I said I would get out, and that's honestly how I feel." "What loyalty I've had from my players over there." "They're really special." "That's all." "I am concerned, as they are..." "Early in his retirement," "Dean Smith stayed in the public eye, continuing to speak his mind on multiple political and social issues." "On multiple political and social issues." "Most famously, he strongly opposed the death penalty in the state of north Carolina, a stance he had nurtured during his days as a coach." "Coach told us that we were going to go practice in front of the inmates, and I remember going through the gates and the buzzers and the " "Doors locking and clanking and the alarms and the whole thing, and you pass through security and you go into the gym and the inmates are right there." "And the inmates are right there." "We watched coach Smith go into all different types of cells where prisoners were on death row, and he would just walk right in there and sit down and talk with them." "During one of those visits," "Smith met, and later spoke out for, a north Carolina death-row inmate." "It was a position that put Dean in direct conflict with the governor of the state." "We're told that coach Smith was friends." "We're told that coach Smith was friends with the men scheduled to be executed." "While most of the people who attended these meetings were pastors, coach Smith kindly agreed to join us." "So it's time to say our piece, and starting us out, coach Smith points to the governor and says," ""governor, you're a murderer." "And I'm a murderer, too." "And I'm a murderer, too." "The death penalty makes us all murderers, governor."" "And governor hunt clearly took it in, took it to heart." "Now, the man was executed." "But the governor did Grant clemency to two people the next year, and I do believe that coach Dean Smith helped effect change in the direction away from the death penalty in our state." "All the players who have gone through that system all felt more comfortable about every decision by checking back with coach." ""Coach, what do you think about this?"" "It was never really a sealed deal without coach Smith giving his advice." "The bond with him is stronger, after we played basketball, than when we were basketball players, because that's where he's been most helpful to all of us, is making that transition into life." "Is making that transition into life." "Some people, when you need help, you call up and say," ""can you please help me?"" "But with coach Smith, he would call you and ask you if you needed help." "Got lots of people coaching jobs, but, if you were out of a job as a salesman, he would find something for you, and he would work long hours to do it." "And I know players who came back in their 60s and spent hours in his office with the door shut, and spent hours in his office with the door shut, pouring out some serious personal or health problem." "He said, "if there's a problem, let's do something about it now."" "It wasn't like "you do something about it,"" "he said "let's," I-e-t-'-s, like it was me and him together." "I don't know too many coaches who put forth the effort, 10 years after you left school, who are calling your mom and dad randomly, just checking to see how they're doing, if they needed anything," "making sure your younger brother's on pace to graduate from college." "After basketball, he wasn't just "coach Smith,"" "after basketball, he wasn't just "coach Smith,"" "you know, he was more than that." "His sincerity was infinite." "He would do anything for you." "He created a tradition of sending you the media book." "And he would include a form letter, very warm." "Written by him personally, but typed, form letter." "Written by him personally, but typed, form letter." "But at the bottom, he always left 4 or 5 inches to write a personal note to you." ""Mike, make sure you work on late-game situations."" "You know, when I was coaching in the league." ""Please tell your mom I said hello." "I'll reach out to her soon."" "You know, something like that, it's be down there." "And "Dean", he'd put the d-e-a-n." "When he wrote the note, he took a minute or two to think of something personal." "He took a minute or two to think of something personal." "Once you're a part of this family, you know, you're a part of this family beyond the four years you're there." "You're always a part of the family." "His successes go far beyond x's and o's." "Even as he won 78% of his games, he graduated 96% of his players." "In November of 2013," "Dean Smith was awarded the presidential medal of freedom," "Dean Smith was awarded the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor." "In an era of deep division, he taught players to overcome bigotry with courage and compassion." "Dean Smith could not attend." "His wife, linnea, accepted the award in his honor." "In the summer of 2010, it had been revealed that Dean was suffering from a neurocognitive disorder that affected his memory." "From a neurocognitive disorder that affected his memory." "In a public letter, the Smith family wrote that Dean" ""may not immediately recall the name of every former player from his many years of coaching, but that does not diminish what those players meant to him or how much he cares about them."" "Here's a guy who has lived through," "Here's a guy who has lived through, really, basketball history." "I mean, he started playing for "phog" Allen, who learned the game from James naismith at Kansas, and then coaches Michael Jordan." "I mean, he's kind of the guy who connects old basketball with modern basketball and had such a recall of all that." "It sort of defined the essence of the man." "And that at the end of his life, it leaves him." "Dean Smith passed away on February 8, 2015." "Dean Smith passed away on February 8, 2015." "Tributes poured in from all over the country, from friends and rivals." "And, on February 22nd, the Dean dome was filled in his honor one final time," "at a memorial service to remember north Carolina's beloved coach." "Thank you." "Thank you for what you did for Carolina." "Thank you for what you did for college basketball." "You showed us how to live." "You showed us how to be engaged." "You showed us how to be engaged." "You set an example to show people how, through determination, to never give up, to never quit, to keep pushing forward." "Look at Dean Smith." "What composure." "This man is very much in control of himself, his team." "Gets the 20." "Has a little discussion with his guys." "It has been a program to be envied." "Dean's trying to say, "attention!" "He's trying to kill the guy!" "It should be a 2-hot foul!" "He's mugging him!"" "Push it up." "That's the shot Williams loves." "Push it up." "That's the shot Williams loves." "And he puts the tar heels ahead by one." "What is the impact that coach Smith has had on us?" "There's not one or two things, it's our life." "There's not one thing in my life that I don't filter through what coach Smith would do and what he did." " Was he a great humanitarian?" " Was he a great mentor?" "Was he someone who I loved dearly?" "Was he someone who I loved dearly?" "Was it someone who, I carry today, many of the lessons when I try and instill it in my children or young people that I mentor?" "All of that." "His impact was so far-reaching." "Coach Smith, to me, is always coach Smith, so, um..." "I know how fortunate I am." "I know how lucky I am." "I've had 50 wonderful years of a relationship with a man" "I've had 50 wonderful years of a relationship with a man that I have nothing but love and admiration for."