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Duke Had to Self-Report Recruiting Violation Because Mike Krzyzewski Said a Recruit's Name

By Alexander Wildes

Mike Krzyzewski spoke about a recruit publicly, which is considered a recruiting violation.
Mike Krzyzewski spoke about a recruit publicly, which is considered a recruiting violation. / Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Mike Krzyzewski has been a college basketball coach for 45 years, and with the Blue Devils for the last 40. However, even with all that experience, Coach K still has the occasional slip-up.

On Nov. 8, during a press conference after the Duke game against Colorado State, Krzyzewski told media members about the recruitment of 5-star talent DJ Steward, who committed to the Blue Devils five days later. However, specifying a recruit by name is against the NCAA recruiting guidelines, and in order to clean the mess up as quickly as possible, Duke self-reported the issue.

Luckily, the error was only a Level III NCAA rule violation. Level III violations typically do not have many repercussions, especially when they are self-reported.

However, Coach K may be subject to more than just this punishment, as apparently he committed another recruiting violation around the same time.

For Coach K's sake, we hope he can freshen up on the NCAA rulebook. As silly as some of these violations are, it's his job to know them. Until college sports' governing body changes the rulebook, they're unlikely to be lenient.