Basketball 8081 The Daily Tar Heel 11
a n
From Page 10
sions and there's nothing called tenure
Smith is an anomaly.
"Less than 1 percent of all Division I
college coaches finish their careers in
coaching," Smith says. "If you want to be
a college football or basketball .coach,
you'll probably have to change vocations
somewhere along the line."
On the surface, Smith's winning record
alone would seem to justify his longevity.
Now and for more than a decade as
an established winner, it is true, but early
during his Carolina career, Tar Heel fans
that now revere him wanted him gone.
"I think the only time when quite a few
people wanted to fire me went back to
expectations," he says. "It was my fourth
year, and we had two real good players in .
Bobby Lewis and (Billy) Cunningham. We
went on the road and lost some, and they
were after me." .
'WO years later, Smith coached the
Tar Heels to the first of three straight
NCAA East Regional champion
ships, and his detractors, if there were any
during the time, weren't people with an
affinity for Carolina.
"So far, I'm one that has beaten the
odds," Smith says.
He also credits the philosophy of the
University and the athletic department
through the years, an approach that has
avoided a "win at all costs" attitude.
"Long ago, this University made a
decision that we're going to do it the right
way, even if we don't win. We've been
fortunate to be winning and graduating
people and admitting them properly."
At schools where rules are broken and
coaches are fired for not winning, Smith
says the blame should be placed on the
schools' administrators, not only their
athletic officials.
"You have 270 presidents of schools
and they think ail they need is five good
players and they can make the Final Four.
And then you get all the money $350,000
and the national exposure.
"But you have 270 schools trying to do,
the same thing. If each president thinks he
is going to do that, and only four can, then
you have a lot of people who are unhappy.
That's where you have problems."
But Smith has reached the Final Four
five times more than anyone except
John Wooden and the late Adolph Rupp
won the ACC regular-season title nine
times and the league's tournament title
seven times.
A national championship, the pinnacle
of college basketball, has not come
Smith's way, but he maintains reaching
the Final Four more than once is more
difficult than winning the NCAA title.
And with the victories comes attention.
Smith will not label himself as modest, but
insists he knows himself well. "I honestly
believe there is too much attention for the
college coach, both football and basket
ball. Writers tell me it's because we're
constant. THey players are there only four
years."
In Chapel Hill, players or the coach
seldom get stopped for autographs, but
when they go to other North Carolina
towns, they'll likely be asked for a signa
ture or two.
"That's what television does," Smith
says. "And that can be bad if you start
, believing it as a player or a coach. You've
got to realize ifs very fleeting. At the
Olympic game this summer, there were
Phil Ford, Mitch Kupchak, Tommy LaGarde
and Waiter Davis, and f think the biggest
applause went to Al Wood. He was the one
that was current, That always keeps things
in perspective."
In Smith's case, he is both current and
past, but leaning toward the classical.
j Left, Dean Smith gives
instructions. Right, a
-s
salute after 400th career
win
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