THE PAST MUST ALWAYS BE A PART OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

Of course no one was more important to Carolina basketball than our former players.  They made the program.  Nothing made us fell better than for them to come back and visit, or scrimmage against our current players in the summer, or work out with them.  There was no generation gap between our former and current players.  They were brothers linked by tradition, by the color light blue.

I didn't begin my coaching career with the goal of staying in touch with the former players, but I sent each one a media guide each year and wrote each a personal note at Christmas.  If you develop a close relationship with a player, as we did, you don't drop it just because the player's eligibility is up.  You don't forget them.  I wanted to stay in touch, and I'm always pleased, thrilled, and interested when our former players let me know what's going on in their lives.

From "The Carolina Way" by Dean Smith