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"Time, too, has drawn for us a portrait of someone far more complex than the usual sideline screamer. Smith is a privacy freak who thrived gracefully in an intensely public line of work. He's a traditionalist who will rejigger anything if reason warrants. We marvel at how a man so stern summons such compassion, and a man so competitive summons such perspective; how he simultaneously tends to niggling detail and sees the big picture; and how he makes his wondrously jesuitical distinctions. Loyalty versus Integrity is the trade-off that college coaches have never gotten quite right, but he has proved it's possible to abide by both."
Text by Alexander Wolff
When Dean Smith retired before the start of the 1997-98 college basketball season, he left the court as the winningest coach in the history of the college game. In his 36 years at North Carolina, Smith's record was 879-254 (a .776 winning percentage). He coached 26 All-Americans and led his team to 27 consecutive 20-win seasons and 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
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