There are any number of current coaches that one could argue is the best in the game. Coach K at Duke, Bobby Knight down at Texas Tech, Rick Pitino at Louisville, and Billy Donovan at Florida, to name a few, would all garner some consideration. But if we're talking about the best NCAA men's basketball coach of all time, there can be only one.
Dean Smith.
Now, as a fan of the N.C. State Wolfpack, it pains me somewhat to admit that a coach of an archrival is the best there ever was, but facts are facts, and I think the facts bear out that Smith easily outpaces all other contenders. There are other names that would get mentioned in this conversation, and they are certainly worthy. Bobby Knight's passing of Dean Smith to gain the top spot on the all-time wins list is quite an accomplishment, and Knight holds the distinction of coaching the last undefeated national championship squad. John Wooden's run of titles at UCLA was certainly impressive, though I highly doubt he would have managed it if his teams had had to play six games to win a title instead of four, as was the case back then.
Dean Smith not only won, but he did it the right way. He brought integration to the UNC basketball program by recruiting its first black player. He also lobbied hard for better treatment of blacks in the community. He graduated nearly 97 percent of his players. He was an innovator. His "four corners" offense was so effective as an endgame that the NCAA brought in the shot clock to stop it. I can't count the number of times I watched the Tar Heels take the air out of the ball with the four corners once they had a sizeable lead in the second half. Then there's the old joke about Dean Smith being the only person to ever hold Michael Jordan to less than twenty points a game.
Smith coached an endless string of players who went on to successful NBA careers. A short list of the more notable names includes Jordan, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, Billy Cunningham, Rasheed Wallace, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Jerry Stackhouse. There were countless more who had decent pro careers as well. As a Wolfpack fan, it could be demoralizing at times to look at the players Carolina put on the floor. They were an all-star team almost every year.
When you see a player make a shot and then point a finger at the person who made the pass to him, you're seeing a Dean Smith innovation. When you see a tired player hold up a fist to say that he needs to come out of the game, you're seeing a Smith idea. They're simple things, sure, but they've become part of the basketball lexicon. There aren't many coaches who leave lasting imprints on the game. Smith's innovations surely did.
Then there are the individual accomplishments. Detractors would suggest that with the talent Smith was able to recruit he should have been able to win more than two titles in eleven Final Four appearances. People would point out all of Wooden's titles to assert that he was the better coach. I'd point out that Wooden's teams never played in the Murderer's Row that is the Atlantic Coast Conference. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that UCLA wouldn't have made the tournament many of those years after toiling through the schedules that the Tarheels had to play. Smith had 35 straight seasons with a winning record. That's impressive. For 33 of those years, Smith's Tarheels finished in the top three in the ACC. Considering the teams that Smith coached against, the Dukes and N.C. States and Virginias and Marylands, that kind of consistency is astonishing. Smith had 30 seasons with at least 20 wins, which is a record, and 27 in a row, which is also a record.
But put all the facts aside, and the plain and simple truth is this. Even as it made me sick that most of the time, Smith's Tarheels beat my Wolfpack, and almost always made it further in the tournament than my boys did, I always had respect for what he did. I can't really say that about Coach K and our other rivals over at Duke. The word "classy" is often used to describe Smith, and it fits. Even if his team had just trounced some outclassed scrub opponent by fifty, Smith always spoke of the victory as if it had been tough, and as if the opponent had been worthy. And he ran a clean program. With all the teams on probation or sanctions of some sort from the NCAA, I can't stress enough how impressive it is that Smith coached his team for over thirty years, had great success for nearly all of that time, and didn't have to bend the rules to do it. And when he retired, I found I was actually let down a little, because in a way, I knew that watching UNC/N.C. State contests would never be the same again.