Top 52 Quotes & Sayings by Dean Smith

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Dean Smith.

Last updated on November 8, 2024.

Dean Edwards Smith was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories, which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time. Smith had the ninth-highest winning percentage of any men's college basketball coach (77.6%). During his tenure as head coach, North Carolina won two national championships and appeared in 11 Final Fours. Smith played college basketball at the University of Kansas, where he won a national championship in 1952 playing for Hall of fame coach Phog Allen.

American - Athlete | February 28, 1931 - February 7, 2015

Source: Wikipedia

I'd like to see the high schools put in a rule that limits recruitable athletes from playing on teams outside a 100-mile radius from their home or school.

Dean Smith

I'd never get elected if people in North Carolina realized how liberal I am.

Dean Smith

I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.

Dean Smith

The best way to stop the problem of agents would be for the NCAA to come down hard and suspend a school for two years if it finds players with agents on campus.

Dean Smith

I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking.

Dean Smith

I know a lawyer who'd love to retire and be an assistant coach. I mean, it's fun.

Dean Smith

The presidents of colleges have to have some courage to step forward. You can't limit alcohol in college sports, you have to get rid of it.

Dean Smith

Given the fact that we are in a capitalist society, we still do not want to overlook not only what a corporation produces and its profitability but also how it impacts the environment, touches human life and whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.

Dean Smith

I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can choose; that is the free one.

Dean Smith

If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.

Dean Smith

As soon as you try to describe a close friendship, it loses something.

Dean Smith

There is a point in every contest when sitting on the sidelines is not an option.

Dean Smith

I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that... but I know that's just American society.

Dean Smith

Our teachers at the public school level are the most underpaid for the importance of their job in America.

Dean Smith

Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.

Dean Smith

I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.

Dean Smith

Everyone on the bench stands for the man coming out of the game.

Dean Smith

One player's selfish attitude can poison a locker room and make it hard, if not impossible, to establish team work

Dean Smith

The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring.

Dean Smith

There is a lot of basketball beyond our control, but a player should never let anyone try harder than he does

Dean Smith

Always have your players go and pick-up the guy who draws the charge.

Dean Smith

Motor cut. Forced landing. Hit cow. Cow died. Scared me.

Dean Smith

You should never be proud of doing the right thing. You should just do it.

Dean Smith

A lion never roars after a kill.

Dean Smith

The best way to build team chemistry is the way Rupp used to substitute, when they fouled out.

Dean Smith

The coach's job is to be part servant in helping each player reach his goals within the team concept.

Dean Smith

I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that but I know that's just American society.

Dean Smith

The focus should be on the players. I'm here a long time. You can call me in the summer. Our seniors will be gone.

Dean Smith

The truly free person in society is a disciplined person.

Dean Smith

Only praise behavior that you want to be repeated. Never use false praise.

Dean Smith

The most important thing is team morale.

Dean Smith

Over coaching is the worst thing you can do to a player.

Dean Smith

Michael, if you can't pass, you can't play.

Dean Smith

I wasn't as critical during games as I was at practice. Players needed confidence during games more than criticism.

Dean Smith

I only use statistics to reinforce what I already think, or if it's something unusual.

Dean Smith

I would never recruit a player who yells at his teammates, disrespected his high school coach, or scores 33 points a game and his team goes 10-10.

Dean Smith

The death penalty makes us all murderers.

Dean Smith

Praise behaviour that you want repeated

Dean Smith

If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times.

Dean Smith

You can't teach court savvy

Dean Smith

You should just do the right thing.

Dean Smith

Basketball, more than any other sport, is a team game...about the thousands of small, unselfish acts, the sacrifices on the part of the players that result in team building.

Dean Smith

What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.

Dean Smith

Good people are happy when something good happens to someone else.

Dean Smith

You should sub a player out when you see a player not going full-speed or playing selfish basketball.

Dean Smith

Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.

Dean Smith

The real issue is not if a crossing is put in, but when. It would be negligent on the part of Union Pacific and the California Public Utilities Commission to not address the problem.

Dean Smith

I've always believed in quickness over strength and size.

Dean Smith

Any old coach will say the game was meant for finesse. It's a beautiful game, especially on television.

Dean Smith

The flash of rain, the shining rainbow riding completely around the plane, the lift over mountain ridges, the steady, pure air at dawn take-offs. ... It was so alive and rich a life that any other conceivable choice seemed dull, prosaic, and humdrum.

Dean Smith

A leader's job is to develop committed followers. Bad leaders destroy their followers' sense of commitment.

Dean Smith

The key statistic is still to get to the foul line.

Dean Smith