In Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina, it was already the end of August 1991.
The new academic year and semester were about to begin, and the campus of the University of North Carolina was bustling with activity once again. Students, faculty, and staff—all flowing together like a woven tapestry.
Qin Zayne was among the crowd when a white student wearing black-rimmed glasses stopped him.
"Classmate, would you like to join our school basketball club? Our club is closely tied to the school basketball team, the Tar Heels. We organize members to attend every Tar Heels game in person…"
Qin Zayne wore a strange expression and spread his hands. "Sorry, classmate, I'm not a student."
"Oh, oh… okay…"
The white student was stunned for a moment and let Qin Zayne walk away.
But just an hour later, the same student saw him again in the team meeting room.
"It's you?"
Looking at the utterly shocked student, Qin Zayne smiled mischievously.
"That's right. It's me."
Bill Guthridge interjected, "What, have you two met?"
"Yes, an hour ago he was at the school gate trying to recruit me to join the basketball club."
Qin Zayne recounted the incident, and Bill Guthridge couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Hahaha…"
This laughter made the student's expression even more embarrassed and annoyed.
Seeing this, Bill Guthridge finally restrained himself. "Alright, let me introduce you two to each other."
The student's name was Matthew Evans, a graduate law student at the University of North Carolina and a die-hard basketball fan.
As a junior, he had already served as president of the UNC basketball club.
"Isn't today a coaching staff meeting? Why is he here?"
"Dean Smith wants to groom him for the coaching staff. So in addition to being the basketball club president, he is also the team's video analyst."
"So that's how it is…"
This was a coaching staff meeting, and Qin Zayne soon met all his UNC colleagues:
Head Coach Dean Smith, Lead Assistant Coach Bill Guthridge, Offensive Coach Pat Sullivan, Defensive Coach Dave Hams, Guard Development Coach Phil Ford, and Inside Development Coach Jimmy Black.
Qin Zayne's position was the specially created Recruiting Assistant Coach.
With Video Analyst Matthew Evans, this made up the entire UNC coaching staff.
"Okay, everyone is here. Let's first get to know our new member," Dean Smith said, introducing Qin Zayne.
"Swann Qin, the team's new Recruiting Coach. His recruiting work this summer has been excellent…"
But before he could finish, a less-than-friendly voice rang out.
"'Excellent'? You mean he failed to recruit Damon Stoudamire and ended up bringing back the obscure Eric Snow?"
The rustling in the room stopped immediately, as if a sudden wind had blown through.
Qin Zayne had assumed everyone present looked kind and approachable. Now, it felt like a lightning bolt had struck him—things were clearly not that simple.
The dissenting voice came from Jimmy Black. Previously, Bill Guthridge had told Qin Zayne that another coach at UNC handled freshman recruiting—Jimmy Black.
Qin Zayne's first thought: Jimmy Black was trying to assert dominance.
But then another question arose: how could this guy openly challenge Dean Smith while he was speaking?
When the room fell silent, Qin Zayne glanced at Jimmy Black and noticed a smile on his face.
What about Dean Smith, the one being challenged?
Qin Zayne looked and found that Dean Smith was also smiling.
"What the hell?"
Now he truly couldn't understand the situation.
"Don't say that, Jimmy. Swann has done his best, hasn't he?"
Dean Smith spoke up for Qin Zayne, but Jimmy Black was relentless.
"But he did only recruit a nobody, didn't he?"
He bluntly stated his case: "I am also responsible for recruiting. Donald Williams is my success; at least he is far better than him, isn't he? Therefore, I hope the team can reconsider and return recruiting power to me."
At this point, Qin Zayne finally understood the source of Jimmy Black's hostility.
"So it's a power struggle… But that still doesn't make sense. Isn't Dean Smith supposed to be an iron-fisted coach? How can he be so gentle?"
Qin Zayne felt as if a fog had settled in front of his eyes, hiding the truth.
Just as he furrowed his brows, an even more shocking scene unfolded.
Facing Jimmy Black's blatant power grab, Dean Smith actually nodded. "Okay."
"What? That's it?"
Qin Zayne's eyes widened. Everything seemed to be going in a completely unreasonable direction.
He was confused, though not entirely lost.
As Dean Smith prepared to follow Jimmy Black's lead in redistributing responsibilities, Qin Zayne raised his hand.
"Um… may I say a few words?"
Dean Smith, still gentle, nodded. "Of course."
"I think it might be too early to judge who did a better job with this year's recruiting."
Qin Zayne didn't know who Donald Williams was. He only knew that Eric Snow—and certainly this unknown Donald Williams—would probably not even match the team's starting point guard for the new season, Derrick Phelps.
Jimmy Black shook his head. "Too early? Not at all."
He argued: "Donald Williams is a McDonald's All-American Top 100 player. Where is the Eric Snow you recruited?"
In 1991, there were no official star ratings for high school players in the U.S. Only some magazines and organizations released so-called national Top 100 or Top 50 lists. Among them, McDonald's All-American games were considered the most authoritative.
Donald Williams had made this year's McDonald's All-American Top 100 list, while Eric Snow, from Canton, Ohio, was virtually unknown.
"Are McDonald's All-American Top 100 players necessarily better? If so, why don't we just ignore the NCAA and award the championship to whichever team has more McDonald's All-Americans? How about that?"
A trace of mockery appeared at the corners of Qin Zayne's mouth. Jimmy Black frowned but said nothing more.
In the end, Dean Smith made the final decision: "We'll wait for the players to return to the team before deciding who holds recruiting power."
Qin Zayne frowned. Although the recruiting decision was postponed, he still couldn't clearly see the hierarchy or dynamics of the UNC coaching staff. For him, this was a hidden danger.
"What exactly is going on beneath the surface? I need to find someone to ask!"
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