NABC summit

Mike Krzyzewski, head men's basketball coach
Duke University
Miami Herald

Discussing the National Association of Basketball Coaches summit for Division I men's coaches October 15 in Chicago:

"For me, this is a historic day for the game of basketball. And there will be other historic days, hopefully, as a result of us being able to show that we need teamwork to take care of the game. There is a certain number of problems in every profession -- newspaper reporters, politics, Wall Street, medicine. We don't like it, but it's naive to think we're not going to have problems. We have a standard of ethics, and the issue is, can we teach it even better than we're doing now?"

Leonard Hamilton, head men's basketball coach
Florida State University
Miami Herald

"I don't mean to diminish what has happened over the past year, but the way I see it, we had a few unfortunate situations in succession and people started to paint us with a wide brush, when in reality, 95 percent of coaches already have programs to govern themselves from an ethical standpoint.

"I believe most coaches do a good job of policing themselves, but this coming together of all the coaches, which has never happened before, will reaffirm what we already do and make us do a better job. When 300 coaches come together for the good of the game, something positive has to come out of it."

Tom Izzo, head men's basketball coach
Michigan State University
Miami Herald

"I am all for us taking more measures to better ensure that we can police ourselves. But I do have a problem with three or four out of 320 or so Division I programs having some difficulties, and all of a sudden there's this need to sound the alarm like we're in a crisis situation. That still means that 98 percent of the programs are doing what they can to try and stay out of trouble.

"Our image has to be perfect in some people's minds, and that's impossible. There are so many middlemen involved in the recruiting process now that it's unrealistic to think you can wave a magic wand and suddenly clean up everything. But that shouldn't excuse us from making positive changes where we can."

Donnie Marsh, head men's basketball coach
Florida International University
Miami Herald

"Even though the things that occurred the past six months or so were isolated and not indicative of our whole profession, to not pay attention to them or not think they're significant would not be wise on our part. These situations command our attention. Perception is reality, and the perception of college coaches right now is that we are tarnished by all these scandals."

Gary Williams, head men's basketball coach
University of Maryland, College Park
New York Daily News

"Until presidents stop hiring cheaters, until coaches start turning in guys who are cheating, until the NCAA penalizes everyone equally, nothing's really going to change."

Jim Boeheim, head men's basketball coach
Syracuse University
Sports Illustrated

"It's a small percentage of the public, and a small percentage of the media, who think that (all coaches are unethical). I mean, a writer for The New York Times made up his stories. And that's a pretty prestigious paper. Do I think, 'If it's happening there, it's happening at every paper in the country?' "

Mike DeCourcy, columnist
Sporting News

"What the coaches really want is for the NCAA to govern them with rules they can respect. There is so much disrespect for the mandate against watching offseason pickup games that many coaches' offices have been built with windows that overlook their gymnasiums. Having fewer picayune regulations might lead coaches to commit more strongly to those that matter."