Chapter 349 Back for the Sophomore Year 3

By the end of September Jake would still have to go to Berlin to participate in this marathon, this was a marathon that Jake wanted to participate even if he didn't have to run all 6 major marathons.

Besides being in a country that has a great history, it was considered the fastest marathon in the world ever, if it wasn't because the Chicago marathon was Jake's favorite he wouldn't mind breaking his own world record in that marathon.

Maybe if he had an interest in doing that and if he was feeling well that day he could break his own world record in Berlin, but it was something he would have to see at the end of the month.

What Jake knew was that he would have to break his world record this year again to shorten his time, because even though he remembers that his record should stay for a few years next year in Berlin a Brazilian athlete named Ronaldo da Costa will only run 3 seconds above this record.

And in 1999 someone will run almost 1 minute below his current record, so by that year that Jake had gotten a lot of stamina and agility stat points, he was thinking of improving his current record.

He could slightly lower the record this year and next year do it again, or he could run at a time that guaranteed his world record would hold for several years, that was the only doubt he had because Jake had the confidence to break his record when he wanted to.

This year at the World Championships in Athletics Jake had finished the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds, because he knew he could win even by slowing down and also making time above 2 hours and 8 minutes.

So when he broke the world record he would impress everyone running more than 2 minutes faster than his time, but that was only for the end of the year and there was still a long time before that happened.

After a few days at the university, classes had started and Jake was finally called to the Dean Smith Center for the basketball team to meet for training, he hoped it would be now that Coach Guthridge would take over the team and say that the coach Dean Smith had left.

Coach Dean Smith's retirement was different from what Jake remembered in his past life, it happened well before and Coach Smith should have decided to retire after winning the NCAA tournament last season.

So Jake who was very discreet received no question from any reporter about Coach Smith's retirement as Jake remembered that several players were asked in Jake's past life.

Just as Jake expected Coach Guthridge and Coach Smith were on the court and the mood seemed to be tense on the court, the rest of the coaching staff were present and even some representatives of the university administration were.

"Well, today you were called because I have a very important announcement to make, after coaching this team for 36 years I decided that I would retire before this year's season started."

When coach Dean Smith said these many players were shocked and few expected it, after that some players were more thrilled and seemed to be almost crying.

Jake knew that some players like Shammond Williams and Antawn Jamison were very fond of Coach Smith and treated him like a father, Vince Carter and even Ed Cota were like that, other players were thrilled as well.

Although Jake had some problems with Coach Smith, he also respected and liked him very much, he was just not shocked and not too sad because before entering university he had expected to train with Coach Smith for only 1 year.

But if he didn't know that before he would be shocked too, other players like Ed Cota who hoped to play the four years with Coach Smith should be more shocked by this, everyone knew he was a great coach who was legendary across the country and not just at UNC.

"Don't be so sad, I had decided that after winning my third NCAA title last year, it was the best retirement gift you could have given me, I'm already 66 years old and I want some time with my family now."

"I already talked to the university while you were on vacation and they agreed to leave Coach Guthridge as a coach for this season at least, I would like to thank you and all of you players who have given me so much joy in my last years as a coach."

"Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Antawn Jamison, Ademola Okulaja, Ed Cota and Jake Smith, thank you very much for your victories last season and all the other players as well."

After that Coach Smith spoke a few more words and was so thrilled with the players and even Jake was thrilled to hear Coach Smith saying goodbye, it was time for the retirement of one of the best college coaches and all American college basketball.

So the players were excused from training until after another 10 days and Jake learned that the other day Coach Smith would hold a press conference announcing his retirement, the university would be very busy this year with the family of players who would call the university.

After all many of the parents agreed to enroll their children at this university because Coach Smith was on the basketball team, it would now be difficult to prove that Coach Guthridge could do a great job as well.

Jake even called his mother to tell her not to worry and rest assured that Coach Guthridge was very good too, in fact having Jake on this team would help a lot to tell the athletes' parents to trust that the team would play well this year.

Jake remembered when he had dinner and a farewell party at the end of last season for Serge Zwikker and his friend Charlie McNairy, they both graduated from university last season and Jake made sure to organize something to say goodbye to them.

Zwikker was one of the best players on the Tar Heels team last season and the rebounds he took helped Jake and the whole team win a lot of games, and Charlie McNairy has become a good friend of Jake since the beginning of the season.

Charlie was also the one who took Jake into the fraternity and helped Jake get along better with the team, so Jake intended to remain his friend after graduation, of course in the coming years this was hard to come by, but Jake knew about the internet and I counted on that.

In these conversations Jake ended up saying what they both thought would happen if Coach Smith retired, they spent many years with Coach Smith and couldn't even imagine Coach Smith who had been coaching the Tar Heels team for 36 seasons to suddenly retire.

Now Jake saw how shocked all the players were about this, he thought it was good that he was prepared for it and so didn't shake as much as the other players, the other day Jake saw Coach Smith's retirement press conference.

It was amazing to see how many newspapers, magazines and television shows just talked about it in the next few days, Jake saw the university students and alumni thrill about it and even his former player interviews with Michael Jordan.

Coach Smith was a legend in the sport and had an incredible winning record, thanks to Jake too he can wrap up his career with a 34-season finale and just 2 losses and ACC tournament champion and NCAA title.

So it was his third NCAA title in his career, something that was amazing in all college basketball, so it was not wrong to say that perhaps the best college basketball coach of today was retiring.

Coach Dean Smith was also important in the college basketball social issues and was respected by everyone so having lived close to coach Jake could understand more and respect that coach.

Jake was also called in to talk about Coach Dean Smith's retirement by a reporter, as many players in the current team and former players said it was not right that Jake would not talk about it being the main player of the Tar Heels team and college basketball at present.

"Mr. Smith, you knew about Coach Smith's retirement before this announcement."

"They never said any of this to me and Coach Smith didn't say anything to me before the holidays."

Jake had to be careful with that answer because he already knew about it, but since no one had ever talked about it to him it looked like he could be lying if he said he already knew.

"And what are you feeling knowing about this news?"

"I think it's a shame I can't have him coach this season anymore, he's a great coach and was instrumental in winning the team last season, it was an honor to be able to play with the team he coached last year and still be able to win the NCAA title."

"Are you worried about the team this season?"

"No, it's certainly a big loss that Coach Smith has retired and great players have also left the team like Serge Zwikker, but our team is still going strong this season and I trust Coach Guthridge can do a great job too."

"So you are confident that the Tar Heels team can win the NCAA tournament this year?"

"I'm confident about that and I think my team has the ability to do it again like we did last year, but anything can happen in basketball."

"Thanks for the answers, Jake."

Jake's interview was very good showing the confidence he had in him and the team and especially coach Guthridge, he also said only good things about retiring coach Smith who spoke well of Jake also in an interview.