Coach K

[Adam]

In my opinion, people should be judged by how they treat people who they consider "lesser" than they are. How do you treat the kid behind the counter at McDonald's? How do you treat the waiter at Chili's? How do you treat the customer service rep at your cable company after you've been on hold for an hour? How do you treat the cleaning lady at the hotel, or the gate rep at the airport when your flight has been cancelled?

How do you treat the pimple-faced classmate when everyone else is stealing his pencils and shoving him into the lockers?

How do you treat the officials when everyone else is dumping on them?

That's why I was so impressed by Boeheim that morning; he delayed answering a question about his team to tell Gottlieb those unnamed coaches were full of crap. Before that point, Gottlieb really came off sympathetic towards that view; only afterwards did he clarify that it was the opinion of some coaches (unnamed sources). He could have been quiet, he could have played along; but he spoke up.

I'm sure it's a character flaw for a man who's otherwise an upstanding person. From a basketball perspective, though, I don't like to see that sort of court-side behavior rewarded with a win. It sends the wrong lesson to kids and coaches we deal with at the lower levels.