For Dean Smith, March Madness has become Mylanta Madness. Having retired last fall after 879 victories, 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 11 Final Fours, the Dean of College Hoops is now the prince of panic.
"I'm a nervous wreck," admitted the rookie studio analyst for CBS.
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Coaching legend Dean Smith, who will serve as a studio analyst this year, admits he's a nervous wreck as the NCAA Tournament begins today. (Allsport)
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No, make that a nervous 18-car pileup. The winningest coach in NCAA basketball history suddenly finds himself in a strange, new, stomach-churning role, and it would start today with his old team, North Carolina, vs. 28-point underdog Navy in a East Region first-rounder at Hartford, Conn.
"You can't look ahead," warned the coach inside the studio analyst.
Winning 20 or more games 27 years in a row was a relative piece of cake for Smith. He's now being asked to juggle insight and objectivity, wrestle with short comments and high-anxiety. Trust me. For the first time in more than three decades, it ain't easy being Dean.
"In the past, (while coaching) I'd be nervous before a game," said Smith, "but when the game started, I could get up and pace. I could yell at the referees more."
WHEN ASKED IF HE FINDS it strange to be talking about his beloved Tar Heels, Smith was quick to reply, "I hope I am. Because if I'm talking about them, that means they're still in the tournament. Uh, am I supposed to admit that?"
He needs to relax. He just can't. The last time North Carolina lost a basketball game -- two weeks ago at Duke, 77-75 -- Smith watched the game on TV, then immediately went out and chipped golf balls in his back yard.
"I needed to find something to get my mind off (the loss)," said Smith, slipping into coach-speak. "I have a hard time chipping sometimes. I chili-dog. So, this made me concentrate on something other than the game."
After awhile, Smith's wife summoned him inside. Bill Guthridge, longtime North Carolina assistant whom Smith hand-picked to succeed him, and whom Smith literally had to force to move into his office, was on the phone. It's the kind of relationship that can only be built over 30 years of working together.
"I told Bill that we played so well, so poised," Smith recalled. "Duke is very good. I was surprised that they didn't blow us out. They could've, you know."
Smith's hard-to-hide partisan feelings were restored this past weekend when Carolina beat Duke 83-68 in the ACC championship game. Yes, this was a blowout.
SMITH LIVES EIGHT MINUTES from the Chapel Hill campus, drives past cows and horses to get there, and remains one of the most unassuming legends in the history of sports.
He prefers to watch games on TV rather than become a possible "distraction" for Guthridge or the team, and he has quietly moved into a "back office" at the $33.8 million Dean E. Smith Center, where he occasionally shows up to break down videotape on North Carolina opponents.
He's serious when he says: "They let me in the tape room. ... They treat me like family. ... I don't want to interfere."
That's just Dean Smith. When he retired, he was surprised that anyone outside Chapel Hill even cared. Or even noticed.
"I didn't dream there would be so much attention. It's almost like I died, the way everybody was saying so many nice things," he said. "I thought we would just release it, maybe have one little press conference. That's one of the reasons that I got out -- to avoid speaking and all that."
Well, he's speaking again -- this time on network TV, this time at the NCAA Tournament, this time as a nervous wreck.
"I didn't study radio-television," said Smith, "but maybe I can handle 15 seconds. That's all you get, you know. Everything happens so quick."
And what does Smith think of a possible Carolina-Duke championship game March 30?
"Duke has so much depth. On the other hand, we aren't that deep," he said -- then suddenly stopped. "Uh, I can't say 'we' -- can I?"
Relax, Dean. We understand.
Ray Buck is CBS SportsLine's national columnist.
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