When Mike Krzyzewski starts talking college basketball, people listen.
That's why Monday afternoon at Krzyzewski's first post-surgery press conference, a lot of people wanted to know what the veteran coach thought should be done about the perceived decay of college basketball.
And while Krzyzewski did not share any specific policy changes, he believes a governing body solely responsible for men's basketball would go a long way in curing the ills of the game.
"[The NCAA] has not kept up with the torrid pace of the game," Krzyzewski said. "The biggest thing that has to happen is that there has to be a governing body for college basketball or a oversight committee that meets on a day-to-day basis. The game is played and run on a day-to-day basis."
Committees like the one that recently proposed freshman ineligibility are a good intermediate step Krzyzewski said, but noted that committee members have too many complex issues to address.
"If they were doing this day-to-day, they'd figure out some really good things because they're brilliant people," Krzyzewski said. "But that's not what they do.... It should not be a second job. This should be a primary job. Our sport deserves it and our sport has been hurt by not having that."
Krzyzewski believes that because basketball produces more than 90 percent of the NCAA's total revenue, it warrants its own governing body. Such a committee has not been formed yet because the NCAA is reluctant to single out one specific sport.
"It goes against the very structure of the NCAA," Krzyzewski said. "The NCAA has never been sport-specific. It's rule book is all-encompassing, a decision that is made in one sport has to be carried over to all sports and that's just the way they've run their business.... It's a change, and change is very slow in the NCAA. But it's needed right now."
Krzyzewski believes the ultimate solution lies in a cooperation with the NBA and the NCAA. Krzyzewski is the only college coach on a 14-man NBA advisory committee that met in New York Tuesday. And while NBA people like Pat Riley, Rick Pitino and Rudy Tomjanovich discuss the future of the NBA, Krzyzewski said he would bring up the problem of young players joining the NBA too early.
"If you're not mature enough to handle that lifestyle, if you've not developed your talent to a level that's worthy of the NBA, maybe some of those rules will be a salve instead of an internal medicine that will cure you," Krzyzewski said. "These are the types of issues I'd like to present to them and hopefully have some cooperation. I really think the NBA and the players union would cooperate if they knew who to cooperate with."
Krzyzewski said he did not think the new proposal enforcing mandatory freshman ineligibility would pass, believing the issue to be too complex. And although the coach did not say he was against the idea, he expressed some joy that the rule won't come into being before next season.
"I would have to take a sabbatical this year," Krzyzewski quipped. "Either that or I'd try to get Justin Caldbeck back and have the Caldbecks start at the wings."
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