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Dean Smith Essay

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DEAN SMITH

Dean Edwards Smith (born on February 28, 1931) is a retired American head coach of men's college basketball. He is originally from Emporia, Kansas, Smith as been called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired as the NCAA Division I men's basketball record-holderfor victories (879), a record which was surpassed by Bobby Knightin 2007. Smith has the 9th highest winning percentage of any men's college basketball coach(77.6%). During his career as head coach of North Carolina, the team won two nationsl titles and appeared in 11 Final Fours. Smith is also known …show more content…

From 1961-62 North Carolina only played 17 games and went 8-9. His first major successes came in the late 1960s, when his teams won three consecutive regular-season and ACC tournament championships , and went to three straight Final Fours. Unfortunately, this run occurred in the middle of UCLA's run of 10 titles in 12 years in fact he lost to UCLA's John Wooden in the 1968 title game. It took Smith 7 trips to the Final Four before winning his first natinal title, and then it took him 9 more years to return, and 2 more to get another national championship. Dean Smith's first national championship occured in 1982, when the team was composed of future NBA players such as Micheal Jordan, James Worthy, and Sam Perkins. After winning the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina had a record of 32-2. North Carolina gave Smith's 2nd national championship in 1993 when the Tar Heels played Michigan in New Orleans. Among the accomplishments of Smith:
879 wins in 36yrs of coaching, 2nd most in men's college Division I basketball history behind Bob Knight.
77.6% winning percentage, 9th on highest winning percentage
4th total number of college games coached with 1,133.
35 consecutive seasons with a 50% or better record
2 national championships (1982, 1993)
11 Final Four
17 regular-season ACC titles
13 ACC tournament titles
27 NCAA tournament appearances
96.6% graduations rate among players most successful players in the NBA are Micheal Jordan, Larry Brown, James Worthy,

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