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Vincetaylor
06-14-2009, 03:57 AM
Well written article which in my opinion may capture Coach K's current sentiment pretty well. College basketball isn't what it used to be. Coach K can't possibly like what it has become. K is a teacher and as college basketball becomes more of a stepping stone to the NBA than a collegiate experience, his true calling is being minimalized. I wouldn't be surprised if K retires within the next couple years because of this. I wouldn't blame him either. The game is going down hill and there is no reason for K to go down with it.

miramar
06-14-2009, 11:09 AM
I have no doubt that in some ways college basketball is moving against coaches like Krzyzewski and towards those like Calipari (or even Rick Barnes). If college is just a quick pit stop on the way to the NBA, then you don't look for the best school or the best program, but rather the team that will showcase you to improve your draft status.

Nevertheless, the last paragraph is important:

"Krzyzewski has always been able to evolve with the changes in college basketball and remain at the top. He understands one-and-dones are part of the deal. But it's getting harder to maintain excellence in a college basketball world where academics and athletics aren't always on the same page."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2009/06/13/2009-06-13_coaching_usa_basketball.html?page=0

The 2012 Olympics could well be Coach K's valedictory tour, but when he leaves Duke, I have no doubt that he would want to leave his successor with a strong and sustainable program. Coach K's best years were when he could recruit top players who would stay three or four years, with few exceptions (Brand, Avery, Maggette). Now commitments don't show up (Humphries, Livingston), top recruits seem less interested in Duke since college is only a pit stop (Patterson, Echenique, etc.), players leave quickly (McRoberts, Deng, King, etc.), and frankly a higher percentage of the prospects don't pan out.

Despite these four very serious problems, Duke basketball has recovered significantly in the last three years. We have a lot of talent coming back next year, albeit with some question marks, and the 2010 recruiting class looks very promising. So even though it's harder to maintain excellence and integrity, I don't expect Coach K to retire until he has Duke basketball back where he expects it to be, despite a contrary environment.

In a certain sense it's a case of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose, as for many years coaches like John Wooden and Dean Smith, despite their imperfections, had to struggle against the Kentuckys of college basketball. So Coach K is simply continuing that tradition.

Olympic Fan
06-14-2009, 11:15 AM
Best part of the Weiss article was the following:

"Winning another gold medal would also allow him to expand his brand globally and afford him the chance to differentiate himself even more from other elite college coaches like Wooden, Iba, Newell and Knight, who make up the Mt. Rushmore of the sport."

Interesting foursome -- especially for the exclusion of the much-overpraised coach from a neighboring school who didn't make the cut.

PS I disagree with Vincetaylor's main point, that the change in the game will cause a disgusted Coach K to retire in a year or two. I think he's always relished new challenges and is determined to prove he can succeed in the modern era. Now, if he wins a national title in the next couple of years, I wouldn't be surprised to see him retire ... but otherwise I expect him to be even more determined to make it work at Duke ... he was as energized and as involved last season as I've seen him in many years.

Lulu
06-14-2009, 12:01 PM
I'd have to be very confident Coach K was retiring before I'd even vaguely mention it, at least as a Duke fan. Such talk, if uninformed, certainly can't help recruiting. This would sound like opposing fans trying to help him out the door if I didn't know better.

Devilsfan
06-14-2009, 12:41 PM
I hate glass half empty people.

jimsumner
06-14-2009, 03:16 PM
I seriously, seriously doubt that Mike Krzyzewski is anywhere near that close to retiring.

As for the Mt. Rushmore quote, I don't think Weiss is explicitly excluding anyone from the summit but rather giving examples of some of the people he thinks are at that level. I am glad that he managed to include Iba and Newell.

Scorp4me
06-14-2009, 06:47 PM
Everyone who thinks the games has passed K by and Duke would be better off with someone else...well, be careful what you wish for.

As for me if K wants to coach the Olympics then I support him. Even if Duke takes a hit I support him. Heck even a K that isn't completely focused is still better than 99% of the coaches out there. And I just don't see him leaving Duke soon.

When it comes down to it though I see two things. I don't see how coaching the Olympics can hurt Duke/K recruiting. It takes a while for things like this to reap the rewards(much like winning in 91/92 produced recruits 10 years later). Unless, the second thing, he coaches and doesn't win. Right now he's the savior of USA basketball (as quoted in this article), but lose in London and you might lose that luster.

