Mike Krzyzewski
From Hoopedia
Michael William Krzyzewski (in American English transliteration "shuh-shef-skee"; born February 13, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois), often referred to as Coach "K", is the head coach of the Duke University men's basketball team. The program has been one of the most successful of the 1980s to 2000s. He has been picked to coach the United States national basketball team in the Beijing Olympics.
Michael "Mike" Krzyzewski was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as coach in 2001.
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Early Years
Krzyzewski, the son of Polish immigrants, attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York for college and played basketball while training to become an officer in the U.S. Army. He was captain of the Army basketball team in his senior season, 1968-69, leading his team to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden in New York City. From 1969-74, Krzyzewski served in the military and directed service teams for three years and then followed that up with two years as head coach of the U.S. Military Academy Prep School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
In 1974, he resigned from the Army having attained the rank of captain. Bobby Knight, his former coach at Army, called and offered Krzyzewski, then 26 years old, a graduate assistant position at Indiana University. That 1975 squad posted an 18-0 Big Ten mark and a 31-1 overall record.
Prior to joining the Duke program, Krzyzewski spent five years building the program at his alma mater in West Point. He led the Cadets to two NIT berths and left with a five-year record of 73-59 (.553).
Tenure at Duke
In 1980, he was hired by Duke University to coach the university basketball team. Duke lost in the NCAA championship game in 1986 and then made five consecutive Final Fours starting in 1988, the last two of which resulted in NCAA titles (see 1991 and 1992). In the 1992 off-season, Krzyzewski served as an assistant on the Dream Team, the legendary U.S. Olympic basketball team that was the first to feature NBA players. (Duke star Christian Laettner, who graduated that year, was the only college player on the Dream Team.)
Krzyzewski also led Duke to Final Fours in 1994, 1999, 2001, and 2004, with another national championship in 2001. With 68 career wins in the NCAA tournament, Mike Krzyzewski is the winningest coach in the history of the event.
During his years at Duke, Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils to eleven Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles and ten ACC tournament titles (at the end of the 2005-06 season). Five of the ACC tournament titles were in consecutive years (1999-2003). In addition, Krzyzewski has won twelve National Coach of the Year awards.
On February 18th 2007 Krzyzewski earned his 700th victory at Duke. Greg Paulus scored 15 points as Duke beat Georgia Tech 71-62.
Coaching Awards/Recognition
- 1986, Basketball Times, CBS/Chevrolet, UPI National COY awards.
- 1989, Naismith National COY.
- 1991, NABC National COY.
- 1992, Naismith and Sporting News National COY.
- 1997, Basketball Times National COY.
- 1999, Naismith and NABC National COY.
- 2000, CBS/Chevrolet National COY.
- 2001, Victor Awards.
- 2004, Claire Bee award (awarded to the coach who made the most significant positive contribution to his sport during the preceding year.)
- 1984, ACC COY.
- 1986, ACC COY.
- 1997, ACC COY
- 1999, ACC COY
- 2000, ACC COY.
- 2001, Inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame.
- 2001, Time Magazine and CNN Named Krzyzewski "America's Best Coach"; the award was not limited to any particular sport.
- 1992, The Sporting News named Mike Krzyzewski "Sportsman Of The Year", the first college basketball coach to win that honor.
Krzyzewski has totalled 771 career victories and is only the seventeenth coach in NCAA history to reach that milestone. Other such coaches include Bob Knight,Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, Eddie Sutton, Jerry Tarkanian, Lute Olson, Jim Boeheim, and Jim Calhoun. His total coaching record as of February 4, 2007 is 771-256 (.750).
During his long tenure at Duke, Krzyzewski has been given the opportunity to coach in the NBA three times. The first time came after the 1990 season when he led the Blue Devils to their third straight Final Four appearance. The Boston Celtics offered a coaching position to Krzyzewski, but he soon declined their offer. The next season, Krzyzewski proceeded to lead the Blue Devils to the first of two straight national championships. In 1994, he was pursued by the Portland Trail Blazers, but again he chose to stay with Duke. In 2004, Krzyzewski was also interviewed by the Los Angeles Lakers following the departure of high-profile coach Phil Jackson. He was given a formal offer from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak, reportedly for five years and $40 million, but again turned down the NBA.
Duke has named the floor at its basketball venue, Cameron Indoor Stadium, Coach "K" Court in his honor. Similarly, the grassy area outside of Cameron has been named Krzyzewskiville or "K-Ville".
Krzyzewski has also been an active community leader in the Durham area. In the Fall of 2005, he and his family celebrated the opening of the Emily Krzyzewski Family LIFE Center, a community center named in honor of his late mother. While most of the Center's funding was raised through government grants and private donations, grassroots fundraising also contributed to the Center. Krzyzewski is often seen wearing one of these campaign symbols: the Duke for LIFE bracelet.
USA Basketball
Krzyzewski was picked to coach the 2008 Beijing Olympics on October 26, 2005. In the 2006 World Championship, the team won a bronze medal after losing in the semifinals to his old friend Panagiotis Giannakis and his Greece team and then beating Argentina for third place. Krzyzewski also was the head coach of the U.S. team in the 1990 Food World Championships, when he led the American collegians to a third-place finish.
Coaching Style
In addition to being mentored by Bob Knight, Krzyzewski's behind-the-scenes style has often been compared with Knight's, as both have emphasized discipline and teamwork on and off the court along with academic achievement. Under Krzyzewski, 90% of Duke's scholarship basketball players have graduated, among the highest graduation rates of any NCAA Division I program.
Controversy
A "notorious agitator of referees, someone known as much for his sideline scowls and profanities as he is for leading the winningest program of this century", he also stirred controversy in 1990 when he berated and allegedly cursed at Duke undergraduate student editors of the school paper, whom Krzyzewski felt had treated his team unjustly in their reporting. Krzyzewski coached the first 12 games (9-3) in 1994-95 before taking a leave of absence after having back surgery and recovering from exhaustion. Pete Gaudet coached the final 19 games (4-15) as interim head coach. Duke sports information director Mike Cragg had the record for those games assigned to Gaudet, a move which drew criticism from many including television analyst Billy Packer. Krzyzewski later claimed "I should have been credited with all of those losses."
