My Two Cents: Latest Controversy Has Dan Dakich In More Hot Water

A Twitter spat between Dan Dakich and some Duke intellectuals over a player quitting on his teammates has gone to far, and now ESPN is looking into whether Dakich has crossed the line once again.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Dan Dakich is very good at what he does on the radio and as an analyst on college basketball telecasts for ESPN. He has very strong opinions, which is why he has the No. 1 radio show in town. It's the greatest show ever, because he's told us so. 

Sometimes he takes his opinion too far, though, at least in the eyes of a certain set of people. He's done it again now after a Twitter spat with some Duke intellectuals about whether Duke freshman Jalen Johnson "quit on his teammates.'' 

Johnson, a five-star recruit who came to Duke as a "one-and-done'' basketball star, played 13 games for the Blue Devils but then quit on Feb. 15, opting out to begin preparations for the NBA draft in the middle of their basketball season. 

Dakich got called out on Twitter — along with several other national college basketball voices – by Nathan Kalman-Lamb, a lecturing fellow at Duke who teaches on the intersection of sport, race, labor and social inequity. 

Several others joined into their back-and-forth on athlete's compensation, including Dr. Johanna Mellis, who is a teacher, oral historian and co-host of The End of Sport podcast, which also includes Kalman-Lamb, according to her Twitter bio. 

When things started getting testy, Mellis, a former college swimmer, then challenged Dakich in a tweet for a swimming competition challenge, saying "let's go at it in the pool.''

And on and on the argument went. When Dakich accused people not inside the locker rooms of "bitching too much,'' Mellis accused him of misogny — defined as a dislike, contempt for or ingrained prejudice against women – which Dakich said was ridiculous when he discussed the issue on his Indianapolis radio show. He was referring to everyone who was "bitching,'' not just Mellis.

It got worse, with Dakich calling out Kalman-Lamb and telling his listeners when his office hours were and how to reach out to him.

Now EPSN is investigating the events, saying “we are taking this matter very seriously and are in the process of looking into it,” according to a release from the network.

Dakich started his Sunday at church, where he said "a voice told me to get off Twitter for 12 months.''  That was probably a good idea.

He didn't even make it a day, let alone a year, and was back on Twitter a few hours later.

Dakich has been suspended before by his Emmis Communications-owned radio station for violating their journalistic standards in 2019, basically around always calling Indiana's Romeo Langford "the shoe guy'' for being more interested in his shoe deals that playing during his one year at Indiana.

He was in more hot water a year ago when a Scottsburg High school basketball coach was fired and Dakich went scorched-earth on the southern Indiana town, calling a player a "meth head," telling his radio audience to go "take a dump" in Scottsburg and threatening to "beat the hell out of every school board member." He also said Scottsburg was a town full of "meth and AIDS and needles.” 

The radio station got dozens of complaints about the tirade, but there was no discipline handed down then. 

If I had to guess, I doubt there will be any discipline here, either. Sure, Dakich took it too far in this debate – like he often does – but his accusers were just as bad, if not more so. It was Mellis who was throwing down the physical challenges in the pool, not Dakich. It was the soft-skinned academics who didn't like being talked down to, especially by someone like Dan, a radio guy and a former coach whom they think is as much of the problem as anyone.

The argument, of course, all started with Dakich's comments on Jalen Johnson when he said he quit on his teammates, for which Dan is EXACTLY RIGHT. I've gone through this myself when Indiana basketball player Justin Smith decided to play his final year at Arkansas instead of finishing his career at Indiana.

I was very clear on the fact that Smith HAD EVERY RIGHT to transfer after graduating from the Kelley School of Business in three years, but I also said that he was still walking away from his Indiana teammates and quitting on them.

I got roasted by several people, who's biggest argument was that these poor kids are being abused financially by an unfair college basketball system that makes them slave labor. That's ridiculous, too, of course and it went on and on. Quite frankly, it still does. After just about every Arkansas game, I get some sort of comment on my take from last May.

And Dakich's first comment about Jalen Johnson, that he quit on his teammates. is more than fair on his part. And accurate. Johnson did quit in the middle of the season, while his teammates were trying to scratch their way into the NCAA Tournament field. Yes, he has a right to quit to prepare for the draft – but he still QUIT! His teammates could have used him to have a successful season – or at least have more success. 

And Dakich wasn't alone in calling him out. National college basketball guys like Jeff Goodman and Seth Davis said the same thing. Davis even reminded readers that Johnson also went to three different high school and now bailed early on Duke. He wondered if NBA scouts would consider that a point of concern. That's not a wrong commetary, either.

This is, still, a team game. You join a team for a reason, and you work hard AS A TEAM. 

All of this goes way to far with Dan and these Duke people, which often happens when he gets thrown into a middle of a controversy. He likes the back and forth, and likes to argue – especially when he knows he right. And Dan definitely isn't going to let a bunch of Dookie bookworms try to tell him about basketball. He played, he coached, he analyzes. He knows it all. 

Dakich could care less that I'm defending him, and I'm certainly not going to tell him when he's right or wrong, because my opinion wouldn't matter to him one bit. I like Dan a lot, but it's not a two-way street and I'm fine with that. And, to be honest, it doesn't matter. Quite frankly, the Scottburg rant is probably worse than this one, because it all gets back to that basic premise, that Johnson quit in the middle of a season.

One year of a Duke education for a scholarship athlete, with all the bells and whistles, is probably worth $75,000, so I always laugh when people say these basketball players work for free. 

Does Dakich go too far sometimes? Sure he does. 

Is he entertaining radio, and a great Twitter follower? Absolutely. 

And when he hurts the feelings of a few intellectuals, so be it. I'm happier that a hundred kids are riding around on free, donated bikes thanks to Dan and his wife, and his donors. 

Twitter is alive this morning with everyone posting their version of Dan's disgressions and bad takes and attacks on people. And there's a lot, which isn't surprising.

All I know is that Dan will be back on the radio at Noon ET today. Many will tune in, and that's the goal all along, isn't it?

I know I'm not going to miss it.