Basketball coaching legend and West Point graduate Mike Krzyzewski swatted President Obama’s ISIS strategy at an Army awards ceremony last month, criticizing it for telegraphing the United States’ approach.
“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. Because that’s what you are trained to do. And for decades and decades, the fact that we’re a free country and we don’t play home games here is a result of having boots on the ground.
“It’s about letting your opponent know that we are going to use our best players. Now whether you use them or not, that’s up to the coach. You never tell an opponent you are not going to use [them], like I’m not going to play Grant Hill, J.J. Redick, [Christian] Laettner — for the Olympics, ‘Hey, Spain, I’m not going to start LeBron and Kobe 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.”
“Coach K” went on to thank soldiers who have put their own “boots on the ground” over time to allow him “to live in a free country, to do what the hell I want to do.”
Krzyzewski was speaking at an Association of the United States Army dinner, where he received the organization’s highest award, the George Catlett Marshall Medal. According to a release about the event and honor, he was “recognized for his contributions to the United States of America as a strong supporter of national defense and those men and women who have served or are now serving to protect our freedom and liberty.”
Video of the remarks leading into Coach K’s ISIS comments begin at about the 33-minute mark below.
(h/t The Daily Beast)
