Dean Smith, who built the University of North Carolina basketball team into a perennial national power in his 36 years at Chapel Hill and became one of the game’s most respected figures for qualities that transcended the court, died on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 83.
His death was confirmed by the University of North Carolina. His family announced in July 2010 that he had a progressive neurological disorder affecting his memory.
Smith’s 879 victories rank him No. 4 among major college basketball coaches, and his teams won two national championships. He turned out a host of all-Americans, most notably Michael Jordan, perhaps basketball’s greatest player, but he emphasized unselfish team play. He was a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and a four-time national coach of the year.
Like most successful coaches, Smith was adept at diagraming plays on a blackboard. But unlike many, he ran a program that was never accused of N.C.A.A. violations, and some 97 percent of his players graduated.
President Obama awarded Smith the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in November 2013, presenting it to his wife, Linnea, who represented him at a White House ceremony.
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Smith outlined his strategy in “Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense” (1981).
He retired with a career record of 879-254 and was succeeded by his longtime assistant Bill Guthridge. The North Carolina basketball arena is now the Dean E. Smith Center.
Smith’s survivors include his wife, Linnea, and their daughters Kristen and Kelly; and his daughters Sharon and Sandy, and a son, Scott, from his marriage to his first wife, Ann, which ended in divorce.
For all his coaching achievements, Smith considered himself essentially a teacher.
Matt Doherty, a forward on Smith’s 1982 N.C.A.A. champions and later the head coach at North Carolina, told Sports Illustrated: “In a team meeting once, we were going over a trapping defense, and he referred to ‘the farthest point down the court.’ Then he stopped and said, ‘You know why I said “farthest,” not “furthest”? Because far — F-A-R — deals with distance.’ That’s an English lesson I got with the basketball team, and I’ve never forgotten it.”
