Dean Smith

Legendary coaching icon Dean Smith passed away Saturday night at the age of 83. I grew up in the 1970's and Dean Smith's name was revered in my house. He was the standard in which coaching excellence was measured. He believed in sportmanship, respect for the other team, and his innovations for the game of college basketball have been well documented.

I do not know who coined the term "Carolina Family" but it also became legendary throughout college and pro basketball. This family also extended to players that transferred out of the program. Current and ex-Tarheels used to gather in Chapel Hill over the summer to play pick up games and to see Dean Smith and stay involved with the Carolina Program.

Dean Smith's biggest contributions may have come off the court. He recruited the first African American, Charles Scott, to play in the ACC ands not for any politically motivated reasons but because he felt it was the right thing to do.

He retired as the all-time winningest coach in College Basketball but he knew the time was right for him to leave. His coaching tree extends far and wide and the roots run deep and his impact will be felt for a long, long time.

I met Dean Smith one time when he was at Owen High School near Asheville, NC recruiting future Tar Heel Brad Daugherty. My team East Henderson, was playing Owen in an exhibition game and I had the opportunity to go say a few words to him and get an autograph. He obliged but I knew he had better things to do but he still took the time.

A Different Tarheel Team Than Any Other

This years North Carolina Tarheels basketball team is far different from most any other team they have had in the past several years. Most of that difference lies in the Tarheels inside game. Since the early days of Dean Smith the 'Heels have always worked the inside first and that usually gave the Tarheels a big advantage in free throws attempted and made, usually at about a 2 to 1 ratio. Through 8 games the 'Heels have attempted only 10 more free throws than their opponents. This season the 'Heels are shaping up to be an outside shooting team with James Michael McAdoo manning the middle but he is not the classic Tarheels post player. He is leading the team with 3.75 Free Throw attempts per game and as a team, the Tarheels are only averaging 16.75 attempts per game. It doesn't help that they are only making 61.2% of their free throws. Their is a saying and I don't know who to credit it to, "live by the three and die by the three" and the Tarheels are not consistent enough from the outside to live by the three. Reggie Bullock needs to use his size and P.J. Hairston needs to use his thick body to drive to the basket and get to the line more. Bullock has 11 free throws in 8 games.

The ACC Tournament

As far as sports are concerned, The ACC tournament has always been my favorite time of year. Growing up, it was the only day of the year that my Mom would let me skip school. That "tradition" started when I was in about the 6th grade.

The Tarheels were always the #1 or #2 seed so they would always play at 12 or 7. I used to tell Mom I needed to be home by 12. Mom would come pick me up at school so I could be home in time for the games to start or she would let me stay out of school altogether. I would usually go shoot baskets at halftime to help burn off some energy.

I particularly remember the 1982 ACC Tournament. It was Michael Jordan's Freshman year but he was only about the third best player on that team behind James Worthy and Sam Perkins.

That tournament was epic especially the Final against Ralph Sampson and the University of Virginia. Ralph Sampson was 7'4" and very athletic and there had never been another player like him before. It was his Senior year and he had been a thorn in the 'Heels side the whole time he had been at Virginia. The story I always heard was that he almost picked the 'Heels over Virginia but couldn't disappoint his grandmother by leaving the state to go to college.

UNC won the tournament final against Virginia 47-45 but that game is credited for bringing about the shot clock in college basketball. UNC had a 4 or 6 point lead with about 8 minutes to go and went into Dean Smith's famous 4 corners offense to kill the clock. I watched that game with my father and we both thought that Dean Smith went into that offense way too early but it worked out for them.

The Voice of the Tarheels

It was with great surprise that I read of the retirement yesterday of the voice of the Tarheels, Woody Durham. I treated him about like I did Dean Smith. I figured he would last forever and never imagined the day when he would retire.

Woody Durham got me through most every Carolina football and basketball game in the mid-1970's before the days of ESPN and all of the other sports channels that televise every game. Even recently, I would turn down the volume of Dan Bonner and his anti-Carolina bias, Dick Vitale and his pro-Duke rantings even when Carolina wasn't playing Duke, and Billy Packer and his idiocy and turn up Woody Durham. My wife would always tell me that it was harder for her to follow the action in the game that way because radio and TV are broadcast differently. My reply was I would rather the game be harder to follow and listen to someone that knew what they were talking about than listen to those clowns. He was always worth listening to.

I always used to make sure that I caught the Dean Smith show with Woody Durham as the host every Sunday morning. WLOS-TV out of Asheville carried if for years. They always showed the highlights of the past weeks Tarheel games (with the radio call by Woody Durham) and it was the best thirty minutes on TV.

I had the privilege of meeting Woody Durham after he broadcast his 1,000th game for the Tarheels. It was a basketball game against Clemson in Chapel Hill (we all know how that turned out) and it was the first basketball game I had ever been to in the Dean Dome (or anywhere else for that matter) and Mr. Durham was walking through the stands after the game. I offered my congratulations on this milestone, he shook my hand, and he was very gracious even though I am sure he had other places he needed to be. He was not only the voice of the Tarheels, he was a class act as well.