Duke Dislike, part 14: the coach

[johnb]

K gives great interviews but has been significantly less approachable than other coaches for the past decade. Without such a philosophy, he would likely have either quit or gone to the NBA. With such a philosophy, he may have contributed to Duke being an easy target.

Thoughts?

[throatybeard]

Sounds reasonable. Dean did the same thing and took mess for it.

[happydays1949]

K gives great interviews but has been significantly less approachable than other coaches for the past decade. Without such a philosophy, he would likely have either quit or gone to the NBA. With such a philosophy, he may have contributed to Duke being an easy target.

Thoughts?

Well, journalists are people. And, we all like to think we are important. As Coach K turns down interviews, it may turn the media against him and Duke.

[DankeShane]

I've always wondered, when was the exact moment that K stopped giving the right before / right after halftime interview?

[Sixthman]

In North Carolina, journalists are, by and large, people who went to UNC.

[johnb]

My understanding is that Coach K took stock of his own priorities and limitations after having to quit in the middle of the season ten years ago. This would have occurred a few years after the peaking of the Laettner/Hurley/Hill phenomenon (which might have been easier to deal with when the team actually included Laettner/Hurley/Hill) and while national coverage of college basketball continued to climb. Anyway, this re-evaluation led to a large reduction in access, which would impact journalists whose jobs depend on having new things to say each week. My assumption is that most coaches are eager for that kind of media attention, both for their own narcissistic pleasure but also because they need to be in the paper and on television in order to interest high school players and alumni boosters. Unfortunately for all concerned, people don't want to read about the coach at Wake Forest or Syracuse or even UCLA. People want to read (and write) about a very small number of superstars, perhaps K more than anyone else in all of coaching. When sportswriters say that Duke is buttoned down and snobbish and "above it all," it seems to me they are not talking so much about the students but about a coaching staff that they find frustrating.

Given all the variables, I wouldn't change the situation (despite the pervasive theme on this message board of late, K probably knows how to develop a bench, teach guards, teach big players, recruit top players, win games at crunch time, etc), but there are downsides to having a superstar coach who works in a good-old-boy jock subculture, just as it can be frustrating to follow a team that competes in a sport in which the margin of victory is small.