In responding to Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan’s assertion that Wisconsin, unlike Duke, doesn’t “rent-a-player,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski admitted that Duke basketball is a business. Coach K said Ryan shouldn’t have used “rent-a-player” because it implies the player was being paid, which is against NCAA rules. But Krzyzewski admits to using “one-and-done”–the practice of recruiting a player to play a single NCAA season before he heads to the NBA. (Duke freshman center Jahlil Okafor just declared himself eligible for the NBA draft.)
In correcting Ryan and defending one-and-done, Krzyzewski said Ryan should recognize “everybody is doing it a little bit differently.” Then Krzyzewski said, to further explain, “There’s more than one way to run a business.” Absolutely true. It’s also true that a business is required to pay its employees. Rent-a-player might be more apt, after all, than one-and-done.
