Dawkins with a Popovich anecdote

Johnny Dawkins being interviewed:

Who's impacted your career the most, either as a player or coach?
A: I've been fortunate. You know I've been with Coach K for a long time, but I've also played for Coach Larry Brown. Jim Boeheim. John Thompson. Bobby Knight. Coach Gregg Popovich. I'll tell you a story about him that I'll always remember. It has to do with people. When I first retired from playing in the NBA, I was back at Duke University looking to be employed and figure out the next phase of my life. I called him because I was thinking about getting into coaching. I asked him — and I hadn't talked to him in years, so pretty much a cold call — he was an assistant when I was a player there. Now, he was the head coach. I said, 'Pop, I'm thinking about getting into coaching. What do you think?' I'll never forget this, and I admire this. He said, 'Look, we don't have anything right now. But I'll tell you what, you're down in the research triangle area, so say you're scouting for us, you're scouting for the Spurs. We'll go from there.' How good is that? That's about trying to help other people. I hadn't seen him in years. I didn't finish my career there. For him to be so kind and to basically say he'll help in any way he can … I ended up getting hired at Duke and everything worked out the way it did here, but I'll never forget that. That's what coaching is about.