Originally Posted by
Billy Dat
On last week's "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K", he had the following to say about Dean Smith:
"While we are talking about coaches, my good friends and one of the greatest coaches in the history of sport, Dean Smith, had knee surgery...he's one of the smartest men you'll ever be around and a good guy."
Whenever I've seen K and Dean's relationship characterized by journalists, it has been portrayed as decidedly frosty. The most prominent example I can think of was Feinstein's book on the ACC, "A March to Madness", where he mentioned that when K essentially had his mental breakdown, Dean was the only ACC coach not to contact him and, likewise, when Dean broke the all time win record, K was the only one not to contact him in congratulations. I also remember when K was offered the Lakers job, Dean went out of his way to make sure everyone knew that Kupcheck wanted Roy first. I feel like everything I read about the two of their banter has been, for lack of a better term, pissy.
Has the relationship thawed recently? Anyone have any insight about how frosty the relationship is, was, etc.?