This season. It is not a stretch at all, given the current college hoops climate where the very top players are funneled to schools based on the brand of shoes they wear in 8th grade AAU, that K coaches until he is 80 years old or beyond. You could make a compelling argument that he has the best job in the United States. He is the most powerful person- by a large measure- at one of the most prestigious schools in the South and outside of the Ivy League. A billion dollar shoe company with unlimited reach and marketing gets his players for him. His league is afraid and intimidated of him and his program, so he coaches (and gets calls) as he pleases and he makes 7 million annually in total compensation to coach 35 games. Yes, he built the program at Duke after some lean years. Yes he wins championships, yes he fills the high school gym they play in, yes I get it. But if you are Coach K and you don't have to recruit players, why would you retire? Ever?
Coach K is 72 today, and might have his best ever team
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I don't get why they haven't upgraded their arena after such a long period of success
They like to win at Duke- at all costs- so having students in wooden bleachers 3 feet from the other teams bench helps winning. That's what is most important. The 2 total mens bathrooms in the building is inconsequential. And their Nike deal for hoops more than makes up in the lost revenue.
I think it's the game atmosphere they want to present. Small, dark, and extremely hostile. So yes large arenas are probably intimidating too, but there is something else about Cameron
It's college basketballs Fenway Park. They will never move from Cameron
Why would they? Its a legit destination, and even though the bowl area looks small and cramped, they've renovated the hell out of the concourses to be a museum to Duke basketball
Also, they will be starting another renovation project soon. The biggest issue for Cameron is the lack of suites. With basketball being your bread winner sport (in lieu of football), I don't really understand why they're leaving money on the table for the sake of tradition. Some people would say this a is a bold decision to go against the grain of college athletics, but I think it's just not good athletic department business.
The way I see it, adding suites would fundamentally alter the charm of Cameron. You would have to raise the rafters and physically expand the footprint to make it happen, which would eliminate the old school throwback charm of the place. Either that, or you'd have to eliminate rows of seats at the top, which... I'm not sure they would want to do.
That said, they do have a very nice Premium Seats area for high dollar donors to rub shoulders with the elites during games.
That's a misnomer. I have a cousin that works for Duke Medical, season tickets for non-students is standard deviations higher than your typical blue blood college basketball program...I'll put it this way, my cousin is a doctor with zero debt, married to another doctor with zero debt and he told me he couldn't afford season tickets.
Thank you for making my point, that's because there's scarcity of supply. It's the economics of it. Duke can charge the same amount for season basketball tickets in a larger arena.
Whereas with football, they almost give season tickets away, especially to Duke employees.
Therefore basketball is the bread winner. Duke is not maximizing their revenue from the sport that has the most demand.
With more supply, it's less scarce and they can't charge quite as much as before per ticket. They would probably still make more, but I'm not sure that the extra bump would be worth the expense or risk of a brand-new facility.
Think if they moved into a building like the Yum Center. That places makes absurd money for Louisville Hoops- absurd. Duke could sell out a 15K seat pro style arena with suites with no problem. But like I said, Uncle Phil makes it so they don't need to be urgent about it.
You have to remember that Duke has more multi millionaire donors than your average institution. Per this article, Duke raised $340 million for their athletic program over the past seven years as part of a $3.85 billion institutional fundraising effort. Obviously I'm not privy to details but maintaining the charm and mystique of Cameron Indoor was probably a huge contingency for their donors. Combine that with their (probably) absurd Nike deal, I don't see the impetus for risking brand value for possible increased ticket sales.
That's was what I was trying to hint at. Duke basketball does just fine from a revenue standpoint from their current ticket costs, I'm not convinced that building a bigger arena to offer more "market-value" tickets is worth all of the potential downside.
This. I was in Raleigh around the time of the Duke/UVA game and for shits and giggles looked at tickets and the remaining ones a week before the game were $1300 on the secondary market
Had a friend in my cohort at Duke about ten years ago with wealthy parents. They had to donate $42,000 just for the privilege of buying her season tickets. Grad students can get in to most games fairly easily and for super cheap, but you have to stand the entire time and are smashed together. Undergrads go free, but for high profile games (esp UNC) might have to wait in line for a while, i.e. a month. As for football, all students go free but they do not give anything to employees unless it is for the NC Central game. I've had the pleasure of attending two Hokie games at Cameron. It's a special place and I hope it never changes.
