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A Coach's Life | 
 enlarge | Authors: Dean E. Smith, John Kilgo, Sally Jenkins
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 196187
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0375758801
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323092
EAN: 9780375758805
ASIN: 0375758801
Publication Date: February 12, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new.
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Product Description
For almost forty years, Dean Smith coached the University of North Carolina basketball team with unsurpassed success, having an impact both on the court and in the lives of countless young men. In A Coach’s Life, he looks back on the great games, teams, players, strategies, and rivalries that defined his career and, in a new final chapter, discusses his retirement from the game. The fundamentals of good basketball are the fundamentals of character—passion, discipline, focus, selflessness, and responsibility—and superlative mentor and coach Dean Smith imparts them all with equal authority.
Download Description
For almost forty years, Dean Smith coached the University of North Carolina men's basketball program with unsurpassed success, on the court and in shaping young men's lives. In his long-awaited memoir, he reflects back on the great games, teams, players, strategies and rivalries that defined his career, and explains the philosophy that guided his way. There's a lot more to life than basketball -- though some might beg to differ -- but there's a lot more to basketball than basketball, and this is a book about basketball filled with wisdom about life. Dean Smith insisted that the fundamentals of good basketball are the fundamentals of character -- passion, discipline, focus, selflessness, and responsibility -- and he strove to unite each of his teams in pursuit of those values.To read this book is to understand why Dean Smith changed the lives of the players he coached, from Michael Jordan, who calls him his second father, and who never played a single NBA game without wearing a pair of UNC basketball shorts under his uniform, to the last man on the bench of his least talented team. Everyone wishes they had a coach like Dean Smith in their lives, and now they will have that chance.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Dean Smith wrote a very good book that shows his character. May 20, 2006
26 Jun 2005
Dean Smith wrote a very good book. Humble, and self-effacing. Very worthwhile read. There is a reason why so many people respects him, including Michael Jordan who calls him "Coach" and Phil Jackson "Phil". Aren't that many people with this kind of integrity around any more.
 Dean Smith could probably run for president December 9, 2005
The book "A Coach's Life" written by Dean Smith, is a life story of one the best coaches to have ever stepped on the hardwood. This book starts off talking about Dean's childhood. He tells stories of himself as an athlete, playing football, baseball and basketball.
As a senior, Dean coached the incoming freshman football players the plays. Dean Smith was then offered a head coaching position at Air Force. After the years at Air Force, Dean Smith was offered an assistant coaching position under Frank McGuire. It wasn't long until Dean Smith became coach in 1960-1961.
From then on Dean went on to become one of the greatest coaches to ever coach in college basketball. Dean Smith won 879 wins, has gone to 11 Final Fours, and has won two national championships. Dean Smith went on to coach some of the best players who have played the game of basketball.
The book is structured very well. It starts off by talking about where he comes from, his schooling, his athletic background, then his coaching career and then his overall thoughts on the game and his life.
My overall evaluation is that this is a decent book. I loved the book, but keeping interest in the book would be difficult if you are not interested in basketball or coaching basketball. I have been involved with basketball for almost my entire life, so that it why I enjoyed the book so much. North Carolina has been my favorite college basketball team for as long as I remember.
Dean Smith October 14, 2005
Dean Smith is now known as one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. I choose to read this memoir because I have a love for sports. Also, I have a deep passion for college sports because of the atmosphere at every college game I go to. Dean Smith coached one of my favorite colleges in the nation The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dean Smith was just a regular boy that grew up in Topeka, Kansas. His father, Alfred Smith, was a teacher at Emporia High and also the coach of the basketball, football, and track and field teams. His mother, Vesta Edwards, taught all levels, from elementary to college students. She was also the church organist. Life was hard for Dean he lived in a two-bedroom house with one bathroom. He lived with his parents and his sister Joan. They also cared for his Grandmother Edwards who moved in with them when she was seventy-two.
Dean went to college at The University of Kansas. He spent his first year playing freshman football and basketball and selling football programs at the home football games. Nowadays if you are a freshman in basketball and/or football you weren't able to play until you became a sophomore. He played basketball under the legendary Forrest C. "Phog" Allen. He had the utmost respect for him "It was impossible to play for those men and not learn something. (pg. 24)"
Dean Smith would start coaching University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels in 1961. Dean has created some of the best known coaching strategies of all time; he started the idea of huddling up at the foul line before every foul shot and the "tired signal" that his players would use to tell him when they needed a rest. He used the tired signal because he thought they best knew how long they could stay in for. Smith coached 36 teams at North Carolina and made it to eleven final four's and won two NCAA National Championships. He coached some of the greatest basketball players of all time such as, Michael Jordan (now known as the greatest basketball player of all-time), James Worthy and Vince Carter.
This is one of my favorite books of all-time that I have read. North Carolina is one of my favorite colleges already and Dean Smith is a very famous person from UNC so it basically was perfect for me. Plus to add on to that I have a deep passion for sports and college basketball is one of my favorites. Dean throughout his career has learned a lot from some very smart people but the thing that I think he has learned the most is that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.
a great look inside the heart and mind of a living legend !! January 9, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
college basketball's greatest coach chronicles his life and details the philosophy and principles which governed his life and his approach to basketball. after reading the book you will understand why many consider him not only the greatest college basketball coach,but an even greater man.
The Dean of All Coaches March 31, 2002
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"A Coach's Life" details the interesting facts of Dean Smith's story - from his childhood memories to his first coaching job to reaching the pinnacle of his career (winning the NCAA titles in 1982 and 1993). Along the way, you meet many people who enriched Dean's life and who, in turn, were enriched by him...there's Michael Jordan, of course, but Dean also reveals details of his relationships with a number of his players, associates and opponents, including John Thompson, James Worthy, and Frank McGuire, to name a few.To his credit, he avoids speaking negatively about others. It seems that he was operating under the axiom, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything." This would explain the virtual omission of Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski - glaring by its absence. So be warned - those looking for a mud-slinging expose' will be disappointed. But that's OK - Dean showed that he didn't have to write a "tell-all" in order to write a good book. It's just a story of a simple Kansas boy who found a way to make a difference in people's lives. And what's wrong with that? Rating: 4 stars.
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