Opinion: Coach K’s Double Standards Show His Lack of Character

This is an opinion piece.

For 40 years, Coach Mike Krzyzewski has been pacing the court of Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Duke Blue Devils' legend has won Naismith College Coach of the Year three times and has coached the Blue Devils to a national championship five times in his tenure, so surely we should be listening to him... Right?

On Thursday, "Coach K" made headlines across the country after he publicly stated that Duke would be cancelling their remaining nonconference basketball games.

"We're doing the right thing for our players, just for safety, we're not going to play any [remaining] nonconference games," Krzyzewski said.

Seriously?

Does "Coach K" really want to protect his players or is this just because the Duke Blue Devils just dropped their second nonconference game of the year?

Before basketball season even started, the legendary coach made a statement where he said that the NCAA couldn't go another year without the NCAA tournament, so which one is it, Coach?

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

Nate Oats, the second-year coach of Alabama's basketball team had the same question.

After "Coach K" made his statement regarding player safety, Coach Oats responded with a totally different approach.

"Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn’t lost those two non-conference games at home?” Oats asked.

And frankly, Oats has an excellent point.

The SEC and ACC have both neared completion of almost-full-length football schedules. Sure there might have been a few cancellations here and there, but for the most part, most postponed games in both conferences will make these up.

For the players, coaches, and personnel that have gotten infected with COVID-19, almost every individual has made a full recovery, proving that is is very possible to complete a season of a contact sport in the middle of this pandemic.

So why is "Coach K" so concerned all of a sudden?

The last time Duke started any season 2-2 or dropped their two nonconference games this early in the season was the 1999-2000 season- 21 years ago.

Don't get me wrong. I care about players' safety. I am a huge fan of how the conferences have been handling contact tracing and testing because of how infectious this virus is, but where "Coach K" and I differ is this:

If you have the structural guidelines ad the necessary materials to wade through a full conference schedule, then what is just a few more games?

"Coach K" needs to take a page out of Nate Oats' playbook and not cower in fear when your team is facing adversity.