Coach K vs. The Econ Major

Who's giving him a pass? He's a asshole.

He'll do a longwinded mea culpa on ESPN and give the kid a full interview in which he pretends to let his hair down while throwing him a few quotable bones.

As for the coddling line I think you know what I'm getting at. Buy the ticket, take the ride. But back to the main point, yes, you're right, Shashevsky ought to know better but just doesn't care.

 

Does Coach K's other hip hurt yet? What an asshole.

 

Hey, Knight!

 

I'm split on where I stand on this. For starters, that seemed like a very unnecessary swipe from Coach K who's lashing out at an easy target as his disappointing season continues.

However, that reporter is getting an early taste of what dealing with big-time coaches is usually like. It feels like the type of thing that is a very good learning experience as long as it doesn't affect him mentally.

 

That was bad?

K could have said 10,000 worse things and 1000x more condensing and crappy.

If it's not Duke and their problems this season, this isn't even a story. I'm willing to be folding money he's answered questions like that the same way for decades.

 

That guy’s got a future.

 

He does and Coach K gave him a big boost by being mean.

 

Ok, next throw a chair!

 

I mean, you don't really have to be split on it. Both things can be true.

That it's a good lesson to be treated badly for no reason does not excuse treating someone in a far lower position badly. A somewhat positive outcome doesn't mean the action that led to it was OK.

It's also funny because it's also kind of a half lesson. That someone might be rude for no reason is an OK thing to learn, but it's not really a lesson about asking hard questions or how to approach that part of the job (unless the answer is to push people because they'll be dicks anyway, which has value, but might just inhibit the ability to build a relationship that could be of some use).

 

If the kid has asked about the game instead of how Duke will move forward, K would probably have gone full Belichik and said words to the effect of "we're not dwelling on the past ... we're looking ahead to Wake Forest."
As a veteran of dozens of ACC basketball conference calls from the 1990s, I can tell you that K was insufferable most of the time. He'd have a rare January where Duke would go 5-3 or so, and when asked about what was wrong, we'd get this: "What you need to be writing about is how well our freshman are shooting from the foul line."

 

This is the stupidest non story ever