Coach K: Fighting ISIS Is Just Like Coaching Basketball


Legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski spoke at an Association of the United States Army conference last month, where he spoke in front of hundreds of military officers, defense contractors, and Army supporters. In that conference, Coach K compared fighting the war against ISIS to coaching a basketball team, and criticized Barack Obama for being a “bad coach” because of how he’s dealing with ISIS.

Coach K said that Obama letting the world know that he doesn’t plan on using ground forces is a horrible gameplan, as it will give ISIS the upper-hand.

“I know it’s upsetting to many of you when you hear ‘no boots on the ground.’ It upsets me too, because that’s like saying I’m not going to play two of my best players,” said Coach K in his speech accepting the 2014 George Catlett Marshall Award, AUSA’s highest honor. “Because that’s what you are trained to do. And for decades and decades, the fact that we are a free country and we don’t play home games here is a result of having boots on the ground. That’s the problem.”

After Coach K received a round of applause, he continued to go into further detail as to why he thinks Obama is a “bad coach.”

“It’s about letting your opponent know we are going to use our best players. And whether we use them or not, that’s up to the coach. You never tell your opponent you are not going to use them, like I’m not going to play Grant Hill, J.J. Redick or Christian Laettner.”

Coach K, who is also the head coach for the United States Olympic basketball team, went on to use a metaphor, comparing international play as yet another example of why Barack Obama letting the world know his plan for fighting ISIS is just bad coaching, and not a very good gameplan.

“‘Hey Spain, I’m not going to start LeBron James and Kobe Bryant tonight.’ I don’t think you do that. Now how much I play them? Let the guy try to figure out how much I’m going to play them.”

On top of foolishly telegraphing his strategy, Obama is also neglecting the players that have succeeded in the past, said Coach K. Those players would be the United States Army.

Krzyzewski, who is a former Army Cadets head coach and West Point graduate, is calling for the Army to stand up for itself.

“In our country today, the most respected group is the United States Army. Please understand there’s power to that. I want to thank you for the countless times your boots have been on the ground, and as a result has given me an opportunity to live in a free country, to do what I want to do, to coach the United States team, the Duke team, whatever. So on behalf of the ordinary people, we love you and thank you for doing that.”

Criticizing Obama’s ISIS strategy isn’t the first time that Coach K has taken a shot at the president. In 2009, Obama picked Duke rival North Carolina to win the NCAA tournament. After hearing what Obama’s pick was, Coach K said “the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets.”

[Image via Yahoo Sports]

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