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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Mount Kisco, NY
    I have an acquaintance in town that was very close with the late Howard Garfinkel of 5 Star Camp fame. My friend was an assistant college basketball coach for a long time, probably 10 years younger than K, but that seems like a small fraternity. Anyway, Garf was dying in a NY Hospital a few years ago and my friend was going to see him every other day as his condition got worse and worse. There were all manner of well wishers stopping in to pay their respects. One of those days, the phone rang and it was K on the other end of the line. Let's just say that the call was well received by both Garf and those in the room. According to my friend, it was one of those moments where a seemingly "out of it" hospital patient has life pumped back into them for a short period of time. Based on the stories in this thread, it really feels like that is all K does when he's not tending to his team or doing charity work. Pretty amazing.

  2. #22

    A confirmation

    Quote Originally Posted by Jedweb View Post
    i cannot imagine what possessed Officer Chauvin to behave as he did, and, equally, the other three to stand by and do nothing. Coach K speaks for the overwhelming majority in his statement, and he has done more than most to bring about the kind of change in world view that our country needs. I don't have anything comparable to offer by way of a quote or story. Coach arrived at Duke long after i finished as a student, and i've not lived near Durham since. However, i was on campus during part of the summer of 1988, and I walked up to K one evening while a camp of some sort was going on in Cameron. After he got over his initial reaction of, "Oh, boy, here comes somebody else who wants something," he was quite friendly and we chatted for ten minutes. I told him that as a former student who had so much enjoyed the best of Bubas, he complemented Coach Bubas and spoke of how the general public had no idea how difficult recruiting is. (And i doubt it's gotten easier in the last 32 years). He mentioned that he probably could have had several players whose names he said i would recognize if he mentioned them, but he deliberately did not recruit them, or dropped recruitment, because of character/attitude/entourage factors. I was sympathetic and said something like, "Yeah, it must be really difficult to go after these teenagers and beg them to accept an astounding and life changing opportunity." He looked at me steadily for a few moments and said, "I don't beg."
    And, as Robert Blake's character used to sum up on a long ago TV cop series called Baretta, "Dat's the name of dat tune."
    Jedweb,

    Thanks. I have a confirmation.

    For context: Coach K used to put on an annual leadership conference, with several hundred attendees. I moderated a panel during the conference, and so was invited to the capstone dinner in the room next to the basketball practice court. Coach K invited Jerry Colangelo to join him for an informal Q & A. It was a marvelous conversation -- relaxed, honest, funny and full of actual insights. Everybody enjoyed the mutual respect, camaraderie, trust and affection on display.

    In the Q & A, I asked K essentially the same question you did, Jedweb: How do you handle, as a very accomplished adult, with some pride and full self-respect, the task of going to teenagers' houses to persuade them and their families to come to Duke?

    As he replied to you, K said he doesn't beg. In fact, he never even asks players to come to Duke, let alone try to persuade them to choose Duke. He said that he does no selling. Instead, he is offering them the incredibly valuable opportunity to come to Duke. He felt proud to be able to offer them a great gift: the Duke experience. He visits to show the player and his family that K certainly wishes they would come to Duke because that would be a win-win. K sometimes describes the program's culture, so that the recruit and his family are better able to decide for themselves whether the player is a great fit. He also visits to be able to answer any questions the player and his family have for him. K wants to see whether the player and his family are fully comfortable with who he was/is as a person. Will we flourish working together? Can we build trust together?

    To me, this was a wonderful perspective, fully aligned with what we have seen from Coach K over the years. And a powerful selling approach! :-)
    “I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Sarasota, Florida
    Thanks. That's great. Probably has much to do with the fact that, while there have certainly been transfers out to other schools, not very many where player or his family seemed sour.

  4. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by hustleplays View Post
    Jedweb,

    He said that he does no selling ... a powerful selling approach! :-)
    Good stuff. Reminds me of a friend who was called in to interview with a Big Muckety Muck at a large investment bank long ago. BMM hands him his fancy pen and says "now I want you to sell me this pen". My friend takes the pen, tucks it in his pocket, and says, "sorry this pen is not for sale". Muckety muck spent the balance of the interview insisting that he surrender the pen. Not quite analogous, but always gives me a chuckle when I remember it and is a useful illustration of the scarcity value and not overselling!

    (NB - he did't get the job, but became super successful on his own...)

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