Mike Krzyzewski defends his work with USA Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. — Mike Krzyzewski wanted to talk about USA Basketball winning yet another gold medal in international competition, or at the very least, the upcoming season for his Blue Devils.
Instead, much of his news conference Thursday morning centered on defending himself against accusations of using USA Basketball — and its access to talented teenage basketball players — as a recruiting advantage, as a recent Yahoo! Sports column argued.
The columnist didn't mince words when, in essence, he argued that the only person with anything to gain from star NBA players competing for USA Basketball in international competitions was its coach, Duke's Krzyzewski.
The advantage, the columnist argued, was two-fold: it gave Krzyzewski access to younger players trying out for and competing on the U.S. under-19 team (i.e. the nation's elite recruits involved in the feeder program); and it also gave Krzyzewski a chance to promote and publicize his close, personal relationships with the sports' biggest stars, from LeBron James to Kevin Durant. If a top recruit wanted to get to the NBA, who better to help him get there than someone close to the superstars they idolize?
A day after Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, a Team USA assistant coach, vehemently defended Krzyzewski, the Duke coach threw in his two cents, too.
"Everybody can have an opinion on that," said Krzyzewski, who has led Duke to four national titles. "Anybody who wins, or if someone writes a great book or article, somebody wins a championship — they have an advantage. It's advantage through accomplishment. The notoriety you get from that, there's a risk to that. In other words, you can lose, and there's time you give up. The fact that you win and if you gain an advantage from that, then so be it. It's like if someone wins a national championship. (Connecticut coach) Kevin Ollie has an advantage recruiting because he won.
"I've given up 50 days this summer."
On the subject of access to younger players, Krzyzewski said it's been greatly exaggerated. He said over the course of the nine years he's been part of USA Basketball, he has gone to watch younger players just two times. He had been encouraged to see younger players and teams more frequently, but hadn't.
"Two days in nine years," Krzyzewski said. "There's a selection committee of college coaches who select these teams. Jim Boeheim has headed that for 10 years. In the 10 years he's done that, probably every time he's done a tryout, he's been there three or four days with other members of the selection committee who are college coaches. ... College coaches coach those teams. ... If you would do research on it and take the last nine years of every college coach who had access to younger players, you would find an astounding number of days for people on the selection committee. I'm not begrudging them. They give up time to do that. But to pick out and say that I've done that once or twice, it's ridiculous.
"It's utterly ridiculous. Anybody who comments on it without doing the research is really wanting to take that point of view. I don't get it. I don't get it."
Krzyzewski pointed out that Florida coach Billy Donovan, who coaches the U-19 team and spends weeks with elite recruits each summer, is not singled out as having an unfair advantage. Another coach that hasn't been singled out — and wasn't by Krzyzewski on Thursday, but is worth mentioning — is Kentucky's John Calipari. Calipari's stint as the head coach for the Dominican national team likely led to Karl Towns committing to play for him at Kentucky.
The point is, any coach in Krzyzewski's shoes would do the same. He said a lot of the attention comes from notoriety due to the length of his coaching career, and in this particular case, his success with USA Basketball.
"What are we supposed to do — lose?" Krzyewski deadpanned. "I don't get it. I don't get it."
Calipari posted a string of tweets Thursday explaining his words. This is what he said:
Jim's comments were brought to my attention & I called him. We are friends. I have unbelievable respect for him & how he runs his program.
Any concerns that college coaches have had in the past have always been addressed by USA basketball.
The job that Coach K and Coach Boeheim have done to turn around USA Basketball, to make it what it is today is truly amazing.
If – and I emphasize if – they gained any advantage, because of that work, I don't begrudge them in the least.
My time with the DR team showed me how hard & how much time it takes away from your own team & your recruiting to do those things right.
There's not a college coach in the country that would say no to Jerry Colangelo if he asked them to coach the national team.
My hope is they would handle it the same way it's being handled now.
As Thursday's news conference went on, Krzyzewski grew a bit feistier.
"In the old ACC, people would say that about us and North Carolina, that we had an advantage, the referees were doing this, we're doing this, that," Krzyzewski said. "It looks like that way because your program has won at a good level. We also got beat in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year (to Mercer). That wasn't an advantage, I don't think."
Krzyzewski said he's not sure how much Team USA has helped him recruiting-wise because "we haven't gotten every guy we've wanted.
"We recruited a lot of really good guys before I coached the United States team," said Krzyzewski, referencing Grant Hill, Tommy Amaker, Johnny Dawkins and others from Duke's past. "In fact, a lot of them have their jerseys retired. A lot of them have been national players of the year. I don't think anybody I've recruited since I've been the head coach of USA has been national player of the year."
"Actually, it's probably hurt us in recruiting," he deadpanned. "I've got to look into that. Not enough time on the road."