I went to a game down there during the James Johnson era and scalpers outside of Cameron were offering $300 per ticket. I'd say the University does just fine on basketball ticket revenue.
Nike takes care of Duke basketball... they don't need any suite money to be a top 3 team every year.
Idk if we can really throw stones at Duke's decisions around basketball
If you all have never been to a game at Cameron, you don't understand. It is legitimately the best sporting event/venue I've ever been to in my life. I don't think you mess with what is working, especially when it is working so well.
It definitely helps when your starters were the #1, #2, #3, and #17 players in the last year's recruiting class, with one of them, Zion, being once in a decade, type of player.
That block Zion had on the 3 pointer against UVA was one of the most ridiculous athletic plays I have ever seen. That ball was 10-11 feet in the air and ascending and he still came out of nowhere and blocked it.
No person that is 6'7", 275-280 lbs should be able to jump that high and and be that agile. I know we all hate Duke/envious of thier success but we have to appreciate how gifted of an athlete Zion is.
Whenever I watch Duke, I find myself disliking their fans and Coach K much more than any of their current players. Granted, they have definetely had some real D bag players in the past though.
As a 76ers fan, I hate to admit that I really really like JJ Reddick's game these days.
When I was a teenager, I went to a couple of Duke's summer basketball camps because my cousin at the time was attending Duke, so I was able to bunk at her apartment.
I hate Duke for all of their national exposure and sucess, but I gotta say, I can't say I hate Coach K. I got the chance to talk to him 1 on 1 a couple times (as well as a couple group speeches) and he came across as a real genuine and respectable guy. I don't have the distaste for him like a lot of people do.
He still looks like a llama.
Acts like one too.
Yeah, but then he tells an Oregon player on camera "you are better than that" and denies he said it to the media 10 minutes later. He also treats student videographers, media, local media, anyone not named Sean McDonough or Dick Vitale like they are trash, but hey. He also berates officials that make 80K a season relentlessly every game.
Yea he def has his downfalls, as you explained, no argument there. Outside of basketball, he is a really good dude. Let's be honest, no one is perfect. If we examined every coach under a microscope, you could probably find the same or similar downfalls on a lot of them (if not all).... As much as Coach K? I don't know, maybe... maybe not.
Shoot, I coach youth basketball and I berate the 14/15 year old refs who are making MAYBE $20/game. They don't deserve it but I still do due to my competitive spirit. At the end of most of the games, I usually go up to them and apologize.
FWIW, my friend who played AAU went to both Coach K and Roy Williams' basketball camps growing up. He said (to my surprise) that Coach K was super helpful, encouraging, and cared. He had a genuine interest in each player and their growth. He also said he was hilarious which REALLY surprised me.
Conversely, he said that Roy Williams was an arrogant dick. He showed up late to every practice and acted annoyed that he had to be at his own camp that he put on even when he was there.
He's not wrong on any of this for all the 15-18 year old kids at the camp. It's easy to only go off what you only see on cameras. I can't speak for Roy Williams though.
Agree, I was more or less echoing your thoughts about him because I was a Coach K hater for no reason and thought it was cool hearing someone's perspective who actually met him.
I was more or less echoing your statement as well haha... have a leg good sir
As another 76ers fan, JJ is doing his thing and I like that, but it still feels bad in my gut having to root for him. I hated him that much at Duke.
I would have liked to see him play middle linebacker and fill the A gap.
And with Zion, amazingly Arizona and Kansas offered him 250K to play there, but Duke did not and he went there anyway.. wink wink.
edit: never mind
Really??? How on earth could you ever argue that Rich Rod is a better person than Frank?
Cue HF in 3... 2...
Science. Rich Rod sucks, but he hasn't killed anyone. I mean Frank's nickname is the Rhein-Ruhr-Ripper
Coach K has a tattoo of a rat on his face
You forgot to put in there that he looks like a rat.
Like Saban, Coach K receives an NBA head coach's salary. Heck, apparently he even gets paid more than the HC of the Warriors (according to Wikipedia).
Buzz could demand that too if Nike funneled him his choice of top 100 recruits every year.
hypothetical: if Coach K left Duke, does Nike funnel the players to him or to Duke?
They funnel them to Izzo, Calipari or Beoheim - whoever is still coaching. Just like they do now. There are about 5 Nike schools that get actively funneled players due to potential pay days down the road. Yes actively funneled- Not TIC. It's all a racket- Nike funds these AAU leagues, Zion plays in said league, Zion is "loyal" to Nike and their AAU coaches and runners, Zion signs with a college that wears Adidas...nope wait, Zion signs with a Nike school. LOL. of course he does. Bill Self or Turgeon had ZERO chance signing him. VT is not on this list, unfortunately- I wish we were. Kentucky, Cuse, Duke, UNC, Mich State are the top AAU feeders for Nike.
hey look someone read up about the FBI investigation into adidas and Louisville!
Maybe if Buzz won a couple titles first. Let's not act like Coach K was gifted a HOF career by Nike. He won before this AAU era
When (what year) did the AAU era start? Because K begat Duke in '80, and before that he was HC @ Army (made an appearance or 2 in NIT with them). Which brings up another question: how does a HC that only made a couple of appearances in the NIT nail a profile position at Duke (unless Duke WASN'T a profile position at the time)?? Also, interesting to note, took a full decade before K nabbed his 1st Natty.
AAU has been around for a while but this specific "apparel wars/shoe deal" era didn't exist until post Jordan.
Its not like they were a bad program pre K, but they didn't win a title before he got there or anything. As for how he got it, being a team captain and assistant coach under Bob Knight probably didn't hurt.
Coach K is Duke. They were not considered on the same level as UNC, Kansas, UCLA, etc. This is his doing and his legacy.
I don't think I've seen a team so viciously come back from such a large deficit. That was insane.
This Falcons fan remembers another comeback like that :(
You have 28 reasons to remember but only needed 3?
I prefer to remember a certain bowl game against Arkansas for a heck of a comeback. Was great to be there to see in person.
Too soon, my Falcons friend. Too soon.
I prefer to remember happier times....
Maybe this gif is better suited in the Happy V-Day thread
Can you really say that this team is his best team when it shoots 31% from deep?
This a dominant team, but they are not unbeatable and some hot shooting team might get them in the tourney.
At least in the KenPom era this is his best (or second best) team he's ever had, given the age of this statistic it's very likely he's had better
Old man rant time, so skip is under 30:
I remember those Duke teams back in the day when guys used to go to school for 2-4 years where it was a who's who of NBA draft picks all stacked up in order. Perhaps there was a familiarity with the players coming back over and over that you got to know them more and feared them more. These guys might get their one and done title, but in 10 years no one will remember them (outside of Zion).
Last night was very rough in our household. I imagine that's how Arkansas felt in 2016.
Didn't know weasels lived that long.
Looks like he's been offered an NBA HC job 5 times throughout his career (Blazers, Celts, Lakers, Wolves & Nets). I wonder how Duke was able to match the offers in order to keep him??
I'm surprised it's only been 5 tbh. Also, I don't think its about money. This is his legacy.
It would be interesting to see where in his career all those offers came. Certainly, in the recent past he's had no reason to go. Want to coach the best players in the world? Coached the Olympics and didn't have to worry about the politics of free agency, owners, etc. Want to coach a huge basketball brand? For quite some time now it's arguable Duke's brand is just as big as any NBA team. It's already been discussed that he makes NBA money.
I think similar to Dabo, if you're a good salesman who can start the process, recruiting turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why give that up to go deal with free agency every year? Maybe with the new rules on transferring that will start to change though.
I've known/grown up with a couple people that wound up going to Duke, and they were all good people.
But man, K and that fanbase can go straight to hell.
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