Statements On Dean Smith's Passing

Statements on the Death of

Former University of North Carolina Head Coach Dean Smith

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

"Last night, America lost not just a coaching legend but a gentleman and a citizen. When he retired, Dean Smith had won more games than any other college basketball coach in history. He went to 11 Final Fours, won two national titles, and reared a generation of players who went on to even better things elsewhere, including a young man named Michael Jordan—and all of us from Chicago are thankful for that.

"But more importantly, Coach Smith showed us something that I've seen again and again on the court – that basketball can tell us a lot more about who you are than a jumpshot alone ever could. He graduated more than 96 percent of his players and taught his teams to point to the teammate who passed them the ball after a basket. He pushed forward the Civil Rights movement, recruiting the first black scholarship athlete to North Carolina and helping to integrate a restaurant and a neighborhood in Chapel Hill. And in his final years, Coach Smith showed us how to fight an illness with courage and dignity. For all of that, I couldn't have been prouder to honor Coach Smith with Medal of Freedom in 2013.

"Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to his wife Linnea, to his family, and to his fans all across North Carolina and the country."

BUBBA CUNNINGHAM (UNC Athletic Director)

“Dean Smith was a legendary Hall of Fame coach who will long be remembered as an innovator in the game of basketball and a pioneer for social justice. His legacy will always be a part of the University of North Carolina and will continue to inspire students for generations to come.”

JOHN SWOFFORD (ACC Commissioner and former UNC Athletic Director)

“We've known for a while this day would come, but it still hits hard.

"Sometimes we are blessed to be around certain people in our lives. For me, one of those people was Dean Smith. For 21 years I had the privilege of working with him.

He personified excellence day-in and day-out, year-in and year-out. The remarkable number of wins is well chronicled, but most importantly those wins came while teaching and living the right values. He won, his players graduated and he played by the rules. He was first and foremost a teacher, and his players were always the most important part of his agenda.

His impact on the University of North Carolina, the Atlantic Coast Conference, college basketball and the sport itself, is immeasurable. His leadership off the court in areas such as race relations and education were less chronicled, but just as important.

Sometimes the word legend is used with too little thought. In this instance, it almost seems inadequate. He was basketball royalty, and we have lost one of the greats in Dean Smith.”

BILL GUTHRIDGE (former UNC head coach and assistant coach under Dean Smith)

“Dean was a great friend and a great coach. I will miss him dearly. He was devoted to me and I to him and I will forever be grateful for our friendship.”

DICK BADDOUR (former UNC athletic director)

“Dean was the face of the University of North Carolina for many years. He was a great coach, but an even greater teacher. His legacies are many but what stands out to me is his devotion to his players. While he taught us about the importance of team work, he taught us even more about the importance of relationships.”

ANTAWN JAMISON (UNC '95-98):

"Coach Smith was a coach, mentor and friend. He had a huge impact on my career but had an even bigger impact on my life. I can vouch for all of the things that everyone else has said about him impacting their lives for the best. He was more like a father to me than a coach. In fact, it feels like I'm losing a father. I wouldn't be the man I am today if it wasn't for Coach Smith. My heart goes out to his family. It's definitely a sad day for my family and the Tar Heel nation."

JEFF LEBO (UNC '85-89), East Carolina Head Coach

"My phone rang at 7 o'clock this morning from Coach Williams, so I knew it wasn't good, an he told me the news. My wife and I went out, took a long walk and I couldn't help but think back to my first trip to North Carolina. I'll never forget coming down here. I was stunned at the blue skies. When we walked through Greenville today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and I was flushed with a lot of emotions and a lot of thoughts about him and my experiences there. I owe him a lot, we all do as former players.

"There are so many things he could be remembered for. He was an innovator. He changed our game. He changed the rules of basketball, but more than anything he coached it the right way. He was about the right things. He believed in his players and he would do anything for his guys. He was a great competitor also. I don't remember the wins very much, but I remember a lot of the stories and a lot of the lessons I learned from him. A lot of those were outside the practice court or the game situation.

“As a player, you remember a lot of things about him, but his compassion toward others and how humble he was were the things that separated him and was special. We as former players always consulted in any type of large decisions we would have to make. He would never tell us what we should do. He would give us the pros and cons. Rarely did you want to go against what he said. I did one time and that didn't work out too well. He was a guy that you leaned on; he was like a second father. That's how all of us thought of him. You had a relationship with him that was much different once you graduated. He was your coach when you played for him then he was one of your best friends when you finished.

"My dad (Dave Lebo) loved what Coach Smith did. He studied his system, bought his books; his books were laying around our house all the time growing up. He really admired him as a coach and as a person. My parents never told me where I had to go, but I knew where they wanted me to go and that was very evident. That was the respect they had for Coach Smith and his staff.

"As a player when you went there you never wanted to disappoint him. I would have rather him cuss and scream at me than to think I disappointed him in someway."

LARRY BROWN (former UNC player and assistant coach)

"It wasn't what he saw in me, it's what he did for me. What he did for everybody that he's been around. He taught us to be men, he taught us the importance of giving back and trying to be responsible. He was the greatest teacher not only on the court but off the court."

Brown said that he was sad at the news of Smith's passing but the outpouring of affection he saw for his former coach lifted his spirits. "Sunday was really tough. When (North Carolina head coach) Roy Williams called me up and told me what had happened early Sunday morning, I wasn't doing very well," Brown said. "And then I started to read and listen to all the wonderful things said about him. I just felt so fortunate he was a big part of my life. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him. I always try to be like him and I've always fallen short but his impact on the game and on social issues that people don't even realize was incredible. As difficult as it is to lose him, I think we all ought to celebrate what he meant. And I'm not alone; it's funny, all the things I say about him, I hear other people who were around him say the same things."

WOODY DURHAM (former radio voice of the Tar Heels):

"In my life there was nobody like Dean Smith. I don't mean just as a successful basketball coach. He was a thoughtful and caring person not just for his players, but for his friends and those with whom he came in contact and hardly knew, but he remembered their names. I will certainly remember him."

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (Duke head coach)

“The thing that Dean did the best is that he made men of the boys that came to him. And all those men revere him. They don't love him, they revere him. That's his biggest accomplishment. And he has done better than anybody. I'm proud to be able to say that I was his friend. And I love him, and I love what he built and how he did it. It's second to none. It's really second to none. That's why I don't like to compare wins, championships and all that. No one could do it any better than him. Linnea and the kids have been incredible while he fought this horrible disease. So God bless him, God bless him, God bless him. We lost a great, great man in him.”

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