The impact of Dean Smith

Has there been a coach in college basketball history who has impacted the game more than Dean Smith?  Mull on that question for a minute and let me ask it again--has there been a coach in college basketball history who has impacted the game more than Dean Smith?

I know there will be outcries for John Wooden and perhaps Pete Newell, Henry Iba or even another Kansas product, Phog Allen.  But, I think you'd be hard-pressed to identify another coach whose system (Coach Smith would say "philosophy") impacted the game more.

Smith's various schemes, offensively and defensively, have been copied by coaches since the 1960's.  The run-and-jump defense was the precursor to today's trapping man-to-man principles in the full-court and half-court; the famous Four Corners offense, used in the era of no shot clock, bred the idea of spreading the floor and letting your best ballhandler penetrate and create.  We can also see Smith's principles in what a coach like Bill Self has done this year with talented freshmen Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander, i.e., you have to practice well and produce in order to get minutes on the floor during a game--your preseason/high school credentials are of no use here.  (Smith famously had a very lauded freshman class play a 20-minute game against the upperclassmen--that freshmen group lost by 46.  His lesson--here, you're part of our system/philosophy.)

Watch a game today and see the scorer point to the player who provided the assist.  That's a Smith principle.  Watch a game today and see the players on the bench stand and applaud when another comes out of the game.  That's a Smith principle.  See another player help his teammate up off of the floor.  That too is a Smith principle.

Dean was criticized, and probably fairly, for what many viewed as the rigidity of his system.  The oft-told joke was that Smith was the only guy who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points.  True?  Maybe; but to Smith the point was that no player--not even a young Michael Jordan--was above the system that was Carolina basketball.

Smith's impact reached far beyond the arena and, in typical fashion, few knew of his philanthropy and stands on social issues.  The son of Baptist teachers, Smith came from humble beginnings in Emporia, KS, and consistently stood up for the less fortunate and oppressed.  He was humble and deferential; sometimes petty in his beefs with fellow coaches; loved reverentially by his assistant coaches, players and staff.

Many in this part of the world never forgave Smith for what appeared to be his recruitment of Roy Williams back to North Carolina in 2003.  Here's hoping that episode can be forgotten and that Smith's impact on the great game of basketball, and the world around him, can be celebrated.