Dean Smith Biography

Dean Edwards Smith was a former American collegiate basketball coach. He was known for his 36 year coaching stint at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He retired as the most successful men’s collegiate basketball coach with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time. Smith fetched his team two national championship titles and was named as the National Coach of the Year four times in his coaching career and Acc Coach of the Year eight times. He was considered to be a wonderful mentor as 96.6% of his players received their degrees and many of them, including Michael Jordan and James Worthy, became the star players in the NBA. Other players such as Larry Brown and Roy Williams became distinguished coaches at the collegiate or professional level. Smith was also known for his strong dedication towards racial incorporation - he was one of the first white coaches in the South to recruit African-American players in the 1960s. For his efforts and brilliance, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. He wasi nducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame and was been named as a ‘coaching legend’.