Coach K of Duke basketball on NCAA, future of college sports

Durham

Mike Krzyzewski, who is no longer coaching but is involved in college sports as a Duke Ambassador, evaluates college athletics as the current model is at its limit.

“It’s the most important time in college sports, and it’s really the most chaotic time,” Krzyzewski said in an exclusive interview with The News & Observer.

75-year-old Krzyzewski, who retired after 42 seasons as a Duke basketball coach in April and recorded more wins (1,202) and final four appearances (13) than a men’s college basketball coach, played college athletics. I made it a job in my life. He began as a graduate assistant coach in Indiana in 1974 and served as head coach of the Army for five years before arriving at Duke. This is the 48th consecutive year of business.

He worked with N & O on changing the state of athletics at the university in a special city hall version of the Sirius XM radio show at the Champions Club at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night.

NIL, “the driving force of change”

College athletics is a professional sport from an amateurist model, as NCAA in the midst of restructuring and athletes can benefit from their names, images and portraits and transfer more freely than ever before. Is approaching.

Krzyzewski is a professional NIL and says he is the “driving force of change.” He said the NCAA cracked down on NIL-type activities rather than accepting them and missed the boat in the early 90’s. Thirty years later, the legislature and federal court decisions have forced him to accept it.

“I hate what’s happening in college athletics,” he added. “I all want the rights of student athletes and what they can do.”

He said that the disagreement between these two ideas would require major changes as the NCAA’s way of governing college sports is outdated.

“There is nothing against Kodak, but is there a Kodak camera?” Krzyzewski said. “I’m Kodak. I’m Edsel. It’s an 8-track tape or something. Come on. It doesn’t work anymore.”

New NCAA Leadership

NCAA President Mark Emart announced his retirement plan in April. Despite frequent criticisms of Emmart’s decision, Krzyzewski does not believe that Emart’s resignation will correct what is wrong with college athletics governance. Instead, he said he believed it was time to rethink the entire system.

But first, he said he needed to identify a leadership group.

“Who do you put in the room to decide all this?” Krzyzewski said. “I don’t know. You know? Nobody knows. Therefore, create another room. Create another room.”

What do you mean? The first is to find something in common between schools.

“Like must be with Like,” Krzyzewski said. “What are your needs? What’s happening in that environment?”

That could mean a departure from the long-discussed top conferences to form a unique governance model separate from the NCAA, such as the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12, and Big 12. Said. However, Krzyzewski wants to go beyond that, saying that he needs to specify rules for each sport because of the different nature of his needs.

“What about a particular sport?” He said. “Are you an income-generating sport? Are you an Olympic sport? As you know, no one can live in exactly the same house under the same conditions. It’s not unfair to anyone. Certain things It’s just realistic. Certain things happen that don’t happen in your neighborhood, another neighborhood. Therefore, setting rules for all neighborhoods doesn’t work. That was the NCAA collapse. “

College football leads

One thing is certain: college football will lead these changes, Krzyzewski said.

“SEC Soccer is the best college sports product on television except for March Madness,” Krzyzewski said, adding that the SEC, which adds Texas and Oklahoma, “builds an empire.”

The income that every school or conference earns from football-that’s the biggest part of television trading-means that financial muscles can’t be ignored.

“We are now a paddleless boat,” said Krzyzewski. “I want to see football paddling because they are ahead and they are also more powerful.

College basketball should function as one

Of course, college basketball is still sitting at the table. But to reinforce it, Krzyzewski said it is of utmost importance for men’s and women’s college basketball to approach this as one entity.

“Men and women, they have to be together, like the big blocks you know,” Krzyzewski said. “And with the growth of women’s games, it’s stupid not to do it. Don’t compete. We should move forward together.”

After being criticized for the inequality that exists in men’s and women’s tournaments in 2021, NCAA leaders have made changes to the 2022 tournament. One of the superficial moves was to host both tournaments under the March Madness marketing scheme, rather than just using them for men’s tournaments.

Of course, what makes March Madness so attractive is that schools at all levels of Division I with access to the tournament are competing on the court for the same prize. This is how New Jersey’s St. Peters reached within one win in the final fours last season.

Krzyzewski is attracted to the fact that college football has already been narrowed down to the top 120 football bowl subdivisions. At the same time, he still wants March Madness to have a way for schools like St. Peters to have a way to that championship.

“You were able to pave the way, and I call them another neighborhood school instead of calling them a small school, and I still have the opportunity to attend it,” Krzyzewski said. .. “Maybe it’s not the same way, there are 32 auto-qualifiers. Maybe there are many. But you have to start something from here. From one domino.”

This story was originally published June 6, 2022, 5:48 am.