Greatest Coaches - Dean Smith - University of North Carolina Tarheels

March 27, 2008

Greatest NCAA College Basketball Coaches of All Time: Dean Smith Basketball legend Dean Smith was born in Kansas in 1931. During his college years at Kansas University, Smith played basketball, baseball and football, and was a part of the Jayhawks 1952 NCAA basketball championship team, under the father of basketball coaching, Phog Allen. After being recruited by Frank McGuire to be his assistant coach at North Carolina in 1958, Smith would take over the team in 1961. After several rough years, Smith would eventually develop North Carolina into one of the strongest programs in men’s college basketball. Dean Smith’s Tar Heels appeared in 11 Final Fours and won two championships, in 1982 and 1993 respectively. From 1961 to 1997, Smith would earn National Coach of the Year honors four times, while helping develop future greats such as Michael Jordan and 24 other first round NBA draft picks. Other than coaching the 1976 Men’s Olympic Gold Medal team in 1976, Smith would also be recognized for developing some terrific coaching talent, including former players Larry Brown and Roy Williams. Some accomplishments that Smith retired with include most Division I 20-win seasons with 30, second most final four appearances - sitting only behind John Wooden, and most coaching wins of all-time at 879, a record which stood until Bob Knight surpassed it in 2007. Interesting to note that up until 2007, Smith and Knight were also the only two NCAA championship coaches who were also NCAA champions as players.