Jarhead
06-15-2009, 10:47 AM
Everyone who thinks the games has passed K by and Duke would be better off with someone else...well, be careful what you wish for.

As for me if K wants to coach the Olympics then I support him. Even if Duke takes a hit I support him. Heck even a K that isn't completely focused is still better than 99% of the coaches out there. And I just don't see him leaving Duke soon.

When it comes down to it though I see two things. I don't see how coaching the Olympics can hurt Duke/K recruiting. It takes a while for things like this to reap the rewards(much like winning in 91/92 produced recruits 10 years later). Unless, the second thing, he coaches and doesn't win. Right now he's the savior of USA basketball (as quoted in this article), but lose in London and you might lose that luster.

Coach K has led USA Basketball to a new level in the Olympics, a level on which they should remain. Any carefully selected coach can continue what Coach K has established. The players that participated last year will likely be among the first considered for the London games, and rightly so. Most will remain in the pool, but a few younger guys will be added to replace the few that have lost a step to age.

This is the start of a rotating pool of players motivated to do their all for us. They would likely continue coming from the cream of the NBA. If a pool of coaches similarly motivated, and as carefully selected, were available to USA Basketball, our team could begin a period of dominance to last for several Olympic cycles. Coach K was the start, and Mike D'Antoni would be a good choice to continue the rotation. We know that Coach K is considering taking on the task again, and for the sake of his family I hope he just hands off the ball and sits in the relaxing role of an adviser. If he chooses to take on the job one more time, I don't think Duke will suffer at all. He is the master of focus who can multitask both rolls with net benefits to both Duke and USA Basketball. It will be his choice, and we should all support him.

4decadedukie
06-15-2009, 10:51 AM
K is a teacher and as college basketball becomes more of a stepping stone to the NBA than a collegiate experience, his true calling is being minimalized.\

I would agree that Coach K is a teacher, but -- even more important -- a leader. As such, while his most evident interests may well be with outstanding Duke student athletes (and, quite possibly, with the US Olympic effort), he must also have great focus on the total development (not basketball alone) of the large majority Duke players, who will never enter the NBA (and, very possibly, will never play professional basketball, even overseas).

Duke -- and Coach K -- should have substantial pride in the unusually large number of Duke Men’s Basketball players who graduate, and then succeed in other demanding, highly worthwhile endeavors. Perhaps Reggie Love is currently the most visible of these alumni, due to his Presidential proximity; however, there are MANY others. To illustrate, Greg Paulus was not only an excellent Duke Basketball player (although, probably not -- and I certainly mean no offense here -- of true NBA caliber), he was also an ACC and ESPN academic All-American. When he completes graduate school at Syracuse, I suspect Greg will have a particularly successful non-basketball career, due to the character traits (tenacity, teamwork, self-improvement, intelligence, leadership, self-sacrifice, and so forth) he repeated demonstrated as a Blue Devil.

I would respectfully suggest that Coach K's devotion to this predominant segment of his student athletes remains critical to his achievement of important, self-defined goals.

JimBD
06-15-2009, 11:08 AM
K's problem is the same as it always has been. A lot of these kids have little interest in academics and don't want to have to (gasp) go to class and study. K has to recruit primarily from the pool of kids who are actual student/athletes. He has a history of being amazingly successful at this. It amazes me that so many of these kids are so focused on going to the NBA and making a lot of money but are not smart enough to realize that an education might be useful in helping them to keep most of that money and might actually help improve their image and potential endorsement earnings.

SoCalDukeFan
06-15-2009, 11:44 AM
There are many adjectives that I would use to describe Coach K. One would certainly be "competitor." It seems like each year the deck gets stacked more and more against K. I think he wants to compete with players who are interested in being Duke students for at least two years, are good kids, and are excellent basketball players. It also seems like each year there are less and less of them as the siren call of the NBA money and fame grows stronger.

K is against the NBA year requirement and so am I.

I would love to see the NCAA rule that freshmen are ineligible for varsity college basketball. K was against that before, not sure what he thinks today.

I think such a rule would force the NBA to remove its one year requirement and develop a stronger developmental league. A player headed to college would have a year of freshman ball in a limited spotlight before playing varsity, so he would have to view it as a two year commitment at least. The very best players would skip college altogether but the college game would still be competitive.

The NBA makes rules to help the NBA. The NCAA acts as if they are helpless, they are not.

If you are a competitor, how long to you want to compete with the deck stacked against you?

SoCal