A true Dean: UNC coach cared about wins and losses -- but valued education most

Forget, for a moment, about Michael Jordan's iconic jumpshot in the waning seconds against Georgetown -- and the infamous timeout that took Dean Smith to the NCAA mountaintop a second time more than a decade later.

Set aside the Olympic gold medal and the fact that, when he retired, UNC's general was the winningest head coach in college basketball history.

Don't think about the staggering number of ACC titles or the names on the jerseys that hang from the rafters of the arena that bears his name.

And cast aside, just this once, all he did for the civil rights movement -- how he walked into segregated restaurants with black players at his side and didn't flinch.

Dean Smith was so much more than just a coach.

And perhaps his greatest achievement -- the mother of all statistics -- was that nearly 96 percent of his players earned their college degrees.

You see, Smith understood that basketball was just a game.

Sure, he loved to win -- and HATED losing.

And he has, since his death, been remembered as a basketball innovator, a man who shaped some of the game's greatest minds -- and, perhaps, its greatest player.

But years from now, few will remember who was in the starting lineup the night Carolina beat Michigan for Smith's second title.

Most probably couldn't name the young men who suited up for Team USA the year he led them to gold.

But the values he instilled in those he came in contact with -- the love of education he preached -- will live on, in them and those they have passed it on to, for generations.

We live in the "one and done" era.

Right now, your favorite team probably has at least one player who will trade a chance at a diploma for a shot at millions in the NBA.

Graduation, at least among power conference players, is not the preferred end game.

And so many young people -- right here in Wayne County -- set aside their books every day to chase their own hoop dreams.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a few more Dean Smiths out there to remind them that, even for a great like Michael Jordan, the air, eventually, hisses out of the ball?

Published in Editorials on February 9, 2015 11:29 AM