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As in the Beginning, Vision and Determination Fuel Coach K’s 42nd Season at Duke
12/10/2021 3:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Barry Jacobs, GoDuke the Magazine
Career endings in coaching come in all shapes and sizes, some abrupt and forced by official edict, others so gradual they barely register. Even Hall of Fame coaches walk away of their own volition, forgoing prodigious incomes and a chance to burnish their legacy and career victory total. Some retirees talk of burnout or simply tire of romancing teenagers, chaff at memories of recent defeats, or blanch at the prospect of over-familiar routines.
For Mike Krzyzewski the end is as it was in the beginning, the application of a clear vision and a fierce will shaping the course of Duke men's basketball. Determination and hard work, exceptional team-building and unflagging defensive focus lifted the program from mediocrity to enduring excellence, transforming a near-unknown coach with a consonant-laden last name even his father eventually changed to a name the public was forced to learn as he blossomed into one of the great winners in the sport's history.
Krzyzewski, a Hall of Famer graced by the respect of Duke administrators, chose the 2021-22 season to make a deliberate exit, arranging to withdraw from command when the games conclude next spring. The plan has him ceding the reins to Jon Scheyer, his former player and current associate head coach.
The thoughtful process was guided in part by the discipline and strategic training he learned at the U.S. Military Academy in the late 1960s. The influence of that place and time are encapsulated in Krzyzewski's perpetual insistence on going on to the next play, a determination to stay present and proactive, to sidestep anticipation or regret, to keep moving forward.
"Right now I want to live, not savor," the 74-year-old says of undertaking his final season as Duke's head coach. "Being in the moment is what I've tried to do my entire career. In order to have the continuity of success and excellence that we've had you can't savor much of anything. You'd better be in the moment that you're in. For the last four decades, we've made a mark on college basketball…and I'd like to make another mark before I leave — in this decade."
The measure of that mark could fill the rest of this column or morph into a numbingly long list of major achievements ranging from NCAA championships (five, second in history and the only ones achieved by Duke) to Final Four appearances (12, tied for first with UCLA's John Wooden) to U.S. Olympic gold medals (three, a record) to an unequaled number of ACC Tournament titles (15, including seven of eight at the turn of this century and an unprecedented five in a row from 1999 through 2003).
Yet, given all that, what will likely be mentioned first, at least until someone inevitably comes along to supplant him, are Krzyzewski's unmatched NCAA-record 1,177 career victories in 46-plus years at Army and Duke. His teams have won better than three-quarters of the time (.765).
Unflagging intensity, passion fused with anger, characterized Krzyzewski throughout his career, making his early travails at Duke an especial personal challenge. His and Duke's perseverance were later cited as exemplary of the value of patience in supporting coaches.
Age 33 when he arrived at Durham in 1980, he inherited a middling team from Bill Foster, won 17 games and advanced to the '81 NIT. The following two seasons the Devils floundered on the court and recruiting trail, posting consecutive 17-loss records even as Triangle neighbors North Carolina, then the ACC's dominant program under Dean Smith, and Jim Valvano, a charismatic young contemporary hired in 1980-81 at NC State, won NCAA championships.
Duke was left far behind, its struggles encapsulated in a 109-66 loss in 1983 to a Virginia squad led by center Ralph Sampson, a three-time All-American. That score remains the largest margin of defeat in ACC Tournament history. (Krzyzewski characteristically got even with an improbable 16 straight wins over the Cavs in subsequent years).
Krzyzewski endured second-guessing by media and fans as the Devils labored to master his system of motion offense and physical man-to-man defense. His combative reactions to criticism, his average of three technical fouls per season from 1981 through 1986, raised unpleasant comparisons with Bob Knight, his belligerent, controversial mentor at Army.
Then in 1984 Krzyzewski added unflappable freshman point guard Tommy Amaker to a superlative sophomore class led by Johnny Dawkins and Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas and David Henderson. The Blue Devils won 14 of their initial 15 games, Krzyzewski's contract was renewed, and Duke advanced to the first of Coach K's unparalleled 35 NCAA tournament appearances. (His 97-30 NCAA record is also the best ever).
Two years later Duke reached the national championship game, the first of nine such berths between 1986 and 2015, a remarkable average of nearly one shot at the top prize every three years.
The '86 squad started a run of seven Final Four trips in nine years, still the greatest streak of tournament distinction since Wooden's Bruins more than a decade earlier. Along the way Krzyzewski became a masterful in-game strategist and utilized his stature to nurture and advance the game. He also founded and gave generously to support the Emily Krzyzewski Center to support education and recreation for under-privileged children in Durham.
