SMITH'S OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR FRIDAY WASN'T OUT OF CHARACTER
Ohio State's legendary football coach Woody Hayes had the misfortune of ending his career because he could not control his temper on the sidelines.
Hayes was forced to resign shortly after he threw a punch at a Clemson player on the sidelines near the end of the 1978 Gator Bowl.
If angry words were as unacceptable as a harmless punch from an old man, North Carolina coach Dean Smith would have been drummed into a shameful retirement long ago.
But Smith, who has done many good things to improve the image of college basketball, is still around and, as recent as Friday night in the ACC tournament, giving the sport an occasional black eye with his verbal punches.
Late in his team's game against Clemson, with victory already in hand, a red-faced Smith stood in front of his bench and stabbed a menacing finger toward Clemson's Iker Iturbe.
Smith said he only called Iturbe's name in a rebuke for what Smith believed was an unnecessarily hard foul against UNC's Jerry Stackhouse.
Others say Smith made a few uncomplimentary comments, too, about the Clemson freshman.
By his actions, Smith put an unnecessary stain of controversy on the tournament and ignited an ugly scene that could have been worse than it was.
Smith and Clemson coach Rick Barnes faced off a few seconds later.
At game's end, Clemson and North Carolina players had to be pulled away from each other and sent separate ways.
Smith later said he was sorry and admitted he was wrong to confront Iturbe.
Without question, Smith was wrong. He had no business yapping at a young player of another team, especially when it is so evident he has his hands full trying to control his own players and himself.
Tar Heel center Rasheed Wallace already was sitting on the bench with Smith because of a technical foul, and Stackhouse picked up another technical for pushing a Clemson player with 1:40 left.
Still, if this were an isolated incident, it might be easy to forgive and forget.
By his own count, Smith said he had gotten into ``trouble'' three times in his career by coming to the defense of his players who were victimized by what he deemed unnecessarily rough fouls.
Apparently, though, Smith has conveniently forgotten several other incidents.
He once went after Virginia's Marc Iavaroni after an ACC tournament game and called him a thug. He reportedly called former Kentucky star Rick Robey an unprintable name. Two years ago on his radio show, Smith referred to a Florida State player as ``a choker.''
He often referred to former Duke player Danny Ferry as a dirty player, straining his relationship with Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski in the process.
Last year Smith branded a Boston College player as ``dirty'' after the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the second round.
You had to read between the lines to gather Smith was calling Iturbe a dirty player. But, clearly, that is what he meant. Why else would he have attempted to embarrass the young man in front of national television cameras and 23,000 spectators?
Smith has been upset with Clemson since the two teams' first game this season when the Tigers were whistled for 52 fouls and Barnes was ejected in the final seconds.
Both Stackhouse and Wallace complained after the game that Clemson played dirty, and Smith claimed Barnes had told his players that if they fouled to make sure it was a hard foul.
Barnes, a rookie coach in the ACC, had the class to call Smith the next day and apologize for getting tossed from the game and not being around for a postgame handshake.
Smith didn't show much class Friday night when he revealed the private phone call and tried to make it sound as if Barnes had called to apologize for roughness of the game.
``I never apologized for the way we played,'' Barnes said. ``We don't play dirty.''
Barnes had nothing to apologize for Friday night, either.
It was a another story for Smith. A sad, old story that we already had heard too many times.
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