'It's about being a damn American': Coach K voices anger toward Capitol Hill insurrection

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Saturday, January 9, 2021
Coach K voices anger toward Capitol Hill insurrection
The outspoken Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski held no punches during a post-game press conference in regard to the Capitol riots on Wednesday.

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- The outspoken Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski held no punches during a post-game press conference in regard to the deadly siege of the Capitol on Wednesday.

In his first post-game interview after quarantining from possible COVID-19 exposure, Coach K addressed the riotous mob Wednesday in Washington as "sorry."

"[It was] the sorriest day -- and I'm 73 years old --outside of 9/11, shootings at schools where kids have gotten shot and killed."

"Wednesday was a horrible day. It was an insurrection. It went to the very fabric of this great country where the symbol for our democracy is that Capitol and we allowed that symbol to be spit on, stepped on. It was a sorry day."

RELATED: Doc Rivers speaks out on D.C. riot: 'Could you imagine today if those were all Black people storming the Capitol'

Coach K would then go on to give his prayers to the family of Officer Brian D. Sicknick, the officer that died from injuries suffered during the riot, and the 16,000 people who died from COVID-19 in this week alone.

WATCH | Coach Krzyewsik addresses Capitol Hill riots during post-game interview

"This is not about being a Republican or a Democrat, it's about being a damn American. Be an American, work together. People say that's not who we are, that is who we are right now. We need to change who we are."

He questioned the country's actions saying, "What the hell are we doing? Where we can't work as a country to come together and get the vaccines out and make sure that if someone is doing something bad, Congress has the responsibility of stepping forward."

Krzyzewski also believes that everyone involved in said riots should be prosecuted and that leaders and politicians who enabled the violence should be 'chastised'

"This is not about being a Republican or a Democrat, it's about being a damn American. Be an American, work together. People say that's not who we are, that is who we are right now. We need to change who we are. We need to get back to the basic principles that founded this country."

Krzyzewski noted that he previously served in the Army, "I'm used to being on a team, our country needs to be a team again."