The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching By Dean Smith and Gerald D. Bell with John Kilgo
Penguin Books (New York, NY) 2005
$15.00, 337 pages, paperback
Reviewed by Manny Gerton, Ph.D.
Psychologist
College Assessment and Planning
Washington, D.C.
College Sports in Our Culture
Often referred to as the “front porch” of the university, college athletics draws millions of individuals onto college campuses each year. Whether it’s attending games or following a favorite school team through countless media outlets, the world of college sports is a permanent fixture in our collective national psyche. The attention focused on game days, March Madness and more brings close scrutiny of the games’ primary figures—student athletes, coaches, administrators and alumni supporters. With all of this attention, hardly a day goes by without a public report on academic dishonesty, sexual misconduct, substance abuse or assault on campus with an accusatory finger pointed directly at the athletic department.
The critics are not just those looking in from outside of the academy. In his book Beer and Circus: How Big-time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education (2000), Murray Sperber, Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, presents convincing arguments about the adverse consequences of the closed subculture of college athletics. In The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values (2001), educators James Shulman and William Bowen examine the mixed outcomes of athletic participation on elite college campuses. Given the sometimes negative halo attached to college athletics, the obvious question becomes where is the value of participation in big-time college sports? Fortunately legendary University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith and his collaborators Gerald Bell and John Kilgo have some hopeful responses in their book The Carolina Way: Leadership lessons from a life in coaching.
Beyond Sports: The Carolina Way
Smith has long been known for his behind the scenes commitment to social justice and an uncommon loyalty from his former players, managers and assistant coaches. More public is his record as the coach with the most wins in NCAA men’s basketball history. The Carolina Way provides insight into the philosophy he applied to achieve these outcomes. And what is the Carolina Way? Play Hard, Play Smart, Play Together. Smith defines his terms rather broadly. But these abstract concepts become clear when illustrated by former players and managers who recount stories about their application in real life, frequently long after college basketball games have been decided. For example, one of his former managers describes the time he failed to bring the proper team uniforms to an important game. Smith, who did not attempt to embarrass him in public, enabled the manager to take full responsibility for the mistake. Later on in his professional career as an attorney, the manager recalling this experience is able to appreciate that blaming and shaming others for mistakes only “makes them worse”.
As a management consultant Gerald Bell’s contributions to the book are directed at the application of Smith’s philosophy to business/leadership settings. His approach mirrors Smith’s, concluding that the best way to deal with loss is to admit it, learn from it, forgive yourself and then move on. Smith and Bell also agree that unselfish people are necessary to build successful teams on the floor and in business and that the most important component of good leadership is genuine caring. Smith’s record both on and off the court is strong evidence of his genuine compassion for others.
The book concludes with some references to changes Smith would like to see in both college basketball (e.g. stipends for players and hiring full-time officials) and for society at large (e.g. abolish the death penalty and improve pay/respect for teachers). A regret is that he has not yet found a more public forum, like another book, to thoroughly discuss his positions.
The Carolina Way will be an important addition to the reading list of many stakeholders in the college experience. Coaches and student athletes can find sound philosophies directed at achieving their goals for success. Professors can be reassured that genuine teaching is taking place behind the closed doors of team practice. University admissions officers can feel good about promoting the student-athlete experience and they can model their approach to managing an admissions team on the philosophy of Coach Smith. Lastly, aspiring students and their families can find an antidote to the negativity associated with big-time college athletics.
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