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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Henry McKenna

Coach K snarks at student reporter before asking for ’empathy’ after Duke’s loss

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski snapped in a moment of unprofessionalism when interacting with a student reporter after his team’s 70-65 loss to Louisville on Saturday.

Krzyzewski faced a harmless question: What’s the next step forward as the Blue Devils move into next week?

“Yeah, why don’t we just evaluate this game,” Krzyzewski said postgame. “You know, I’m not into what our next step forward is right now. We just finished a hard-fought game.”

Then Coach K tried to relate to the student in an awkward exchange.

“I don’t know if, like, when — what’s you major?” Krzyzewski asked. “What’s your major at Duke? What’s your hardest class?”

Piazza responded, saying, “Econ.”

“OK, so, say you just had the toughest Econ test in the world,” Krzyzewski said. “And when you walked out, somebody asked you, ‘What’s your next step?’ You see what I mean? Just that you have some empathy in — just give us time to evaluate this game and then we’ll figure out, just like we always try to do.”

It’s not a good sign that Coach K, a 73-year-old man who gets paid millions to handle the rigors of his job, is equating himself with a student finishing an exam. The comparison is very obviously flawed.

If we’re being real, Coach K should show some empathy for this student reporter, who asked a simple question that didn’t deserve such a snarky response.

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