FanHouse

The trendy thing in sports now is naming your own successor. It's happening all over college basketball (and has even entered the NFL).

One guy that thinks it is all hooey is Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K thinks it is not his place to name who succeeds him in Durham:

"No one should be able to name their own successor," Krzyzewksi told the newsppaer. "Maybe if you own your company or whatever ... but I should not have the right. It's not even the right. It's not a position I should be in, though I should give a lot of input."

Um, okay. You don't want to name your own successor ... but you want to tell the University who is should be.

This all came about when Stanford hired away Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins. During the press conference, Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby mentioned that Coach K said Dawkins was his heir apparant at Duke.

K has dimissed all of that, but did say he would recommend Dawkins to be his successor.

Krzyzewski is right: he doesn't have the right to tell the school who his replacement will be once he hangs it up. If you retire or whatever, the school must move on without you. However, I do understand the reasoning behind leaving your program you built into a powerhouse in trusted hands.

Of course, the school may end up with a short leash. Remember that Sean Sutton ... Eddie Sutton's son and hand-picked successor at Oklahoma State ... was lopped off after this past season.