We Kansas Jayhawks fans wondered “how in the world can Bob Frederick hire Roy Williams? Who is this guy?” We quickly realized “then again, how many coaches come with a recommendation from Dean Smith?” Since I grew up in Topeka, Kansas, I get to remind people there’s more than the Westboro Baptist Church there. There’s a lot of good folks from Kansas, and Dean Smith was one of them. Smith began coaching at North Carolina the season before I was born, and so my recollections of Smith had more to do with people he’d gone to high school with, and people who knew him in his days at KU. It seemed like he was in town a lot for reunions either at Topeka High or KU. People of my father’s generation always remembered good things about Smith, and the worst thing anyone ever said was “we can’t get the guy to come home and coach the Jayhawks?” Not that there were a lot of opportunities. Dick Harp retired after Smith had been a head coach just two years, and the first one of those was a losing season (at 7-8, it was the only one he had.) So Kansas hired Ted Owens, who had a measure of success with a pair of Final Four teams in the mid-1970s, but was fired when KU slipped under .500 a couple of times in the early 80s. Owens coached at KU for 19 seasons. By the time 1983 rolled around, Smith had obviously established himself as a coaching commodity, and he was the very first call by then-KU Athletic Director Monte Johnson when looking for Owens’ replacement. No dice. Five years later, new A.D. Bob Frederick was again looking for a head coach after the highly-successful and always nomadic Larry Brown left Lawrence. Frederick’s first call was to Smith, and Frederick later reported Smith replied “you know, I appreciate the offer, but since they’ve named the new building after me, I really can’t leave. But I do have an assistant coach that’s ready to be a head coach, and he deserves an interview.” Frederick and Roy Williams forged a tight bond, but eventually Frederick was canned due to lack of success in the football program (that happens a lot in Lawrence) and ol’ Roy, after turning down Carolina in 2000 and unhappy with the new AD, answered Coach Smith’s call after the 2003 season. For a day or two, I resented Smith for hurting Kansas. Anyway, here’s my little Dean Smith story. When I was in high school, Brian Williams and I worked as bus boys at a country club near my home. OK, just kidding. I worked there, but Williams, as is the case nowadays probably doesn’t remember where he was. At the club, it was common for a bunch of older men (at least to my 16-year-old eyes: anyone older than my dad was an old man) to spend Wednesday afternoons around a table in the locker room smoking pipes, cigars and playing cards. The gentlemen would use a phone to call for food and drink, and the waitresses obviously weren’t going into the locker room. So they sent me. I was in the room doing what I did on Wednesday afternoon, July 12, 1978 when an entourage walked in from the 18th green, among them Dean Smith. I took my spot well away from the center of attention, and watched as Coach Smith shook the hand of every single person in the room. After everyone had been introduced, Coach Smith walked up to me and said “hello, I’m Dean Smith.” A wide-eyed, knock-kneed teenaged me managed to get his mouth in working order to long enough to give the man my name, and he said “Mark, it’s good to meet you.” I got home from work and couldn’t wait to tell my dad what had happened. I’m not sure he believed me until the 6 o’clock sports came on (perhaps that dates me some) and an interview with Smith was on, with the facade of the club in the background. It was a moment in time that I’m certain Smith never remembered, and I’ll never forget. For 10 seconds I had Dean Smith’s undivided attention. Or so it felt. Thanks for the memory, Mr. Smith.
