Duke Blue Devils: The Coach K Apology

Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski tripped over himself after the end of the loss to the Oregon Ducks.

The Duke Blue Devils have been out of the basketball season for a little more than one whole day. Yet we cannot get enough of them as there has been more reason to crank out a few words on them. This latest bit came from the aftermath of the Blue Devils’ 82-68 loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Sweet Sixteen.

At the end of the game, the Ducks had the ball with little time on the clock. The shot clock was still in play despite the low time. Dillon Brooks, the Oregon star, launched a three pointer to end the game that went in. Brooks immediately turned to greet Duke’s Grayson Allen, who shrugged him off on his way to the handshake line.

Brooks and Allen’s interaction was bang-bang. It lasted for no time and thankfully no one has made much of it. Allen did participate in the handshake line. It was not like he stalked off the court or something.

No, it was Allen’s coach who made the handshake line interesting. Mike Krzyzewski talked for a little while with Brooks. There is nothing odd about that, coaches often congratulate opposing players on great games. Then Brooks went over to be interviewed.

Brooks revealed that Coach K had told him that he was too good to showboat like that. The Oregon player went to say that he was probably right. That simple revelation based off the simple question ‘what did Coach K say to you?’ started the ball rolling.

The first reaction was that piece of information reached the Duke press conference. Most likely Coach K did not believe that Brooks would bring it up. Of course Brooks was asked about it. So when Coach K was confronted with questions about what he had said, he emphasized that he told Brooks he was a terrific player. He suggested though did not straight out say that the conversation had not happened.

That really put the story going. Now Coach K was either lying to the press or Brooks was. Coach Dana Altman tried to defuse the issue by saying he told Brooks to take the shot, but no one really blamed Brooks for the shot. It was much more interesting to figure out if Coach K was trying to hide the conversation.

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Why would Coach K hide the conversation? It has to do with Coach K’s brand. Coach K’s brand is leadership. It does not show great leadership to tell an opposing kid that he should show restraint. If Altman is correct, Brooks was only following orders. Instead it looks like a losing coach asking a player not to embarrass him. As if there was a difference in losing a game by fourteen instead of eleven.

Then there is the cover up. Coach K could have owned up to the conversation. It might have looked bad, but he could have laughed it off. Instead he suggested that he told Brooks something entirely different. Now we have had one day of media investigation on the topic.

What do you know? They found something. There was at least one microphone close enough to the handshake line to pick up the conversation which went something like this according to reports from Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports: ‘Krzyzewski says, “You’re too good of a player to do that. You’re too good of a player,” while Brooks apologizes immediately and says it was his bad.’

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So now there was proof. Now Coach K was not only ungracious, not only unrepentant, but now was caught in a lie. An apology was finally issued late yesterday. That statement:

“Today, I spoke with Oregon head coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game. It is not my place to talk to another team’s player and doing so took the focus away from the terrific game that Dillon played. In the postgame press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter’s question about my comment to Dillon. Clearly, the story that night was about Oregon advancing to the Elite Eight, and the outstanding game they played. I sincerely hope I did not create a distraction for Coach Altman and his team at this critical time of year. Certainly, I have the utmost respect for the Oregon program and their tremendous accomplishments.”

— Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University Head Coach and United States National Team Coach

So now the issue is over. This is not the first time that Coach K has let his feelings get the better of him. Every now and then it happens. There was the time he ripped the Duke student paper staff in the early eighties, there was the time he complained about officiating that favored Dean Smith, and of course language that he occasionally produces from the bench.

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That part of Coach K is also the part that encouraged him to crash the Navy locker room to congratulate the team on its effort when David Robinson played there. So there is good and bad to it. At this point, he is not going to change.

So he has made a mistake. He finally got around to correcting it. Duke is not playing anymore this season. The US National Team will be coached by K over the summer. Oregon lost to Oklahoma earlier today. Time to move on.

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