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YOUR BALANCE
Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person
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Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 2:02 PM

I know some on this board will slam me, however here is my opinion on a man I have met several times.

Dean Smith took over the basketball program for Frank McGuire at UNC Chapel Hill. Frank's team had been accused of point shaving. Dean was burned in effigy during his first couple of years because his team were not winning at the same rate. He turned the program around and brought UNC to an elite status on the national stage. He brought in Charlie Scott. Charlie Scott was the first Black Scholarship Athlete for Chapel Hill. In that time frame, that took guts. His four corners brought about the shot clock for today's game. He made the UNC Basketball Program a family affair. Outside of the basketball world, he was a leader for his community and for change in the state. I meet the man several times and not only was he always gracious, but also open and willing to help in anyway he could.

As a Clemson Alumni, did I believe that Dean got breaks form the officials, YES. However if he had been the coach at Clemson I would have loved that break. He was a very gracious man, and great mine in the field of basketball and will be missed.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 2:15 PM

Why did you give him any credit for signing his first black player in 1967. The writing was already on the wall long before then. Even outspoken, virulent racist Adolph Rupp signed Tom Payne two years later. Smith was hardly a progressive in this area.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 2:30 PM

I was born in the early 50's and remember Charlie Scott and his coming to Chapel Hill, it was a big deal. That is why I mentioned it. Was he the first in the country, no. Clear in hindsight for sure. How he did it, and how he handled it, and being the first is why I mentioned it. It is important. Give the man credit for what he has done in his life.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 6:03 PM [ in reply to Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person ]

He may have been a giant ###### on the court, but Smith was a huge advocate for equality. Besides signing the first black player at UNC, he also spoke out against racism in daily life around Chapel Hill.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 6:38 PM

I wasn't accusing him of anything - just saying that signing the first black player at a school in an era when nearly every school was signing black players (later than many) is not an accolade so leave it off. He did not sign him as a matter of principle - he did it to stay competitive. I'm not accusing him of being as bad as Adolph Rupp but should he get some kind of points for signing a black player two years later. Because I've actually heard an insane Kentucky fan argue that black players were never "legitimized" until Kentucky "let them play." If he truly advocated for equality so regularly then there should be plenty of other examples. After Texas Western's 1966 championship everyone was playing catch-up and will get no special credit from me. Haskins was taking black players to the NCAA and NIT tournament since he early sixties. And he wasn't even the first. Did Smith ever call out Rupp or the writers who falsely demonized those Texas Western teams because if he did I'd love to hear/read it. It would change my opinion of the man dramatically.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 6:47 PM

"Smith was one of the most prominent Democrats in North Carolina politics. Politically, he was best known for promoting desegregation. In 1964, Smith joined a local pastor and a black North Carolina theology student to integrate The Pines, a Chapel Hill restaurant. He also integrated the Tar Heels basketball team by recruiting Charlie Scott as the university's first black scholarship athlete.[5] In 1965, Smith helped Howard Lee, a black graduate student at North Carolina, purchase a home in an all-white neighborhood.[9]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Smith

All of those instances have citations.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 2:29 PM

Great Post Sir! I just posted something very similar on another thread. You can tell by the national outpouring of well wishers what Dean Smith meant to many people. He was definelty a great iconic coach and pioneer in civil rights when it was a very scary thing to do

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Thanks for the post.


Feb 8, 2015, 3:41 PM

He was definitely a good man. A great coach, even though I had my hatred for the tar holes many times. Especially at Greensboro and Charlotte. At Charlotte when Tates Locke took the team off the court before the game was over because of the play of the heels. Still, Smith was a coach that got everything out of players and the rules. He used them to his advantage.

Also he was a darn good progressive Democrat!! Hooray for that, Dean Smith. Why want it let me use ####. Give me a break with conservative thinking.

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Re: Thanks for the post.


Feb 8, 2015, 3:48 PM

You brought back an old memory. I was at the game when Coach Locke took the team off the floor. One of our guards had one of his teeth knock out during that game. Thanks for taking me down memory lane.

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Re: Thanks for the post.


Feb 8, 2015, 5:47 PM

Was in Clemson then. GUARD was Terrell Suit. Rumor was dean sent in some bench goon to do that. Never knew if true or not

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Re: Thanks for the post.


Feb 8, 2015, 10:18 PM

I was a clemson student at the time and was at the game. That rumor is false, Suit lose three teeth during a charging foul, center court. Funny thing was Suit went out to dinner at Capris a couple of nights later with teeth back in place. He was and is a nice guy, and would tell you the same thing. It was a rough game though.

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Re: Thanks for the post.


Feb 9, 2015, 2:30 AM

The best memory I have from that night was meeting Walter Cox. Got to talk to him after the game and back at campus.

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69?......#### Harpolitan is that you?***


Feb 8, 2015, 9:06 PM [ in reply to Thanks for the post. ]



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The four corners was a travesty and he started that


Feb 8, 2015, 3:47 PM

"Carolina Way" BS that led to the academic scandal they have now

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 3:54 PM

My favorite Dean Smith remembrance is a game against Utah.

In the late 1960s or early 1970s North Carolina went west to play Utah. I think the game was in a Christmas tournament and I think it was in Salt Lake City, just happened that the host team got a game with the Tar Heels.

Utah was a stellar team with All American Merv Jackson. The Utes got out early and built a big lead and early in the second half that lead was extended to 18.

18! The Tar Heels down 18 on a hostile court and the halftime adjustment had failed. In the days with no shot clock and no 3-point shot such a deficit was essentially always the end.

Dean Smith, though, is not a normal coach. The Tar Heels won the game. The 2nd half courtside coaching change involved switching the defense (which was actually a halftime change) and changing the offense to a "SHOOT ONLY LAYUPS" offense. Bill Curry was the radio guy and he stayed with each pass, sometimes counting the passes that were needed to assure a layup.

It was a magical moment ... it was great coaching and it was Dean Smith. Rest in Peace Coach Smith.

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thanks


Feb 8, 2015, 6:31 PM

nice to see some appeciation

there is lot of spite across these fora

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Re: thanks


Feb 8, 2015, 10:21 PM

Meeting Dean was truly my pleasure. I do not know anyone who knew him that did not like and respect him. That cannot be said about many.

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 8, 2015, 8:52 PM

Dean Smith was humble, loved his team and support staff. He deflected the fame and was an effective teacher. His players knew teamwork and how to win. Pray he is at peace and that his family is ok

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Re: Dean Smith A Good Coach and Good Person


Feb 9, 2015, 10:05 AM

Very well written !

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