Dean Smith: "I was trying to do what was right."

"I wasn't trying to leave a legacy. I was trying to do what was right."

Dean Smith

Basketball Coach, University of North Carolina Tar Heels

Among the accomplishments of Smith:

• 879 wins in 36 years of coaching. With 879 wins, Smith was the winningest college basketball coach in history. Now he ranks 4th most in men's college Division I basketball history behind Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Boeheim.^[32] Adolph Rupp's 876 wins came after 41 years of coaching.^[3] Smith compiled a 77.6% winning percentage while coaching 1,133 games at an average of 31.5 games a season. Rupp coached 1069 games in 41 years at an average of 26 games a season with an 82.2% winning percentage.
• 77.6% winning percentage, which puts him 9th on highest winning percentage.^[1]
• Fourth total number of college games coached with 1,133.^[1]
• Most Division I 20-win seasons, with 27 consecutive 20-win seasons from 1970–1997^[3] and 30 20-win seasons total.^[1]
• 22 seasons with at least 25 wins
• 35 consecutive seasons with a 50% or better record.^[3]
• Two national championships (1982, 1993)
• 11 Final Fours (tied with Krzyzewski for second all-time to John Wooden's 12).^[3]
• 17 regular-season ACC titles, plus 33 straight years finishing in the conference's top three and 20 years in the top two
• 13 ACC tournament titles
• 27 NCAA tournament appearances, including 23 consecutive.^[3]
• 96.6% graduation rate among players.^[3][4]
• Recruited 26 All-Americans to play at North Carolina under him.^[3]
• His players were often successful in the NBA. Five of Smith's players have been NBA Rookie of the Year in either the NBA or ABA. Among Smith's most successful players in the NBA are Michael Jordan, Larry Brown, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Phil Ford, Bob McAdoo, Billy Cunningham, Kenny Smith, Walter Davis, Jerry Stackhouse, Antawn Jamison, Rick Fox, Vince Carter, Scott Williams and Rasheed Wallace. Smith coached 25 NBA first round draft picks.^[3] When Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he said, "There's no way you guys would have got a chance to see Michael Jordan play without Dean Smith."
• In 1976, Smith coached the United States team to a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Montreal.'

(Information from Wikipedia)