Dean Of Coaching Nears Rupp’s Record North Carolina’s Smith Within One Win Of Record 876 Victories

It was during a golf outing 10 years ago that one of Dean Smith’s former players had the temerity to mention the record. Eddie Fogler, now head coach at South Carolina, had done the math.

As coach at North Carolina, Smith was averaging more than 24 wins a year. At that same pace, Fogler reasoned, Adolph Rupp’s record of 876 college basketball victories was within reach.

Smith, who is loathe to talk shop on the golf course, cringed at the suggestion.

“I’ll probably quit first,” he said, stunning his playing partners.

“He didn’t want people to think that he was (just) trying to break the record,” said Roy Williams, his former assistant, now the head coach at No. 1 Kansas.

Smith, of course, didn’t quit. He just kept winning, and today the 66-year-old Kansas native has arrived at a defining moment, not only for himself, but for the sport of college basketball. With a win tonight over Fairfield, Smith will tie Rupp’s record, which has stood for 25 years. With another victory Saturday against Indiana or Colorado, Smith will stand alone as college basketball’s all-time winner.

To no one’s surprise, Smith has been mum on the subject all season and even more tight-lipped this week. Reporters who broach the subject get that withering stare normally reserved for an errant official. The North Carolina players have been instructed not to talk about it. It is predictable behavior from a man who so believes in the team concept that UNC lists individual statistics alphabetically.

Others, however, believe issues larger than Smith’s distaste for the limelight are at stake.

“That record belongs in this state, and he deserves to break it, whether he wants to or not,” said Dave Odom, Wake Forest head coach and a sophomore at Guilford College when Smith took over at North Carolina in 1961. “For people who grew up here and have watched what he has done over 36 years, this is very, very special.”

Conversely, the state of Kentucky, which has owned the record for so long, is not pleased. Kentuckians long have argued with North Carolinians over which state loves its basketball more. The schools are 1-2 in victories and have argued over the accounting of each. Watching the baton pass to the Tar Heel state cannot be pleasant to watch.

“Anybody in Kentucky over the age of 45 is in a deep, deep depression today,” said Larry Conley, Dunwoody native and ESPN commentator who played on the 1966 national runner-up team, Rupp’s Runts.

Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp have a few things in common: Both were born in Kansas - Smith in Emporia, Rupp in Halstead. Both attended the University of Kansas and learned the coaching trade under the legendary Forrest “Phog” Allen, who held the record before Rupp. Both men have basketball palaces named after them.

There the similarities end. Rupp was known for his love of Kentucky bourbon and an ego that knew no bounds. If Rupp were still alive, say his former players, he would not be happy that this whippersnapper Smith is about to break his record.

“He’d find a university or college that would employ somebody past 70 and start building on his record,” said Dan Issel, Rupp’s last All-American. “He was that competitive. His success was that important to him.”

Smith, the son of schoolteachers, is just as competitive as Rupp - ask anyone who has played golf with him.

“When you’re playing with Dean, you never hear the words, ‘That’s good,”’ Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “The word ‘mulligan’ is not in his vocabulary.”

Smith, however, keeps his competitive fire hidden from the world at large and sometimes goes to extreme lengths to deflect attention from himself.

“I’m convinced he got that from his parents, who were two wonderful people,” said Woody Durham, the voice of the Tar Heels, who has broadcast all but about 200 of Smith’s 1,127 games at North Carolina. “Yes, he’s uncomfortable with this. But I’m sure he already knows what he’s going to say when it happens.”

Despite Smith’s instructions not to talk, North Carolina’s players admit they are about to be a part of history. This is their moment, too.

“We have a chance to be the team to give coach Smith this record,” said junior guard Shammond Williams. “It would be something that no other team could give him. How can you not be excited about that?”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Winningest coaches The winningest coaches at NCAA Div. I schools through March 12, 1997 (years in parentheses): 876 (41) - Adolph Rupp, Kentucky, 1931-52, 1954-72 875 (36) - Dean Smith, North Carolina, 1962-present 767 (41) - Henry Iba, Northwest Missouri State, 1930-33; Colorado, 1934; Oklahoma State, 1935-70 759 (42) - Ed Diddle, Western Kentucky, 1923-64 746 (48) - Phog Allen, Baker, 1906-08; Kansas 1908-09; Haskell, 1909; Central Missouri State, 1913-19; Kansas 1920-56.