Duke's competitive preeminence came as the university achieved international stature, ESPN became a sports broadcasting powerhouse fueled by its embrace of college basketball, and the Final Four became an event of avid public interest. Krzyzewski, the proud son of working class Polish immigrants in Chicago, became a national figure.
His Blue Devils — well-spoken, decorous, successful on the court and in the classroom — became the college game's team to beat, celebrated as a model program by some even as its stature spurred bitter chagrin in others. Volatile characters like Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley; NCAA wins on last-gasp Laettner shots in '90 and '92; taking down previously undefeated UNLV in the '91 semifinals, only intensified the fascination.
Duke's run of Final Fours, including consecutive NCAA championships in 1991 and 1992, was emphatically arrested in 1995 when, in early January, Krzyzewski was sidelined for the season by a painful, surgically repaired back and a state of exhaustion.
Chastened by his own vulnerability, he wrestled with a sense he'd let down his team. Eventually, with the strong support of wife Mickie and his three daughters, Krzyzewski learned to listen, to be more flexible and, he said, be humbler.
The program immediately returned to the NCAAs; he dubbed 1996 the "bridge" year. The Devils didn't miss again until the pandemic.
In 1999 Duke fielded one of the great unsung teams in modern history, sweeping all of its 19 ACC contests as it went 37-2, only to drop the national championship game to Connecticut. Two years later Duke won the NCAA title, followed by championships in 2010 and 2015, the latter while deftly navigating the unsettled waters of one-and-done roster fluctuation.
Talent kept coming to Durham even as Krzyzewski, mellowed and adaptive, returned the U.S. to Olympic prosperity with NBA players. Seven of the past 10 ACC Rookies of the Year were Blue Devils and freshman Paolo Banchero is the '22 favorite for the honor.
Duke victories came to be an expected part of the collegiate landscape, with Coach K's teams posting 30 victories in an NCAA-record 15 seasons. Krzyzewski, generally gracious and analytical in victory or defeat, and infrequently seen snarling anymore at game officials, became the game's most respected coach.
"I've loved what I do," said Krzyzewski on announcing his coaching exit strategy. "If you work at what you love, it's not work."
#GoDuke
Career endings in coaching come in all shapes and sizes, some abrupt and forced by official edict, others so gradual they barely register. Even Hall of Fame coaches walk away of their own volition, forgoing prodigious incomes and a chance to burnish their legacy and career victory total. Some retirees talk of burnout or simply tire of romancing teenagers, chaff at memories of recent defeats, or blanch at the prospect of over-familiar routines.
For Mike Krzyzewski the end is as it was in the beginning, the application of a clear vision and a fierce will shaping the course of Duke men's basketball. Determination and hard work, exceptional team-building and unflagging defensive focus lifted the program from mediocrity to enduring excellence, transforming a near-unknown coach with a consonant-laden last name even his father eventually changed to a name the public was forced to learn as he blossomed into one of the great winners in the sport's history.
Krzyzewski, a Hall of Famer graced by the respect of Duke administrators, chose the 2021-22 season to make a deliberate exit, arranging to withdraw from command when the games conclude next spring. The plan has him ceding the reins to Jon Scheyer, his former player and current associate head coach.
The thoughtful process was guided in part by the discipline and strategic training he learned at the U.S. Military Academy in the late 1960s. The influence of that place and time are encapsulated in Krzyzewski's perpetual insistence on going on to the next play, a determination to stay present and proactive, to sidestep anticipation or regret, to keep moving forward.
"Right now I want to live, not savor," the 74-year-old says of undertaking his final season as Duke's head coach. "Being in the moment is what I've tried to do my entire career. In order to have the continuity of success and excellence that we've had you can't savor much of anything. You'd better be in the moment that you're in. For the last four decades, we've made a mark on college basketball…and I'd like to make another mark before I leave — in this decade."
The measure of that mark could fill the rest of this column or morph into a numbingly long list of major achievements ranging from NCAA championships (five, second in history and the only ones achieved by Duke) to Final Four appearances (12, tied for first with UCLA's John Wooden) to U.S. Olympic gold medals (three, a record) to an unequaled number of ACC Tournament titles (15, including seven of eight at the turn of this century and an unprecedented five in a row from 1999 through 2003).
