University of Virginia Library

Smith To Become Premier Coach After Wooden's Exit

(This is the last of a
two-part article based on
telephone interviews by CD
reporter Ned Roberts during
the week of March 5-9. –Ed.)

When trying to pinpoint the
reasons for the success of John
Wooden's teams, one has to

point to teamwork,
fundamentals and
conditioning. To these,
Wooden has always combined
the philosophy that regardless
of the material he has, in
whatever sizes or shapes it
comes in, he has "one job only
– to get the best out of what I
have." Obviously, Wooden has
been more than successful with
this philosophy, winning not
only with the big man –
Walton or Alcindor – but with
the little people as well. His '65
championship team, starring
Walt Hazzard and Gail
Goodrich, was led the whole
way by a 6-5 privot man.

To implement Coach
Wooden's ideas, fundamentals
have to come first. He drills his
players time and time again
until they are able to execute
without thinking and above all
quickly.

Next and perhaps most
important, he emphasized that
basketball more than anything
else is a team game. He will not
"tolerate individuality" on the
floor. In the UCLA system, no
individual is the key, not even
Walton. The hope is that most
baskets will result from "passes
and movement" and not from
dribbling. He went on to
describe his team's style of
play as "clever but not fancy
or spectacular." The easy
bucket, not the spectacular one,
is always the object.

Since basketball is a
five-man game, Wooden
continuously works for putting
together a line-up with "team
balance," finding those players
who will play together best,
not necessarily the five best
individual players. Their moral
conduct and mental outlook
also have an influence as to
who will start for the Bruins.
As Wooden says, "you cannot
have one (physical ability)
without the other (mental
attitude) and still play for
UCLA.

The last key to Wooden's
big three is conditioning. Here
the emphasis is on quickness
above all. UCLA plays a
running game; however it is
controlled and very disciplined.
Wooden was quoted in the
March4th Richmond paper as
saying "the worst thing you
can do is hurry. Be quick! But,
for gracious sakes, don't
hurry!"

To get his players in shape,
Wooden stresses change of
direction and quick starting
drills more than anything else.
In these areas, he said,
basketball games are won and
lost.

No Run And Gun

At Chapel Hill, the Tar
Heels have won with basically
the same type of game. Their
offense is not run and gun like
S.W. Louisiana or Florida
State. Rather, they almost
without exception, work the
ball for the good percentage
shot, keying their offense to
the inside game. Over the last
decade, both UCLA and UNC
have been in the top five in
team shooting percentage in
the country.

In the same manner,
Carolina teams are
consistently, like the Bruins,
noted each year for their
"unselfish play, teamwork,
team morale, and aggressive
man-to-man defense." Smith
prides himself particularly on
the number of assists tallied by
him team each game.

To complement his ideas,
Smith's teams are perennially
in peak physical condition,
hopefully better than the
opposition. Together with the
fact that Smith regularly uses
five or six substitutes a game
without hesitation, the Tar
Heels are often able to run
away from their opponents.

Getting back to Wooden, it
seems totally unbelievable that
the man who has so thoroughly
dominated the college level for
the last nine years, did not
garner his first national title till
his 16th year at UCLA.
Wooden attributes that fact to
luck as much as any other
variable. Seven or eight of his
earlier teams, he asserted, were
good enough to have gone all
the way, but for some reason
just never quite made it.

In 1962 for instance, he
said he thought his team could
possibly have won the NCAA,
had not his center injured
himself shortly before the
semi-finals. Considering the
length of time Wooden
endured out on the west coast
before winning the big one, it
hardly seems unfair then to
give Coach Gibson at least five
more years to go all the way.

Throughout all those years,
Wooden could not pinpoint
any "biggest thrill," but merely
stated that during his entire
career he had been extremely
lucky and he felt himself to be
a very fortunate man. To him,
events that stick closest to his
memory are those that have
occurred most recently whether
the events are a victory or a
tragic loss.

If Not For UCLA ....

Smith's career at UNC has
spanned the past dozen years
following the exit of Frank
McGuire. Despite the absence
of any NCAA trophies, he has
still recorded some impressive
stats (217-82) and been blessed
with quite a few talented ball
players. Had it not been for
UCLA, he could easily have
two or three national
championships by now.
During these years, his career
has expanded far beyond the
doors of Carmichael
Auditorium as he goes to great
efforts to maintain
relationships with as may
ex-players as possible.

Smith has also been doing
more than coaching during his
Chapel Hill reign. He has
introduced many new changes
to the game that have been
picked up by other colleagues
in the field. In addition to the
four-corner offense, his most
publicized "invention," he was
among the first to use the run
and jump defense, the mixing
of pressure defenses after a
field goal, the point zone and
team huddles at the foul line.

Wooden's Innovations

Wooden has also been an
instigator of progress and has
several recommendations that
he would like to see
implemented to improve the
game for the fans. Chief among
his suggestions are the
eliminations of jump balls and
the offensive rebound basket,
and the use of the 30-second
clock.

The last idea would be just
as beneficial to the Tar Heels as
UCLA, however Smith believes
it would ruin the college game
by taking away the one big
equalizer – the delayed
offense. Just last week,
Carolina was beaten by a vastly
inferior Wake Forest team
using the spread offense. Still,
after the game, Smith told the
press that they had just
witnessed a prime example of
why the 30 second clock
would take so much away from
the college game. It would
quickly take away the
excitement and closeness of
games involving say
Clemson-Maryland or
Virginia-N.C. State.

Smith has many more years
to worry about such matters
being only 41, but Wooden at
63 is approaching the twilight
years, though all too slowly for
rival opponents. When
questioned on retirement, he
laughed a moment and then in
a serious tone said that he was
"morally obligated to the
parents of the juniors to coach
another year." After that,
depending on his health and
how well he is doing his job, he
will take each year as it comes.
When THAT year finally rolls
around, Dean Smith will be
more than happy to step into
his role as the nation's premier
coach.