Customer Reviews

Dean's Domain: The Inside Story of Dean Smith and His College Basketball Empire

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I have been a tarheel fan for my whole life, I met "THE MAN" as a kid. He is just as portrayed in the book. This was a book that I could not put down. The best book I've read. Great work Art.

I recommend this book to true, long-time dedicated UNC fans. Probably no one else could read the whole thing. You will remember each game from your own perspective but Chansky gives you the details from behind the scenes. Many tid-bits and juicy morsals to satisfy your curiosity about the program and about the man. If you like Smith, this book will affirm your respect for him. If you don't like him, this book will not change your mind. Smith is presented mostly sympathetically, but his flaws are too numerous to hide, yet for the true fan, they are expected and when seen within the contaxt of his life, they are forgivable. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Also, I recently read "Playing for Keeps" about Jordan. There is no redundancy here.

Nice companion piece to Smith's own memoirs ("A Coach's Life"). A less complete portrait of Smith's inner life and interests off the court than the autobiography, but a more complete, and in many ways a more compelling, account of his public life as coach/power broker of what amounts to a multimillion dollar franchise. In this sense it is more entertaining than Smith's book -- a more open treatment of the recruiting process (including the ones that got away), the management of the Nike contract, the rivalry with Duke etc.

Like the Smith book, it at times gets bogged down in season by season recapitulations of win-loss records. It also includes some material (such as a few paragraphs on the murder of Michael Jordan's father) which presumably are worth mentioning, but don't really fit into the thematic or narrative flow, and seem to be inserted in a kind of obligatory fashion. But these are quibbles.

Unfortunately, the book ends with Smith's retirement and the installation of his hand-picked successor, Bill Guthridge, and, as a consequence, misses the surely interesting story of Guthridge's resignation two years later, and Smith and Guthridge's apparent inability to again stage manage the selection of the next long-run leader of the Carolina men's basketball program. Nevertheless an interesting and worthwhile read.

Art Chansky has been a close associatr of the Carolina Basketball program for yaers. He gives in depth background about many situations I had always wondered about. This in no way a book which sugar coats UNC. I love Carolina, but it shows a that Coach Smith is human like the rest of us. Reccomended reading for any TRUE basketball fan.This book gives you a sense of what it took to become a long term success and what were some of the events that defined the program.

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