Dean Smith Leaves His Mark

In the world of sports, whether it be college or professional, coaches can have a big impact. Whether its winning games on the court, or winning battles off of it, coaches can mold young lives, and communities as a whole for that matter in big ways. Being a success at this can be pretty good. But its more than what you do on the court that measures how great a coach you were. It's what you do off it that can also have a lasting impact. Former North Carolina Coach Dean Smith was the perfect mix. He knew how to win on it and how to win off it. Smith passed away over the weekend at the age of 83, but his legacy will never be forgotten.

Smith was the head coach for UNC basketball from 1961 to 1997. When his 32 year coaching career came to an end, he finished with an 879-254 record. At the time of his retirement, he was the winningest coach in college basketball history. Right now, that win total has him 4th in the history of college basketball, sitting behind Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Boeheim. Besides the win totals, there were some other impressive numbers that Smith put up as head coach at UNC. He was on the bench for 1,133 games, good for 4th most in history. He had the most Division I 20-win seasons, with 27 consecutive 20-win seasons from 1970–1997, and 30 20-win seasons total. He had 22 seasons with at least 25 wins. Going into the Tournament, he had 27 NCAA tournament appearances, including 23 consecutive. Smith was lucky enough to win two national championships (1982, 1993), while he was able to make 11 Final Fours (tied with Krzyzewski for second all-time to John Wooden's 12). During the regular season he also won 17 regular-season ACC titles, plus 33 straight years finishing in the conference's top three and 20 years in the top two.

Among Smith's most successful players in the NBA are Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Phil Ford, Bob McAdoo, Billy Cunningham, Kenny Smith, Walter Davis, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Rick Fox, Vince Carter, Scott Williams and Rasheed Wallace. Smith coached 25 NBA first round draft picks.

Dean Smith knew how to get the best out of his players on the basketball court night in and night out. It wasn't just what he was able to do on the court that was so impressive (which it really was). It was also what he was able to do away from the hardwood that was really impressive.

One of the things that Dean Smith fought for the hardest was Civil Rights. Most famously, in 1966, he recruited Charlie Scott to Chapel Hill, making Scott the first black scholarship athlete in the University of North Carolina’s history and the first black basketball star in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But Smith wasn’t like other pioneering coaches, who broke college sports’ color barrier for purely pragmatic reasons. To Smith, racial justice was about much more than winning and losing. “It was simply the correct thing to do,” he wrote. Smith understood this far sooner than many other white Americans (Slate Magazine).

Sure other coaches had done it before him. Smith was really the first one who felt that it was bigger than what was going on in the world of athletic competition. It was just the right thing to do. He was a leader in advocacy for all things that were viewed as socially wrong in this country. He was helping make changes in the world through making the world a better place. It wasn't just what he did with integration, he also had a stake in opposed the Vietnam War, the death penalty and called for a freeze on nuclear weapons, among other causes (ESPN). Smith knew in his heart what was the right thing to do, from a societal perspective, and did his best to change what was wrong with the world.

Sure Dean Smith did great things on a basketball court, that will never be questioned. What people should also remember about Smith was his greatest victory of them all. The fact that he went up against society and made an impact on the world he lived in. Dean Smith, gone but never forgotten!