Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was critical of President Barack Obama's military strategy regarding the ongoing ISIS conflict at an awards ceremony in October.
Krzyzewski was awarded the George Catlett Marshall Medal by the Association of the United States Army in Washington, D.C. Oct. 15. During the ceremony, the Army graduate took to the podium to accept the award and address the crowd of military officers
“I know it’s upsetting to many of you when you hear ‘no boots on the ground.’ It upsets me too, because that’s like saying I’m not going to play two of my best players, because that’s what you are trained to do. And for decades and decades, the fact that we are a free country and we don’t play home games here is a result of having boots on the ground. It’s about letting your opponent know that we are going to use our best players."
During his speech, Krzyzewski compared a good military strategy to that of the approach he takes as the basketball coach at Duke and with Team USA, stating that a coach should not reveal their hand to the opponent prior to the contest.
"Now whether you use them or not, that’s up to the coach. You never tell an opponent you’re not going to play... Grant Hill. J.J. Redick. [Christian] Laettner. For the Olympics, ‘Hey Spain, I’m not going to start LeBron and Kobe tonight.’ I don’t think you do that. How much I play them, you know, let the guy figure out how I’m going to play them. I want to thank you for the countless times your boots have been on the ground, and as a result it’s given me the opportunity to live in a free country, to do what the hell I want to do.”
Check back with The Chronicle tomorrow for an update.
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