Had an interesting conversation with a coaching friend over the weekend about the role of a coach and the potential for coaches to impact the lives of their players in positive ways. I'm sure we can all think of great coaches who lived that coaching mission and others that fall far short of accomplishing that goal. Seeing that it's early in the hockey season, I thought it might be worthwhile at looking at two legends with the hope that some of the qualities that these two coaches shared might rub off on all of us. Luckily, I had the privilege of knowing one of the coaches personally, but never played for him and the other I always admired for his success and creativity, but more importantly the class that his program always represented.
The first coach, Dick Garber, coached the Umass Lacrosse team for 36 years and ended his career with 300 wins, the most ever in Lacrosse when he retired. His teams were ranked in the top 15 in the NCAA 17 of his last 18 seasons and many of those years ranked in the top 5. He was selected the NCAA coach of the year 3 times and New England coach of the year 14 times. However, it was never the wins or awards that separated Coach Garber from his peers; it was the impact that he made on his players. To a person they would tell you how important a person his was in their lives. Kelly Carr one of his former players said it best, "it was such a family atmosphere and he really taught the players from a life perspective. You see a lot of these coaches and schools and it's all about lacrosse, but for coach, life was first and then lacrosse was second."
Coach Garber was one of those people that always carried himself with class and gave you this incredible feeling that you were special to him. He always had the time to talk and listen, even if you were not on his team. I got to know him early in my hockey career at UMass, then took his Lacrosse class just so I could be around him. I also had the pleasure of seeing him numerous times after college and always walked away feeling I was so lucky to have had those moments together.
The second coach of note is the legendary coach of North Carolina basketball, Dean Smith. Like coach Garber, he coached 36 years and left the game as the all-time winningest coach with 879 wins. He was the NCAA coach of the year 4 times and ACC coach of the year 8 times. His teams made it to the NCAA tournament 27 times, including 23 year straight at one point and won the national title 2 times. Once with Michael Jordan hitting the final shot of the game his freshman year. Legend has it that Coach Smith was the only person to ever hold Jordan to under 10 points a game for a season, not that Jordan could have not scored more. Coach Smith's teams were always noted for their unselfish play and Jordan simply had to take a lesser role for the team to have more success.
Coach Smith was an innovator in basketball on many fronts. His up-tempo fast break style of offense and smothering multiple defenses have been copied world-wide. He also implemented a quick passing passing style offense in the half court game that usually had his team scoring with easy baskets in the paint. To promote this unselfish style he had a team rule where you had to point to the player who made the last pass for your easy shot.
Coach Smith was also a coach that was revered by his players for he taught them outside of basketball. He always put his players first and would go out of his way to teach them life lessons and make sure they understood that basketball always took a back seat to life skills. He was the first coach to recognize his seniors in their last game of the season with a pre-game ceremony and would always start his seniors in that game. To point out just how committed he was to all his seniors, the one year he had 6, he actually started all of them and took a technical foul to start the game. What a lesson for the team to put the game in perspective.
To highlight just how much a part of their players lives they both attended well over a 100 of their past players weddings.
My guess is that if you were to ask either of them about the record they were most proud of, that would be it. A record that maybe more coaches should shoot for instead of just wins and championships.
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