I don't think this is the right place for it, but whatever.
I spent the last few months working on a film about Dean Smith. I've been in the business for a few years, and every single time I've worked on a project like this, you always find
someone who has something bad to say about a guy, on or off the record. They say one thing for the cameras, another for you when you're packing the gear up. It happens. You live long enough, you're going to do or say something stupid that pisses people off.
But every single person we talked to who had any relationship with Coach Smith---directly, or indirectly---genuinely seemed to love the guy. And look, I'm a cynic: to a certain degree, everyone is a phony, and the more famous you are, the more real this is. But Dean didn't just talk that life. He did a lot of things that weren't very popular when he did them, but he did them anyway and didn't give a damn---it was what he believed in. He was always his own man, and never changed who he was out of fear.
It's hard to examine someone for so long and then admire them more than you did to start with. But that's the case with Coach Smith.
Anyway, just my two cents. RIP.
