NEW ORLEANS — Knowing he will only coach one or two more games in his 42-year career, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski wasn’t shy in addressing the NCAA as a broken system.
Krzyzewski went on an rant about college sport’s governing body when speaking with reporters Friday ahead of the Blue Devils’ Final Four matchup with North Carolina on Saturday (8:49 pm ET, TBS).
“I don’t understand. I’m getting out of it. It’s crazy to me,” Krzyzewski said. “The structure we have now does not work. … This is a time not to look at knits and bits. It’s a time to look at the whole thing. I think we’re all frustrated. And that’s good because if you’ re frustrated it means then all constituents want change.
“It’s time to come up with an organization that has not been able to adapt. And so this time is to catch up on all the things we didn’t adapt to but to form an organization that can anticipate change, can forward look and say these things might happen.”
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Krzyzewski joked that he was on the “edge of his seat” to know about NCAA president Mark Emmert’s stances on the state of college athletics. While Coach K didn’t directly call anyone out, he said change was needed in personnel.
“I’m not blasting anybody. I’m saying, ‘Come on. Do this the right way.’ I don’t see it happening the right way,” Krzyzewski said. “I would take a look at the organization, who’s on that transformational committee. I think there are more compliance people on it. Nothing against compliance people. That’s part of what we do.”
The 75-year-old coach said he wants to see change more than anything and called for a massive restructuring.
“The thing that I would recommend is that this is a transformational time for college athletics,” Krzyzewski said. “When you transform, the main thing you transform is structure, organization. I hear all these things that they’re coming out with all the compliance stuff. That should come after structure.”
“It’s a time to look at and see: Do you do something like football and they’re under one roof? Do you organize men and women’s basketball under another roof? Do you do that in different segments of the NCAA? Do you have different houses, not try to put everyone in one house? Do you have leadership groups for each of those houses? Do they have the autonomy then to handle situations at that level that never gets to the big house?”
Krzyzewski was asked by a reporter if he would consider helping the NCAA after he retires and said it would be better for the organization to listen to younger coaches – something he believes they haven’t been doing nearly enough.
“The only way to do it: You have to listen to people on the ground,” he said. “Otherwise, you have absent congressmen who don’t know what they’re doing.”
Follow college basketball reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism