News-Record.com

Folks, I am deeply sorry it's taken me four days to get back into the blog state of mind. Hopefully you were able to stay strong in my absence. I promise - well, no, that's a bit to strong - I'm pretty sure it won't happen again.

Anyway, I got an interesting email at the end of last week. It came in response to this quote from Mike Krzyzewski after Duke's win at N.C. State.

"I really love my team," Krzyzewski said. "They're not Laettner or Brand, but they make plays."

I didn't think much of it, until I got this email the next day.

"Just tell Coach K, he has no reason to compare his team with Laettner or Brand. The team he has now will be just as succesfull. How would he like it if his team compared him with Dean Smith, saying he is no Dean Smith but still knows how to win games. He really should retract that statement, that was very tacky. By the was I am an avid DUKE fan.
Tell him to be proud of the team he does have and forget about what was instead of what is."

Maybe the reader's being picky, but then again, I remember how annoyed I got with Rick Pitino back in 1992 when he would go on an on about how his team didn't have much talent but by gosh they just knew how to win. Translation: "If it weren't for my brilliant coaching, this team would be in Nowhereville."

I don't think that's what K was getting at with his comments. But the reader's reaction does point out the fine line coaches have to walk when making public assessments of their time. Talk about how talented your team is, and you run the risk of them believing their own press clippings. Poor mouth your team too much and you seem disengenious. Do as K did and try to praise your team while trying to temper talk about its talent, and you run the risk of getting a reaction like the above email.

In short, as a coach you're pretty much going to tick someone off regardless of what view you take. Sort of like being a journalist, only with a lot more pay.