Mr. Smith Goes Home

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Oct. 9, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES Staff Writer

Legendary North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, who in April surpassed Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp on the all-time victory list during the NCAA tournament, reportedly will announce his retirement today after 36 seasons as the school’s coach.

North Carolina has called an 11 a.m. PDT news conference today in Chapel Hill. A school spokesperson would not confirm Smith’s retirement Wednesday night, saying only that it will be a “major announcement” involving the basketball program.

A source close to the program, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Smith called him Wednesday to tell him the news. He also told him that Bill Guthridge, Smith’s assistant for the past 31 seasons, would succeed him.

An incoming recruit to the Tar Heel program also confirmed the news to the Fayetteville Observer-Times.

“Coach Smith left a message for me and when I called him back, he just came out and told me he was retiring,” said Kris Lang, a senior at Gastonia Huss High who plans to play for North Carolina during the 1998-99 season.

The announcement comes somewhat as a surprise because Smith, although he is 66, talked about fulfilling his contract, which runs through 2001. Smith is also coming off one of his most satisfying seasons, leading a team that started 0-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Final Four, where the Tar Heels lost to eventual champion Arizona.

ESPN reported that Smith was not stepping down for health reasons.

“Very few retire as coaches, you know, really wanting to,” Smith told the Charlotte Observer before last season. “ You can’t think of too many. [Former Duke coach] Vic Bubas was probably the only one I remember really choosing to retire. Because it really is a nice job.”

North Carolina had won 16 consecutive games until the NCAA tournament loss to Arizona, the most significant victory coming against Colorado in the second round of the NCAA East Regional, when Smith recording his 877th victory, surpassing Rupp’s record of 876.

It was a record Smith said he never wanted to break. It was reported several of his former players talked Smith out of retiring before the season because he so detested breaking Rupp’s mark.

It wasn’t because of any special love for Rupp--the schools have long been archrivals--but rather Smith’s disdain for personal accomplishments.

Smith leaves as one of the giants in the college game, with an overall record of 879-254, two national championships--in 1982 and 1993--17 ACC titles, 13 ACC tournament titles, and 21 trips to the Sweet 16.

Smith took 11 teams to the Final Four, second only to UCLA coach John Wooden’s 12.

Under Smith, the Tar Heels also made 13 consecutive trips to the Sweet 16 from 1981 to 1993, and have posted 27 seasons in a row of 20 wins or more.

Smith has coached some of the game’s great players, including Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Billy Cunningham, Larry Brown, James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Jerry Stackhouse, Walter Davis, Mitch Kupchak, Phil Ford, Bobby Jones and Kenny Smith.

With five top players returning from last year’s Final Four team, including Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter and Ed Cota, the Tar Heels figure to challenge for another national title.

Before the shot clock was instituted in the college game, Smith was famous for his controversial “Four Corners” offense, a stall tactic that infuriated many. According to “The Dean’s List,” a book about Smith written by Art Chansky, the “Four Corners” was invented by accident at practice in 1963 and became an integral part of the offense two years later.

Yet, Smith will be better remembered for his enormous contributions to the college game, for his devotion to his players, and as an advocate for civil rights in the South.

Since taking over the Tar Heels at age 29 in 1960, his teams have never been on NCAA probation.

It was Smith who, in 1958, entered a Chapel Hill eatery with a black man to challenge the establishment’s segregation policies.

It was Smith who tried to sign North Carolina’s first black player, Lou Hudson, in 1961, not succeeding only because Hudson did not meet academic requirements.

It was Smith who did recruit North Carolina’s first black, Charlie Scott, in 1966, the same year Rupp’s Kentucky team faced Don Haskins’ Texas-Western team in the NCAA finals with an all-white lineup.

Of his position on civil rights, Smith always said, “Doing what’s right isn’t something to brag about.”

Smith was born in Emporia, Kan., on February 28, 1931, the son of public school teachers. He played for the legendary Phog Allen at Kansas, then served as a graduate assistant.

In 1958, the late Frank McGuire asked Smith to join him as a North Carolina assistant. Smith took over the team three years later when McGuire quit in the wake of an NCAA investigation.

Smith made $9,500 his first year.

The question of who would be Smith’s successor has long been a burning question on Tobacco Road. The short list always includes three of Smith’s former players: Eddie Fogler, now the coach at South Carolina, Roy Williams of Kansas, and George Karl, coach of the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics.

The timing of Smith’s announcement will make it difficult to find a permanent replacement, what with the start of practice beginning next week.

Associated Press contributed to this story.

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SMITH BY THE NUMBERS

35 - Years at North Carolina

2 - National Championships

11 - Number of Final Four Appearances

27 - NCAA record number of consecutive 20-victory seasons

.776 - Fifth all-time winning percentage

879 - NCAA record of coaching victories in basketball

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ALL-TIME COACHES