George Karl was ‘surprised’ by backlash to comments in book

George Karl has sparked several firestorms with his new book, and he’s actually surprised by this.

Karl told ESPN’s “Mike and Mike” on Thursday that he didn’t expect the response he got to some of the excerpts that have come out of “Furious George,” and admitted that perhaps he should have taken a bit more care with what he wrote.

“Yeah. There’s no question. Surprised,” Karl said, via James Herbert of CBS Sports. “I guess there’s no question we all want to be liked a little bit, but the backlash is interesting. And a couple of things, I learned from, I think, too. I think the big thing is a couple things, I probably should have studied. I didn’t know, I probably should have studied what I was writing a little bit more than I did.

“I didn’t want it to be what it’s turning out, probably, to be.”

Karl also clarified his comments on Kenyon Martin, who he wrote had “all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man.”

“I said it poorly and I’m sorry that I said it poorly and I’m sorry for the reaction,” Karl said. “Because I know Kenyon. The one thing I love about Kenyon Martin: he is a good father.”

Karl doesn’t seem to be walking back his feelings, simply how he said them. His apologies will probably fall on deaf ears given the fact that, even in interviews promoting the book, he has elaborated on and doubled down on some of the more controversial takes.