Thursday, July 5, 2018

Do they stay too long?

Coach K is 71 years old. It is hard for me to imagine someone having a life that is so limited in its scope that he wants to go on working to that age, but there you are. Maybe he did not have much of a family life. However, be that as it may, it is his choice to work or not to work.

The question is if legendary coaches who stay on way past the normal retirement age are doing their schools a disservice. Yes, Coach K is winning big, but the longer he stays and the more success he has, the harder will be the job of the man who follows him. Is the long-term health of the program helped or hindered by his staying? There is a "right" time to hand over the reigns of the program, and if a legend waits too long, there can be a scar - not to the man, but to the program. In the ten years after he retires, would the win total have been greater if he had left a little earlier?

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