If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times.

Accomplishments and recognition


Accomplishments
Among the accomplishments of Smith:
879 wins in 36 years of coaching 4th most in men's college Division I basketball history behind Bob Knight Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim. Smith was the first recipient of the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement given by the University of North Carolina Committee on Teaching Awards for "a broader range of teaching beyond the classroom. As it turned out this would be the only losing season he would ever suffer.

While at North Carolina Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting the University’s first African American scholarship basketball player Charlie Scott and pushing for equal treatment for African Americans by local businesses. Smith coached from 1961 to 1997 and retired with 879 victories which was the NCAA Division I men's basketball record at that time. Smith is best known for his successful 36-year coaching tenure at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.