The Man at the Top

Tipoff

The announcement that the 2021-22 season will be the last for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was major news, about as big as it gets in college basketball. Love him or hate him, Coach K has been the loudest voice in the sport of men’s college basketball over the past several decades of his legendary career. His retirement leaves in its wake an existential threat to the sport. There is no better time than now for the NCAA to consider one of his suggestions, to create a commissioner of college basketball.

While the timing might be a coincidence, Coach K is leaving the sport at a time of great change. Illinois on Tuesday became the latest state to pass name, image, and likeness legislation to grant student-athletes the right to monetize their intellectual property. At some point soon, the NBA and its players association will enter into collective bargaining over a new contract and may consider changing or replacing the one-and-done rule. New professional leagues from the NBA and other wealthy backers are recruiting high school talent that might otherwise have played college ball. These are just a few of the major issues that could alter the landscape of the sport in the next few years.

In the absence of a single point person overseeing the sport, the media has instead leaned towards parsing through and overanalyzing the thoughts of Coach K on these topics. Case in point, a rather innocuous statement over the appropriateness of playing a sport during the height of a global pandemic became a major news cycle with quickly polarized positions. Some writers take every opportunity to sling mud. While there are several Hall of Fame coaches remaining in the sport, including Jim Boeheim, Tom Izzo, and Jay Wright, none of their voices have the gravity that Coach K’s words carry. It was never appropriate for fans and the media to put a single coach in the position of speaking on behalf of the entire sport — imagine the absurdity of everyone treating Tony La Russa as the voice of baseball. It is past time to put in place a single person that can speak on behalf of all the coaches, players, and other stakeholders to ensure the sport of men’s college basketball thrives.

The Mixtape

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

• Coach K is retiring! The Field of 68’s own Jeff Goodman broke the news. Also, this guy named Brad Stevens, he used to coach at a small school in Indiana, he took a front office job for the Boston Celtics. It was a slow news day. Goodman and Dauster took time out of their busy schedules to discuss it with Andre Dawkins. Why is Coach K retiring? And is Associate Coach Jon Scheyer the right one to take over the Blue Devils? Hear the instant reaction to the news and then check out my interview with Andre Dawkins in Four Point Play below.

• The transfer portal has been a big story this offseason. As of today, Verbal Commits has more than 1,630 players in the transfer portal, more than one in four players in Division 1 from the past season. On this edition of Candid Conversations, Antoine Pettway of Alabama, Ketih Stevens of AAU’s Team Takeover, Allen Griffin of Syracuse, and others discuss the downside of the portal, recruiting high school players, and what that means for the game of college basketball.

• While the big news has been about the bluest of the blue bloods, there’s a little school in Spokane, Washington that has big-time NCAA National Title aspirations after falling one game short of the trophy last season. Dan Dickau of the Bulldog Broadcast connects with the Gonzaga broadcasters, including Richard Fox, Greg Heister, and Chauncey Jones. The quartet, two months removed from the National Title game, review what happened in 2021 and look ahead to 2022. Will Chet Holmgren bring the Zags to the promised land? Can Hunter Sallis and Nolan Hickman step in for Joel Ayayi and Jalen Suggs? The men with the front-row seats give their view of Gonzaga.

• This offseason has been busy in Omaha as old faces exit and new faces enter the scene. On this edition of Welcome to the Jay, Jahenns Manigat connects with former Blue Jay big man Gregory Echenique to catch up with a familiar face. Echenique is a new father and has played for 8 seasons overseas. The two relive his time in college and playing on the international scene, including the 2016 Olympics with the Venezuelan National Team.

Four Point Play

Each newsletter throughout the summer, we’ll check in with one of our podcast hosts and see what they’re up to in addition to producing compelling content for us at The Field of 68.

This week, we check in with Andre Dawkins, former Duke standout, NBA player, and host of the Dawkins on Duke podcast (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts).

1. On your emergency podcast with Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman, you mentioned that you found out about Coach K’s retirement just like the rest of us, when Goodman tweeted it out. How did it make you feel when you saw the news?

• I don’t know if surprise is the right word. I knew it was coming at some point in the next few years. I was shocked and then excited to hear that Jon (Scheyer) was taking over. Coach leaving was a bittersweet moment since he built the whole thing.

2. Is there anything that Coach K could do in his final season to change his legacy? Short of a controversy off the court, like evidence that he paid players or something like that, is there anything he could do to add or detract from what he has accomplished in his 41 years on the sideline?

• Honestly, I am not sure. I guess he could add a little bit, maybe if he wins one more championship. As far as detracting, he has 40 years of being an exemplary coach. I don’t know how much one action could deter from all of that. I am excited that he gets to go out on his own terms and have a swan song.

3. You were a teammate of Jon Scheyer your freshman year, when the newly-named “Head Coach in Waiting” was a senior on the 2009-10 ACC and National Championship team. Did you know then that coaching was in his future, and what about him makes you believe he will be able to keep Duke near the top of men’s college basketball?

• I thought he had coaching in the future, but I figured it would be way in the future. He had that eye injury (during NBA summer league play following his senior season), which ended his playing career early. His demeanor in particular is something that is going to set him apart. I think coaches are moving towards being less excitable than they used to be. I think you’ll see a lot less coaches in the face of players screaming. You are seeing coaches like that phased out in favor of more players’ coaches (like Jon Scheyer).

And one!

4. If you had to pick the perfect ending for Coach K, do you think it would have been better to win one final National Championship and then announce it was his last game, like how John Wooden called it a career, or like this, before the season even starts?

• I see both as being super cool, walking off the court after winning and hanging it up. I am appreciative of the fact that this is his last year. I know he’ll get to go to these places and enjoy the moment. Selfishly, I am glad I know this is his last year and can make a point to get to a game or two. I have to make plans to get to Durham.

Stay tuned to Dawkins on Duke. Andre recently sat down with Grant Hill, the Hall of Famer, for a 2-part interview covering a bunch of topics, including his 3 Final Four appearances and 2 NCAA Titles (Part 1 | Part 2). Coming soon, Andre will interview Matt Jones, a former teammate and member of the 2015 National Championship team.