Dean Smith, Charlotte FC’s New Coach, Gets Lots Of Questions In The Tar Heel State About Dean Smith

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) โ€” A team in North Carolina needed a coach. It hired Dean Smith. Such a move has worked out pretty well in the Tar Heel State before.

And Charlotte FC hopes it works out again.

Meet โ€œthe otherโ€ Dean Smith, a 52-year-old Englishman who is taking over as coach in Charlotte this season for his first stint in Major League Soccer. Heโ€™s fully aware of the legacy that Basketball Hall of Famer Dean Smith left during his 36 years leading the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, about a two-hour drive from Charlotte.

โ€œI definitely knew about him,โ€ Smith, the soccer coach, said Thursday at MLS Media Day. โ€œI think my children, who are grown up now, would often Google my name and it would come up, Dean Smith, the American basketball coach.โ€

Soccerโ€™s Dean Smith is going to have to win a lot of games to disrupt that algorithm, especially in North Carolina. But he is taking over a Charlotte team that made the playoffs last season, and has hopes of doing the same again in 2024.

โ€œAs Iโ€™ve said in a previous press conference, if Iโ€™m half as successful as he has been at Charlotte FC then Iโ€™ve done a good job,โ€ the soccer coach said.

DENVER INSPIRATION

Djordje Mihailovic says the Colorado Rapids donโ€™t have to look far to find inspiration these days. They play in Denver โ€” home of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets and a Colorado Avalanche team that won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

โ€œColoradoโ€™s on a pretty good high in terms of winning,โ€ said Mihailovic, a midfielder who also has spent time with the U.S. Menโ€™s National Team. โ€œAnd I know the owners have ambitions of keeping that going with the Rapids.โ€

SHORT WINTER

If it feels like the offseason was short for some teams, thatโ€™s because it was.

Columbus and Los Angeles FC played for the MLS Cup on December 9 โ€” barely one full month before the league gathered in South Florida for its media day event. Some teams have been off for considerably longer; the regular season ended on Oct. 21.

โ€œWe just played a month ago and mentally youโ€™re still kind of in that mindset of playing games,โ€ Columbus midfielder Darlington Nagbe said. โ€œSomething does need to be said about getting the right amount of rest. โ€ฆ Short offseason but Iโ€™m looking forward to it.โ€