Duke Basketball’s Coach K speaks out against NC’s HB2

After all the controversy surrounding House Bill 2, North Carolina was dealt another blow on Monday when Mike Krzyzewski, the head coach of Duke University’s men’s basketball team, called the bill “embarrassing.”

Coach K’s comment comes shortly after the Albany basketball team announced it would not be traveling to Duke for the Hall of Fame Game in November because of New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s ban on any “nonessential state travel to North Carolina.”

Coach K speaking at the Pentagon

Several events in North Carolina have been cancelled or moved in the past months because of the bill, and just yesterday, the 2017 NBA All-Star game was moved from Charlotte, NC. The location of the game is decided years in advance, and Charlotte won the bid for the spot long before the divisive bill was signed.

Although the bill is lengthy and convoluted, the most problematic language in the bill specifically prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms, which is why the bill has been dubbed “the bathroom bill.”

Una Dabiero, a student at the University of North Carolina, said: “Being a Tar Heel, I can’t stand Coach K, but this is one thing he is definitely right on. HB2 is a discriminatory bill and I’m happy to see big North Carolina icons speak out on it. P.S. Roy Williams did it first.”

Coach K is just two weeks away from coaching the US Men’s basketball team in Rio.