University of San Francisco Athletics

by Jim Young

No matter where Derrick Phelps was in the world, he would find him.
 
Whether he was in Sacramento, Rockford, Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Romania or the Netherlands, the phone would ring and the distinctive, gravelly voice on the other end quickly transported Phelps back to simpler times in his home borough of Queens or Chapel Hill.
 
The conversations, much like a parent checking in with their children, lasted just long enough to chat about all of the important things – health, family and career – while leaving a little time for a story or two. The calls never got old, although the voice eventually softened and grew weaker with each passing year.
 
Phelps, who is in his first year as an associate head coach at USF, is a college basketball blue blood. Highly-recruited as a McDonald's All-American out of Christ-the-King High School in Queens, New York, Phelps played collegiately at North Carolina under the legendary Dean Smith, who coached the Tar Heels for 26 years and retired with 879 career victories, which at the time was a NCAA Division I record. During Smith's tenure in Chapel Hill, North Carolina won two national championships and appeared in 11 Final Fours. He retired from coaching in 1997 and passed away two years ago at the age of 83.
 
Phelps quietly carved out a distinguished career for himself in Chapel Hill. A two-time All-ACC selection, he graduated in 1994 as the school's all-time career steals leader and was also the first player in ACC history to compile 600 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals.
 
The starting point guard on the 1993 Tar Heel team that defeated Michigan to give Smith his second national championship, Phelps was involved on one of the most memorable plays in Final Four history. With Carolina leading 73-71 in the waning seconds of the game, Phelps and teammate George Lynch trapped Chris Webber in the corner, forcing him to call a timeout Michigan didn't have. The Wolverines were assessed a technical foul and the Tar Heels went onto win the game, 77-71.
 
"I wasn't the most talented player on our team," said Phelps, "but I had the respect of my teammates because Coach Smith taught me how to be a leader. No matter who was on the floor, I knew what I had to do to make the team successful."
 
Phelps had strong bond with Smith, who made every one of his players feel like they were his only son. The influence he had on Phelps as a player, a person and the coach he aspired to be was tremendous.
 
"He was definitely a father-figure in my life," said Phelps. "During my recruitment, he was more interested in what I wanted to do with my life and what kind of person I was rather than how I was going to help North Carolina win basketball games. He had things in their proper perspective and he helped me mature as a player and a person."
 
Credit Smith for seeing Phelps' tremendous upside as a coach at an early age. "He knew I was going to be a coach before I think I did," said Smith. "As a point guard, I was an extension of him on the court. We had a special bond in the sense I always knew what he wanted to run before he actually called the play. I was around him so much I began to think like him."
 
Now firmly established in his coaching career, Phelps still finds himself channeling Smith in practice, games or in private meetings with players. The beauty of Smith's approach to basketball and life, said Phelps, was found in its simplicity.
 
"He was always so prepared in practice," said Phelps. "We worked on situations everyday so there was nothing that surprised us during the game. He was all about doing things the right way – the Carolina way - whether playing basketball or in life."
 
A man of strong faith, Dean Smith spent his entire life doing the right thing. One of the most successful and admired coaches in college basketball history, Smith was first and foremost a teacher who expressed a strong sense of social justice and was a passionate advocate of human rights. As an assistant coach at Carolina in the late 50's, he challenged Chapel Hill's old prejudices by helping to desegregate a popular neighborhood restaurant near campus and soon after taking over the head coaching duties, Smith integrated the North Carolina basketball program by bringing Charlie Scott to Chapel Hill in 1966. Over the years he would take his players to scrimmage at Central Prison in nearby Raleigh and often times would sit in the cells with the prisoners on death row, giving his players an unspoken reminder of their good fortunes. Smith's passion for social justice and his strong moral compass earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, the nation's highest civilian award.
 
"It wasn't until I left Carolina that I fully realized the impact he had on society beyond basketball," said Phelps. "He always told us it was never wrong to do the right thing. He wanted all of his players to be great people and have an impact on others by leading by example – doing things the right way. Those lessons aren't lost here at USF."
 
Phelps remembers many of the heart-to-heart, life discussions with Smith when he was a young man and away from home for the first time. His fatherly manner and ability to effectively manage different personalities is not lost on Phelps in dealing with today's players.
 
"It's really about his approach," said Phelps. "The kids from this generation are different that when I played. You have to know how to relate to each player individually to get the best out of them. Coach Smith knew everyone was not the same and that he had to communicate differently from player to player in order to get the best out of them. He understood the personalities."
 
One conversation Phelps will never forget is the one he had with Smith when he learned he was going to be young father. "He wasn't going to let me run away from my responsibilities. The lesson was everything I did in school and on the court from now had a bigger purpose. It wasn't just about me."
 
The adoration and respect Smith showed to his players was reciprocated until his death in February of 2015. Phelps was one of the many North Carolina players to make the pilgrimage back to Chapel Hill each summer to visit Smith and mentor the young Tar Heels on doing things the right way – the Carolina way.
 
"Individual and genuine care for each and every one of his players was the reason we all came back to Chapel Hill each year," said Phelps. "He respected every individual in his program that same, whether you were Michael Jordan, the last man of the bench, the team managers or the secretaries.
 
"I didn't become a big star in the NBA and he still called be all of the time. He was a legendary basketball coach but a greater man and mentor to so many people."
 
Like so many Carolina players who came before and after him, Phelps continues to hear that familiar voice of a man whose genuine goodness as a person perhaps transcended his greatness as a coach.