Legendary University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball coach Dean Smith, who coached the Tar Heels to two national championships and mentored a young Michael Jordan during a decades-long career, died Saturday night at the age of 83 surrounded by his family. Now for the second time in just over a month, after Stuart Scott’s passing, another member of the UNC Tar Heel family has passed away.
An official statement from the Smith family.
“Coach Dean Smith passed away peacefully the evening of February 7 at his home in Chapel Hill, and surrounded by his wife and five children,” Smith’s family said in a statement. “We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as arrangements are made available to the public. Thank you.”
Smith had been suffering since at least 2007 from dementia, a struggle for him chronicled in a 2014 ESPN profile by Tommy Tomlinson.
Smith passed away Saturday night, surrounded by his family. All 5 of his children were by his side when he died, his family said in the statement. Smith’s family announced in the statement that was released Sunday morning that Smith had died the night before at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, surrounded by his friends and family.
Coach Smith’s accomplishments are decorated and may never be matched. Smith took the reigns at North Carolina in 1961 and had one of the most impressive coaching resumes in sports. He retired after the 1996-97 season with 879 wins which was the most in history at the time when he broke Adolph Rupp’s career wins record in the 1997 NCAA tournament. Only Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight and Jim Boeheim currently have more wins among Men’s Division I coaches.
He won 879 Games and 2 National Championships along with 11 Final Four appearances in his 36 year tenure at UNC instilling his ‘4 corners offense’. 17 regular season ACC championships, 13 ACC Tournament titles, 11 NCAA Final Fours, 2 national championships, which the Tar Heels won in 1982 and 1993, his teams had over 20 wins in 30 seasons, 1 NIT Championship, 4-time NCAA Coach of the year, 9-time ACC Coach of the year, won an Olympic Gold Medal coaching the 1976 USA Men’s National basketball team and through his tenure, his players had a 96% graduation rate.
Smith was also an activist for Civil Rights and supporting equal rights for all people, no matter the color of their skin in all walks of life, not just basketball. He also signed Charlie Scott, the first African-American scholarship athlete at UNC.
Smith was elected to the North Carolina Hall of Fame in 1981, the Naismith basketball Hall of Fame in 1983, the inaugural collegiate basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, elected to the inaugural FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007 and in 2013 was awarded the Presidential medal of freedom.
Smith coached a list of great players in the world of basketball along with being an influential piece of coaching history being the mentor to many coached including, Coach Larry Brown, Coach Roy Williams, Hubert Davis, George Lynch, Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith, Mitch Kupchak, Billy Cunningham, Rasheed Wallace, Eric Montross, Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse, Brad Daugherty, Bob McAdoo, Sam Perkins, Antawn Jamison, James Worthy and of course, Michael Jordan.
Smith drew up a play to win the 1982 national championship thanks to him telling a freshman Jordan, “If the ball comes to you, knock it in Michael”.
Rest In Peace, Coach Dean Smith.
