On February 7th, 2015, the basketball world lost one of the best collegiate head coaches to ever grace the earth.  Dean Smith passed away at the age of eighty-three in his home from natural causes.  Smith is one of the most accomplished basketball coaches of all time.  He is fourth among all Division I coaches in total number of wins with 879, all at the University of North Carolina.  He is almost solely responsible for the basketball dynasty that UNC was from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.

Smith led the Tar Heels to twenty-seven NCAA tournaments, of which he made it to the final four a total of eleven times and won the tournament twice.  He lead his team to thirty 20+ win seasons out of the thirty-six years he coached there. Therefore, the fact that he had a 77.6% win percentage shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody.  Not only is he one of the winningest coaches of all time, but it is also well known that he ran a clean and classy program.  Smith had a zero tolerance policy for illegal and foolish activities off the court.  He made sure his players didn’t get into trouble and kept them on a course for them to obtain their degree.  96% of his players received their degree from the University of North Carolina.

When Smith started his coaching career, the Civil RIghts Movement was coming to an end.  He was an advocate for the desegregation of schools and basketball programs.  He fought for the right to give athletic scholarships to African-American students, something he eventually achieved.  Another way to see Smith’s success is the way his players spoke of him.  Michael Jordan, who Smith led to a championship in 1982, says that he was like a second father to him and he wouldn’t be the player he was without him.  Dean Smith will forever be remembered as one of the greatest college coaches ever.