Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski took an unnecessary cheap shot at a student journalist.
Mike Krzyzewski takes a lot of criticism as the head coach of the Duke basketball program, some warranted and some unwarranted, but the 73-year-old might have gone over the line following his team’s loss on Saturday.
After the Blue Devils dropped their third straight game and fell to .500 on the season, tensions were clearly running high with the Hall of Famer.
Krzyzewski has received a lot of backlash during his postgame press conference after losses, this season and in years past, for not being a gracious loser and ultimately blaming outside forces when Duke loses.
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Again, some of that criticism is warranted, and some of it is unfair.
However, a student reporter from the Duke Chronicle asked the Blue Devils’ head coach where the team goes from here following its most recent loss, and Krzyzewski obviously didn’t take too kindly to the question.
The full encounter was captured by CBS Sports reporter Kyle Boone.
https://twitter.com/Kyle__Boone/status/1353150276971225088?s=20
Seriously, Coach K? I mean, c’mon.
“We are going to go back home, get to practice tomorrow, and prepare to play Georgia Tech on Tuesday night.”
That’s all he had to say, and the controversy would have been avoided.
Sometimes, you have to take your medicine, even if you do not like it.
Duke basketball head coach completely out of line
The student journalist revealed on Twitter following the exchange that this was the first question he had ever asked Mike Krzyzewski following a game, and it was a completely fair question to ask given Duke’s struggles and upcoming schedule.
The Class of 2023 Duke student probably grew up idolizing Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils’ men’s basketball program and could not wait to have the opportunity to ask the head coach a question, all to be belittled in front of all his peers and now for the nation to see.
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Student journalists need to be treated with as much respect as a journalist who is there to cover the team as his/her job.
In fact, student journalists should be looked at with more respect because they are covering a team without getting a penny for their hard work.
It’ll be predictable if Krzyzewski apologizes either privately or publicly in his next press conference after a Duke victory to the student reporter, probably with the added bonus of the journalist getting to ask the first question of the media availability.
Hopefully, the cheap shot by Mike Krzyzewski does not discourage the student journalist from asking more questions in postgame press conferences because he was not out of line. It was the 73-year-old Hall of Famer who was disrespectful to the young adult.