Duke basketball: What Coach K should do for fans he berated

What Coach K should do for the fans he berated

The solution is a no-brainer: Coach K should show some love for the Cameron Crazies he berated by taking some time this week to treat them like family.

All it would take are six simple steps:

1. Have a Duke basketball staff member carefully review the tape to find out the names of the students Coach K appeared to directly target with his tirade — you know, the 30 or so devoted Millennial and Post-Millennial fans who missed a perfect opportunity to chant back at him, OK, Boomer!
2. Invite each of them, one by one, to his office so that he can swallow his ego in front of them and apologize directly to each individual for basically embarrassing him or her on national TV — no right mind would argue any of them deserved that.
3. Invite them all as a group to dinner at the Krzyzewski household in order to make them feel like an integral part of the team.
4. At the dinner, since Coach K is obviously so concerned with what they chant, they should all discuss — with open minds on both sides — the types of chants they should and shouldn’t use in the future.
5. Also at the dinner, maybe during dessert, they should elect one student among them to be the liaison between Coach K and the Cameron Crazies for the remainder of the season. This liaison should possess attributes of a friendly level-headed leader whom his or her peers respect.
6. During future Duke basketball home games, Coach K and the liaison should use predetermined signals — like in baseball — to communicate across the court whenever the coach finds a chant distasteful or unnecessary. Of course, since Millenials are big believers in positive reinforcement, they should also have signals that indicate the coach’s praise for certain chants.

Problem solved. These 30 or so kids would quickly spread the word on campus that the old grump who screamed at them isn’t such a mean guy after all. As a result, the program would soon probably not have to keep selling general admission tickets to the public just to fill the student section.

ALSO READ: Duke struggles to fill Cameron Indoor Stadium

A Duke basketball house divided cannot stand. A Duke basketball house united cannot fail.

Need a way to break the tension between coach and fans? Break bread together. Such a gesture sure seems necessary at this point. And such a gesture sure seems like it would be the best way to air grievances in a closed-to-public family setting in order to start anew.

In fact, such a get-together would be a good idea every season from this point forward.

Heck, if necessary, buy a pole and invite Frank Costanza for instructions. A Festivus miracle at the Krzyzewski house should immediately translate into free-of-fear Cameron festivities.

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