Success on court
t
from B1 i
Davis happens to be one of '
those 5.4 percent. In 1995 he '
was named an assistant athletic ]
director at Wake Forest. The
odds of him someday becoming 1
an athletic director at a Divi
sion I schools are slim, he says. '
"In a way, it's like saying '
'you can play for us, but you 1
can't run our programs'," Davis '
says. "That is an issue that has *
to be dealt with. \
"The thing that makes it '
mortf difficult is when you turn
on the TV and see who's run- 1
ning up and down the court or '
the football field," Davis says. !
i
'You know that the revenues
ire coming in as a result of
taving those type athletes on
heir teams. You look at it and
you say 'this is not right',
rhat's what makes it glaring
when you look at it."
Davis worked alongside the
^CA"A to help coordinate last
weekend's NCAA East
Regional Tournament at
Lawrence Joel Coliseum. His
:xperience there led him to
Jelve even*deeper into the
issue.
As an assistant athletic
iirector, Davis is operating in
jnchartered waters. It is very
similar to his pioneering days
in the ACC when he became
one of the first African-Ameri
cans to wear a uniform of an
ACC team. When he arrived at
Wake Forest in 1967 there were
only two other teams in the
league with African-American
players.
"At the time I came into the
league, there were a lot of
unwritten rules," Davis says.
"Gil McGregor and I were like
the second wave of blacks to
come into the league. Maryland
and North Carolina had one
each on their teams. When we
got to Wake there was one
other black player, but it was
almost like someone said 'you
can play two of them at a time,
but you certainly can't play
three'."
In the field of athletic
administration, Davis says
NCAA Division I programs are
playing the same kind of game.
Some have even hired African
American head coaches, but
there still seems to be a stigma
attached when it comes to run
ning the programs.
"When you look at it, you
really can't say they are being
prejudiced," Davis says. "And I
don't want to deal with it in
that sense. I'll just say that they
aren't working as hard as they
need to work to find qualified
African-Americans to fill the
slots when they become open.
"So I guess the Division I
Charlie Davis was an All-Ameri
can guard at Wake Forest in 1971.
programs all need to work a lit
tle bit harder," Davis continues.
"Surely there are some quali
fied African-Americans out
there, they just haven't been
found yet."
Like most other fields,
Davis says the "good ole' boy"
network is still in place in col
lege athletics.
"When a job becomes
available the people doing the
hiring call around to their
friends and people they know,"
he says. "That's how the
process gets started. Then the
people receiving the calls talk
to the people that they know.
That has to change. They have
to do a better job of taking a
look at people that are not in
that circle.
"It's hard to believe that
there aren't some qualified
African-Americans out there to
fill the slots. They just have to
work harder to find them."
Gaines: Dean Smith deserved win No. 877
from B1
Lawrence Joel Coliseum to see
.Smith win game No. 877.
"I think Dean deserves it,"
'Gaines said. "He has run as
Iclean a program as anybody.
;He's done a good job."
* Gaines, who retired as the
;winningest active coach four
:years ago, said there are several
;things about Smith that he
; admires.
"As coaches come and go, I
;think Dean will always be
remembered as a person who
cared," Gaines said. "He had
?. ; n ? ? ? ? - * ?
. innuence ana 11 always seemed
to be used in the right way."
Unlike Rupp, who didn't
believe in integration, Smith
: was one of the first coaches in
the south to embrace the idea of
having African-American ath
letes in his program.
"I'm from the state of Ken
tucky and I know what he
(Rupp) thought about black
people," Gaines said. "Adolph
and the state of Kentucky kept
blacks 'in their place', there
wasn't any intermingling."
Charlie Scott became one
Srf the first African-Americans
to play in the ACC when he
accepted a scholarship to UNC
in 1966.
"It's all been positive,"
Gaines said. "Sometimes that
makes people critical of you,
but in Dean's case he always
used it to help people. I think
the kids that he recruited over
the years always understood
that he was for them.
"That's what really makes a
difference in coaching," Gaines
added. "When the players feel
that their coach is behind them
on and off the court. And you
can see the kind of influence
that Dean has had on the lives
of the people who have been in
his program."
Over the years. Smith has
been noted for a number of
innovations that he has brought
to the game. Gaines said many
of them weren't just because of
the desire to win games.
"You look at some of the
things that he's done and you
notice how much they mean to
the players," Gaines said. "For
instance, when a player gets a
pass from another player and
scores. Then he points to the
teammate as if to say thank
you. That's something that
helps bring the team closer
together."
In that respect, Gaines said i
he and Smith share many of the
same ideas about coaching.
"You have to make it like a
family," Gaines said. "I think
Dean has done that. With some
kids you have to treat them like
you're their father. With others
you have to act like you're a
big brother. That helps keep the
program operating smoothly.
"Sometimes the thing that
gets programs in trouble is
when there is no closeness and
the coaches don't know what
their players are doing away
from the court. But in programs
that are successful over the
years the coach has an idea of
the kind of character that his
players have. He's able to step
in when he needs to and keep
them in line. Of course there
are going to be times when you
don't really know as much
about a player's background as
you think you know. But that's
not going to happen very
often."
Like himself, Gaines said
one of the keys to Smith's suc
cess has been consistency and
longevity.
"If you're organized and do
things the same way over and
over success is going to follow
you," Gaines said. "Dean has
had good assistants over the
years and he's also done things
the same way. Here's a guy
who has won 20 games every
year for more than 20 years so
it doesn't take long for his wins
to add up."
Another thing that binds
the two together is their com
petitiveness.
"Really, I don't think he
cares that much about the
record," Gaines said. "He just
wants to win the championship
every year. That's what drives
him and that's your objective
when you begin the season
every year. Then when you can
get your kids to follow the
directions of the leader things
sort of fall in place."
That, according to Gaines,
has been one of the reasons the
VJarheels have rebounded from
a disappointing start to earn a
berth in the Sweet 16.
"At the first of the year
people talked about him being
too old and all that," Gaines
said. "I still said the guys is
prepared and his team would
come around in time. It has."
E.C. Frazier
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