Thanks for the Memories, Coach K!

They booed him recently during his final visit to the University of North Carolina, but the University of Virginia courteously honored him before the tip-off on his final visit to Charlottesville.  And now, all of his ACC conference road games are finally over.

Though some basketball fans may dislike Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, no one denies that he has enjoyed a long and successful basketball coaching career.

After 42 seasons as the Duke Blue Devil’s men’s basketball coach, Coach K’s final regular season home game at famed Cameron Indoor Stadium will be played Saturday (5PM Central) on ESPN against arch-rival North Carolina.  Make sure and tune in early for the pre-game festivities as about 80 of Coach K’s former Duke players will be on hand to salute the school’s iconic basketball coach prior to the opening tip-off.

As has been the case so many times during his years as head coach at Duke, hundreds of students are camping out in “Krzyzewskiville” outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium trying to get the best seats for Saturday evening’s game with Carolina.

The Duke student section (known for their creative chants and unique ability to get under the skin of opposing players and coaches) can be just as entertaining as the basketball game itself.

With tickets for the final home game being scalped for more than $4,000, it will be interesting to see how the generally stoic 75-year old Mike Krzyzewski handles all of the farewell emotions while trying to keep his Duke team (now 26-4 and winners of 12 of their last 13 games) focused on beating UNC Saturday night.

Coach K sits atop the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball world with a record of 1,196 wins (and counting) during his illustrious coaching career (the first five years at Army and the final 42 years at Duke).  He also coached the USA Olympic basketball team to gold medals in 2008, 2012, and 2016, too.  His unique ability to get talented individuals to play within his “team” concept in order to win games has kept him at the top of his profession.

Mike Krzyzewski projects a fierce intensity on the basketball court.  He works the officials just as hard as he gets onto his own players, too.  Fans of opposing schools (such as North Carolina) think that Coach K gets far too many breaks from the referees as he stalks the sidelines and lobbies them for a break.  In what is a reflection of their coach’s laser-focused attitude, Duke basketball games are generally two hours of quite intense competition.

Coach K’s basketball teams have responded quite well.  With 12 NCAA Final Four appearances and five national championships to his credit in 42 seasons at Duke, he will be remembered as one of college basketball’s most successful coaches.

To this day, Mike Krzyzewski remains thankful for this chance which former Duke Athletics Director Tom Butters gave him back in 1980 to become the school’s basketball coach in the tough Atlantic Coast Conference.

During his first three seasons at the private university in Durham, North Carolina (which was founded back in 1838), the future basketball legend’s first years as Duke’s basketball coach were less than spectacular.  The team won just 38 games versus 47 losses.  After year #3, Duke basketball fans started calling for the athletics director to fire the young head coach.

Fortunately, Duke’s AD remained in his corner.  Since then, Duke’s men’s basketball team has won 20 or more games in 36 of the next 39 years and has remained one of America’s top college basketball programs for more than four decades.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski remarked earlier this week, “If I was in this day and age, I hope there would still be a Tom Butters, but there is a good chance that I would be coaching or teaching in high school because I would be fired. He believed in me enough to hire me, to stick with me.”

The only thing which has slowed down Duke basketball was the coach’s bad back.  In 1994, a ruptured disk put Mike Krzyzewski on the bench for most of the basketball season.  He gave thoughts to retiring, but, once again, his Duke mentor Tom Butters talked him out of it.

“When I was having physical and mental health problems during 1994-95, he stuck with me even though I had put in my resignation to him. He said ‘No way.’”

During his long career at Duke, Coach K received chances to coach in the NBA on several different occasions.  He contemplated offers from the Boston Celtics, Portland Trailblazers, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils and most college basketball fans, he turned down every offer and stayed at Duke.

It’s quite possible that Coach K’s wife (Mickie) and three daughters had a lot to do with those decisions, too.   She has been at his side ever since they were married on the day of Mike’s graduation from Army’s West Point Academy in 1969.   Mike handles the basketball team, while his wife Mickie has been his faithful teammate in charge of the family and his personal life.  He readily gives his spouse much of the credit for his coaching success, too.

During a recent interview, Coach K said of his wife Mickie, “She’s really talented and smart, and so are my daughters. I’ve said this many times, but a big reason I think that I’ve continued to try to get better and get better is because of being with four ladies. A woman’s wisdom, their understanding of people and situations, and they just ask a hell of a lot more questions.”

After recovering from his back injury and returning to coaching at Duke again in 1995, Mike Krzyzewski had to make some key adjustments to his recruiting and coaching style, too.  After many successful years of having his college basketball players stay at least three or four years in school prior to trying the NBA, recent decades have seen more and more high school recruits wanting to opt-out of college basketball after just one year in school to enter the NBA.

Nonetheless, Duke has gone on to win three more NCAA championships since the year 2000 by utilizing a variety of talented “one-and-done” basketball players who have left school quickly for the NBA.  Though college basketball fans (like myself) might prefer to see these players mature in college a little bit longer prior to entering the NBA, the game changed quickly and so did Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Another tribute to Coach K’s success at Duke has been watching so many of his former players graduate from college to become successful basketball coaches, too.  Former Duke starters such as Bobby Hurley (now at Arizona State), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Tommy Amaker (Harvard), Johnny Dawkins (UCF), Chris Collins (Northwestern), and Jeff Capel (Pittsburgh) have become successful college basketball coaches.  Former Blue Devils guard Quin Snyder has been the head coach of the NBA’s Utah Jazz since 2014.

One fortunate former Duke basketball player, Jon Scheyer, has been on the bench this season alongside of his Hall-of-Fame coach.  Scheyer was hand-picked by Mike Krzyzewski last summer to become the next coach at Duke beginning next year.  The departing coach wanted to give his successor a full year to learn the ropes.  Believe it or not, Duke’s legendary basketball coach plans to stay out of the arena beginning next year once he retires from coaching.

Coach K said recently, “Jon is going to do an amazing job with that, so I’m ready. Believe me, there is no thought in my mind. I won’t be at games – where do I sit? I’m not going to hover over anything.”

With Coach K’s name already painted onto the hardwood court of Duke’s famous Cameron Indoor Stadium, it will be a very difficult job for the new head coach to create his own new legacy.

The retirement of Mike Krzyzewski at Duke means that the Atlantic Coast Conference has lost two of its coaching giants in the past two years.  Former University of North Carolina coach Roy Williams retired after last season and believes that both schools’ basketball programs will continue to flourish.

He said last summer, “It’ll be different. But Vic Bubas (Duke) and Dean Smith (N. Carolina) left, and Duke and North Carolina were still pretty good. With Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski leaving, it’s still going to be pretty good in this area.”

Roy Williams added some personal thoughts about his long-time friend and coaching adversary at Duke.  He said, “He’s just been phenomenal in everything he’s done. The only thing wrong with Mike Krzyzewski is that he doesn’t play golf.  That’s the only thing wrong with him!”

Watch out, Roy!   With a little more time on his hands beginning this spring, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear that Coach K had begun working on his golf game and will be ready to renew a little friendly competition with you on the links soon.