Former UNC player shares personal recruiting letters from Dean Smith

Former UNC basketball player Michael Brooker played for the Tar Heels from 1997-2001. He redshirted during the 1996-97 season.

He is currently head boys basketball coach at Lake Oconee Academy, a public charter school in Greensboro, Ga.

Brooker recently shared some of the recruiting letters he got from former North Carolina coach Dean Smith before he signed to become a Tar Heel. Both include handwritten addendums from the Hall of Fame coach.

In one, Smith calls Chapel Hill a “Perfect College Town.”

Brooker, a 6-foot-6 guard from Nashville, Tenn, never got to play for Smith in a game. Smith, who passed away in 2015, retired before the 1997-98 season, which was Brooker’s redshirt freshman year. Brooker played for Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty in Chapel Hill, but has fond memories of the legendary coach who recruited him to Chapel Hill.

This story was originally published August 7, 2017 at 5:10 PM.