Coach K was the speaker last night (Feb 15) at the Richmond Forum, a speaker series here in RVA that is close to the most popular event in town. (Pre-pandemic it was ALWAYS sold out, even the downstairs simulcast room.) Coach K absolutely nailed it. He was witty, serious, and honest. He spoke without notes and without any slides for about an hour - really hard to do that and keep an audience engaged. Granted, I had heard some of the stories before - but last night there were more details. He started by bringing out a large bottle of water as a "gift" for the Richmond mayor (Danny Avula) - making a somewhat biting joke of our recent water crisis (no water in the city for 4 days). He did the four A's of leadership (I remember two - adaptability and accountability). He mostly used the 2008 U.S. basketball team as his example - again, much was seen in the documentary about that team, but he added lots of color and detail. He also went through the seven Duke basketball values. His example for the values was the 2015 national championship team - eight is enough (I had forgotten that there were only eight players on that team!). He mentioned having to dismiss a player - wow. He ended his speech by quoting Grayson in the championship game "LET'S GO!".
In the following Q&A, he answered questions posed by a local journalist. When asked "why is Duke so hated" he said "because we are successful" and said he welcomed it because it meant you were always being tested. When asked about the state of the ACC, he said it was "bad". He was extremely critical of the NCAA. He strongly supported making the NCAA men's basketball game match the NBA/international game (4 quarters, shorter shot clock).
The event was packed despite the bad weather, and folks did not leave early (like they usually do). There were definitely fans of Duke in the audience but also a good number of UVA fans (and maybe some others).
The Richmond Forum gets great speakers from politics, the arts, science, ethics - most of the former U.S. presidents and their spouses have been speakers. All in all, Coach gave a great talk - one of the best I have seen - and other folks in the audience who were not Duke grads or fans agreed.
Did anyone else attend? Thoughts?
-ramdevil
In the following Q&A, he answered questions posed by a local journalist. When asked "why is Duke so hated" he said "because we are successful" and said he welcomed it because it meant you were always being tested. When asked about the state of the ACC, he said it was "bad". He was extremely critical of the NCAA. He strongly supported making the NCAA men's basketball game match the NBA/international game (4 quarters, shorter shot clock).
The event was packed despite the bad weather, and folks did not leave early (like they usually do). There were definitely fans of Duke in the audience but also a good number of UVA fans (and maybe some others).
The Richmond Forum gets great speakers from politics, the arts, science, ethics - most of the former U.S. presidents and their spouses have been speakers. All in all, Coach gave a great talk - one of the best I have seen - and other folks in the audience who were not Duke grads or fans agreed.
Did anyone else attend? Thoughts?
-ramdevil