Yet, given all that, what will likely be mentioned first, at least until someone inevitably comes along to supplant him, are Krzyzewski's unmatched NCAA-record 1,177 career victories in 46-plus years at Army and Duke. His teams have won better than three-quarters of the time (.765).
Unflagging intensity, passion fused with anger, characterized Krzyzewski throughout his career, making his early travails at Duke an especial personal challenge. His and Duke's perseverance were later cited as exemplary of the value of patience in supporting coaches.
Age 33 when he arrived at Durham in 1980, he inherited a middling team from Bill Foster, won 17 games and advanced to the '81 NIT. The following two seasons the Devils floundered on the court and recruiting trail, posting consecutive 17-loss records even as Triangle neighbors North Carolina, then the ACC's dominant program under Dean Smith, and Jim Valvano, a charismatic young contemporary hired in 1980-81 at NC State, won NCAA championships.
Duke was left far behind, its struggles encapsulated in a 109-66 loss in 1983 to a Virginia squad led by center Ralph Sampson, a three-time All-American. That score remains the largest margin of defeat in ACC Tournament history. (Krzyzewski characteristically got even with an improbable 16 straight wins over the Cavs in subsequent years).
Krzyzewski endured second-guessing by media and fans as the Devils labored to master his system of motion offense and physical man-to-man defense. His combative reactions to criticism, his average of three technical fouls per season from 1981 through 1986, raised unpleasant comparisons with Bob Knight, his belligerent, controversial mentor at Army.
Then in 1984 Krzyzewski added unflappable freshman point guard Tommy Amaker to a superlative sophomore class led by Johnny Dawkins and Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas and David Henderson. The Blue Devils won 14 of their initial 15 games, Krzyzewski's contract was renewed, and Duke advanced to the first of Coach K's unparalleled 35 NCAA tournament appearances. (His 97-30 NCAA record is also the best ever).
Two years later Duke reached the national championship game, the first of nine such berths between 1986 and 2015, a remarkable average of nearly one shot at the top prize every three years.
The '86 squad started a run of seven Final Four trips in nine years, still the greatest streak of tournament distinction since Wooden's Bruins more than a decade earlier. Along the way Krzyzewski became a masterful in-game strategist and utilized his stature to nurture and advance the game. He also founded and gave generously to support the Emily Krzyzewski Center to support education and recreation for under-privileged children in Durham.
Duke's competitive preeminence came as the university achieved international stature, ESPN became a sports broadcasting powerhouse fueled by its embrace of college basketball, and the Final Four became an event of avid public interest. Krzyzewski, the proud son of working class Polish immigrants in Chicago, became a national figure.
His Blue Devils — well-spoken, decorous, successful on the court and in the classroom — became the college game's team to beat, celebrated as a model program by some even as its stature spurred bitter chagrin in others. Volatile characters like Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley; NCAA wins on last-gasp Laettner shots in '90 and '92; taking down previously undefeated UNLV in the '91 semifinals, only intensified the fascination.
Duke's run of Final Fours, including consecutive NCAA championships in 1991 and 1992, was emphatically arrested in 1995 when, in early January, Krzyzewski was sidelined for the season by a painful, surgically repaired back and a state of exhaustion.
Chastened by his own vulnerability, he wrestled with a sense he'd let down his team. Eventually, with the strong support of wife Mickie and his three daughters, Krzyzewski learned to listen, to be more flexible and, he said, be humbler.
The program immediately returned to the NCAAs; he dubbed 1996 the "bridge" year. The Devils didn't miss again until the pandemic.
In 1999 Duke fielded one of the great unsung teams in modern history, sweeping all of its 19 ACC contests as it went 37-2, only to drop the national championship game to Connecticut. Two years later Duke won the NCAA title, followed by championships in 2010 and 2015, the latter while deftly navigating the unsettled waters of one-and-done roster fluctuation.
Talent kept coming to Durham even as Krzyzewski, mellowed and adaptive, returned the U.S. to Olympic prosperity with NBA players. Seven of the past 10 ACC Rookies of the Year were Blue Devils and freshman Paolo Banchero is the '22 favorite for the honor.
Duke victories came to be an expected part of the collegiate landscape, with Coach K's teams posting 30 victories in an NCAA-record 15 seasons. Krzyzewski, generally gracious and analytical in victory or defeat, and infrequently seen snarling anymore at game officials, became the game's most respected coach.
"I've loved what I do," said Krzyzewski on announcing his coaching exit strategy. "If you work at what you love, it's not work."
#GoDuke
Players Mentioned
F
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