Over the past year, Clemson and North Carolina have developed one of the Atlantic Coast Conference's biggest men's basketball rivalries. Unlike the Duke-UNC basketball rivalry, which has been built upon the mutual respect which the two programs have for one another, the recent battles between the Tigers and the Tar Heels have been fueled by accusations of unsportsmanlike behavior by both teams' head coaches. But the participant in this rivalry who should have the greatest appreciation for the importance of sportsmanship and fair play-North Carolina head coach Dean Smith-is guilty of inciting much of the animosity which has developed between his Tar Heels and Rick Barnes' Tigers.
North Carolina's 53-48 victory at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C., last Wednesday provides an appropriate microcosm for the tension which has developed between Clemson and UNC and a good example of the poor judgment which Smith has shown about what constitutes fair play. In the second half of Wednesday's game, Clemson guard Bill Harder was pulling on the jersey of Tar Heel guard Jeff McInnis in order to gain a defensive advantage. Smith responded to this by speaking to Harder-even though there is an unwritten rule that college coaches should never talk to players from the opposing team during a game.
Smith claims that he simply told Harder that he is too good of a player to have to resort to illegal techniques such as holding onto McInnis' jersey. Harder, however, said that Smith called him a dirty player. When shaking hands with Barnes after the contest, Smith refused to comment on the matter, telling the Clemson head coach, "Call me."
In a press conference three days after the Harder incident, Smith reiterated that he never called Harder a dirty player, saying, "I did not lie." Regardless of whether Smith was truthful in claiming that he never called Harder a dirty player, the UNC coach is guilty of committing two major mistakes in his handling of this situation. First, he showed disrespect for Barnes and his Clemson program by talking to Harder. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Smith demonstrated his gross misunderstanding of the Tar Heels' position in the college basketball world.
Wednesday's contest was not the first time that Smith has talked to a Clemson player during a game. At last year's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, Smith screamed at Clemson forward Iker Iturbe for playing too physically. Smith apologized after the incident, saying that it was just the third time in his career when he had spoken to an opposing team's player. He explained that Iturbe, who is Spanish, is a "European" player. I guess this means that you wash your clothes when they get too "European" and that profanities can be called "European words."
In both of these instances, if Smith felt that Clemson's players were resorting to dirty techniques, he should have spoken to Barnes about it, rather than confronting the offending athletes directly. By sidestepping the Tigers' coach, Smith has sent a message that he does not trust Barnes' judgment on what is the proper conduct for his players. These actions also suggest that Smith feels that he is better at controlling the Clemson players' behavior than Barnes is. In doing this, Smith is greatly overstepping his role as a basketball coach, and he is showing utter disrespect for Barnes' abilities as a coach and a mentor to his players.
The fact that Smith has made a habit of referring to opposing players as "dirty," either directly or through euphemisms like "European," is also disturbing. It means that he feels that North Carolina is a "clean" program-which it generally is-and that other teams can get away with unfair and unsportsmanlike play against his Tar Heels. Perhaps Smith doesn't realize the breaks which his team gets.
Smith's 35 years of head coaching experience in Chapel Hill have earned him an enormous-and very well-deserved-amount of respect from many people involved in college basketball, including officials. Referees, who can never be totally objective, are likely to favor a well-respected veteran coach like Smith, because he has built up an enormous amount of credibility over the years. While this does not mean that every call goes in North Carolina's favor, it does mean that it is extremely unlikely that any Tar Heel opponent could be guilty of transgressing rules without getting penalized. In other words, it is hard to believe that a physical team like Clemson can get away with playing dirtier basketball against UNC than it would against other teams. In fact, it is likely that teams actually have less leeway for dirty play against the Tar Heels than they do against most opponents.
Besides trying to paint a picture of his team as a group of saints who are forced to play against dirty brutes every game, Smith likes to subtly portray his team as untalented and underappreciated. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Tar Heels consistently recruit many of the nation's top basketball players. Furthermore, they are almost universally acknowledged to be one of the nation's model basketball programs. The Tar Heels have an enormous fan base in the state of North Carolina, and they command respect and adulation from basketball followers around the nation thanks to the players like Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Jerry Stackhouse who have passed through Smith's program.
Also, not all of Smith's players have been as saintly as he might like. For example, after the Tar Heels' one-point victory over Duke last month, UNC team captain Dante Calabria refused to compliment the Blue Devils for their high level of play. Calabria also said that he told Duke's Ricky Price, who had played well despite missing a last-second shot, that the only thing which people would remember about the contest was Price's missed shot. This is a far cry from good sportsmanship.
There is no question that Dean Smith is a great basketball coach. He has won more games than any college basketball coach other than Adolph Rupp, and he has led his team to more NCAA Tournament victories than any other coach in history. Off the court, he has done countless charitable things to benefit UNC, Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina.
But Smith is human, and therefore he makes mistakes, even if Tar Heel fans are afraid to admit it. Talking to Bill Harder last Wednesday was one of those mistakes, regardless of what was said. Hopefully, Smith will admit that and learn not to repeat this mistake the next time he does not approve of the actions of an opposing player.
David Heinen is a Trinity senior and associate sports editor of The Chronicle.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.