Legendary UNC coach Dean Smith dies at 83

by Chip Alexander, News and Observer, February 8, 2015.

Former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, who had a Hall of Fame career, was beloved by his players and became one of the nation’s most revered sports figures, died Saturday evening in Chapel Hill, according to a statement released by the university.

Smith, who had been in declining health the past few years, was 83.

“Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully the evening of February 7 at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children,” the Smith family said in a statement. “We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you.”

Smith retired in October 1997 as the winningest men’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history, having passed former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp. That distinction now is held by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who remembered Smith on Sunday as a coach, teacher and role model for his players.

“I am incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of coach Dean Smith.” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “We have lost a man who cannot be replaced. He was one of a kind and the sport of basketball lost one of its true pillars.

“Dean possessed one of the greatest basketball minds, and was a magnificent teacher and tactician. While building an elite program at North Carolina, he was clearly ahead of his time in dealing with social issues,” he said. “However, his greatest gift was his unique ability to teach what it takes to become a good man. That was easy for him to do because he was a great man himself.”

UNC coach Roy Williams once was an assistant on Smith’s staff. With Smith’s urging, Williams left to be the head coach at Kansas. Later, Smith helped coax Williams back to UNC, where Williams continued to rely on Smith’s advice and guidance.

“As sad as I am, I also feel very blessed because he was such a great influence on me,” Williams said Sunday. “I cannot imagine anyone being a better influence than coach Smith. I just cannot imagine that. So even in times like this when you’re really sad, and I’ve been sad the last few years not having him in the same shape and form that I’d had before, you got to feel very blessed.

“His whole thing was to do the best you could do, the absolute best you could do. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Do the absolute best you could do. And then live with it. ’Til I die, a lot of the things that I do will be from him. And that’s a pretty good legacy.”

Smith, whose UNC teams won 13 ACC tournament championships and two NCAA titles, received many awards and accolades. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was selected national coach of the year four times and named the ACC coach of the year eight times.

In 2013, Smith was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian award – by President Barack Obama, although Smith was unable to attend the ceremony in Washington.

“America lost not just a coaching legend but a gentleman and a citizen,” Obama said Sunday in a statement. “When he retired, Dean Smith had won more games than any other college basketball coach in history. He went to 11 Final Fours, won two national titles, and reared a generation of players who went on to even better things elsewhere, including a young man named Michael Jordan – and all of us from Chicago are thankful for that.

“But more importantly, Coach Smith showed us something that I’ve seen again and again on the court – that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jump shot alone ever could.”

Despite all his success, and there was much success, Smith was more than a coach.

He took boys and molded them into basketball players, took basketball players and molded them into men.

He was their coach at UNC but also a mentor. He was a father figure. He was a friend. He was the one they could they call on, rely on, confide in throughout their lives, in good times and bad.