Dean Smith

“If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.”

“I'd never get elected if people in North Carolina realized how liberal I am.”

“There is a point in every contest when sitting on the sidelines is not an option.”

“I do believe in praising that which deserves to be praised.”

“The presidents of colleges have to have some courage to step forward. You can't limit alcohol in college sports, you have to get rid of it.”

“I know a lawyer who'd love to retire and be an assistant coach. I mean, it's fun.”

“I just think we shouldn't get into counting coaches' records. I've never been for that... but I know that's just American society.”

“As soon as you try to describe a close friendship, it loses something.”

“I always mean what I say, but I don't always say what I'm thinking.”

“Given the fact that we are in a capitalist society, we still do not want to overlook not only what a corporation produces and its profitability but also how it impacts the environment, touches human life and whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.”

“I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can choose; that is the free one.”

“Our teachers at the public school level are the most underpaid for the importance of their job in America.”

“The best way to stop the problem of agents would be for the NCAA to come down hard and suspend a school for two years if it finds players with agents on campus.”

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

“Basketball is a team game. But that doesn't mean all five players should have the same amount of shots.”

“I'd like to see the high schools put in a rule that limits recruitable athletes from playing on teams outside a 100-mile radius from their home or school.”

“I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.”