DURHAM, N.C. — No longer coaching but still involved in the college sports landscape as a Duke ambassador, Mike Krzyzewski’s assessment of college athletics is that the current model is at a breaking point.
“It’s the most important time in college sports,” Krzyzewski said in an exclusive interview with The News & Observer, “and it’s really the most chaotic time.”
The 75-year-old Krzyzewski, who retired after 42 seasons as Duke’s basketball coach in April with more wins (1,202) and Final Four appearances (13) than any men’s college basketball coach, made college athletics his life’s work. Starting in 1974 as an Indiana graduate assistant coach, and then serving five years as Army’s head coach prior to his arrival at Duke, that’s 48 consecutive years in the business.
He addressed the changing state of college athletics with the N&O, and during a special town hall edition of his SiriusXM radio show Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium’s Champions Club.
NIL, the ‘impetus of change’
With the NCAA in the midst of a restructuring and athletes able to profit off their name, image and likeness and with more freedom to transfer than ever before, college athletics are moving away from the amateurism model and closer to professional sports.
Krzyzewski is pro NIL, saying it’s the “impetus of change.” He said the NCAA missed the boat in the early 90s by cracking down on NIL-type activities rather than embracing it. Now, 30 years later, it was forced to accept it due to state legislatures and federal court decisions.
While he “hates what’s happening with college athletics,” Krzyzewski added, “I’m all for the rights of the student athletes and for them to do as much as as much as they can.”
To solve the disparity in those two thoughts, he said major changes are needed because the way the NCAA has governed college sports is outdated.
“Nothing against Kodak, but do you have any Kodak cameras?” Krzyzewski said. “It’s Kodak. It’s Edsels. It’s 8-track tapes or whatever. Come on. It doesn’t work anymore.”
New NCAA leadership
NCAA president Mark Emmert announced his retirement plans in April. A frequent critic of Emmert’s decisions, Krzyzewski nevertheless doesn’t believe Emmert’s departure will fix what’s wrong with college athletics’ governance. Instead, he said believes it’s time to re-imagine the whole system.
But first, he said, a leadership group has to be identified.
“Who would you have in the room to decide all this?” Krzyzewski said. “I don’t know. You know what? Nobody knows. So create another room. Create another room.”
What does that mean? The first thing is to find common ground between schools.
“Like has to be with like,” Krzyzewski said. “What are your needs? What are things that happen in that environment?”
