Fire Coach K.
Just kidding.
Kind of.
Basically, here's what I'm saying: Coach K has gotten too big. He's too important. Too good at what he does. It's not good for him, it's not good for the University and it's not good for college athletics.
So he needs a bigger job. Like Athletic Director.
It has gotten to the point where no one in all of college basketball or on all of Duke's campus can tell Mike Krzyzewski he's wrong. Coach K has created his own fiefdom, and he is judge, jury and executioner. He is immune to criticism.
If I wanted to, I could devote this column to questioning some of Krzyzewski's decisions on and off the court over the last few years. I could suggest that the talent he brings to Durham isn't developing like it should, or that his team plays at too slow a pace, or that he hasn't evolved his recruiting and coaching strategies to fit the NCAA's new one-and-done rules, or that his commitment to the U.S. National Team takes away too much of his time.
But the response to that would be predictable. Who are you to question Coach K? He built Duke's program from the ground up. Who cares what he's done lately? And by the way, you snot-nosed kid, what have you done for anyone ever?
And in a lot of ways, that would be right. I'm not qualified to criticize Coach K directly, so I won't. Three National Championships and 700-some wins are enough to earn immunity from my criticism. Krzyzewski knows what he's doing better than I do.
But I will say this: Coaching is a profession in which a man must grow. Since he is being called on to lead a group of men, the coach must always change his strategies to fit the men he is leading. If you don't believe me, believe John Wooden, whose favorite assistants were the ones who challenged him.
The fact that no one is qualified to criticize Krzyzewski means that any change will have to come from within the coach himself. And older men-like the 60-year-old Krzyzewski-are notoriously resistant to change.
So for the health of Duke's basketball program, and the overall athletic department, Krzyzewski needs to resign as men's head basketball coach and replace Joe Alleva as AD.
The timing couldn't be better. According to the last public announcement, Alleva signed a five-year contract in 2003, so the University could opt to put itself on the market for a new athletic director sometime within the next year. And after the past few tumultuous years, Duke might want to move in a different direction. And Krzyzewski is eminently qualified.
Krzyzewski's focus-as he so eloquently stated in those old American Express ads-is not simply on-the-court success. He doesn't want his kids armed with a jump shot; he wants them armed for life. Why shouldn't all Duke athletes be armed for life? As Director of Athletics, Coach K would be able to make the type of far-reaching changes that would improve Duke's student-athlete culture.
But it's not only Duke's athletes at stake. This University's athletic department should be one of the national leaders. As last year's lacrosse scandal so unfortunately exposed, anything that involves Duke Athletics is big news. Because of the confluence of big-time academics and big-time athletics so unique to Duke, people care what Blue Devil athletes do. If Duke had a powerful visionary as AD (which Alleva has not yet proven himself to be), this University could help define policies for the entire NCAA.
If Duke declared all scholarship freshmen ineligible (citing the need for first-years to integrate themselves into the larger university community before the smaller team community), it would be huge, national news. If Duke dropped out of the ACC (because it might be impossible for such an academically-challenging school to field a competitive 70-person football team), that would also be enormous news.
Even if Duke just followed the lead of Notre Dame and forced all freshman athletes to live with non-athletes, that might send ripples through the college sports community-especially if a respected and world-famous figure like Krzyzewski had his name attached to the news release announcing the changes.
Essentially, Duke Athletics needs a visionary leader with the power-both on and off Duke's campus-to make his own decisions.
As long as Coach K is in charge of the basketball team, the AD will have to listen to him.
Installing Coach K as AD kills two birds with one stone. Not only does Duke Athletics get a smart, visionary leader that can help fix some of the most challenging problems facing college sports, but that leader will not be less powerful than his school's basketball coach.
Krzyzewski has become too powerful to be just a basketball coach. But he's just powerful enough to make some real changes to college athletics.
So fire Coach K-and then immediately rehire him as AD.
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