college basketball

Jim Valvano

Bill Thompson
Photo by The Chronicle

As UConn and San Diego State battle it out tonight for the NCAA men’s basketball title, today we are revisiting an interview I did a few years ago with the coach of a team that won one of the most thrilling NCAA victories ever.

Jim valvano was coach at North Carolina State when the team won the 1983 title in a thrilling game.

But by the end of the 1980s, valvano was out as NC State coach.

I met him in early 1991, when he wrote a book about his coaching experience.

So here now, from 1991, Jim valvano.

Jim valvano was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year after our interview, and he died in April of 1993, at the age of 47.

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Dean Smith

Bill Thompson

If not for the coronavirus, this would have been Final Four weekend.

So, for you basketball-starved fans, let me share with you an intrerview I did some 20 years ago with the coach who took his team to the Final Four eleven times during his 36 seasons with the University of North Carolina.

Dean Smith was one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, including:
.. 22 seasons with at least 25 wins
.. 35 consecutive seasons with a 50% or better record.[3]
.. and two national championships.

Smith was also Michael Jordan’s college coach.

Here now, from 1999, my interview with Dean Smith:

Dean Smith died in 2015, just days before his 84th birthday.