The Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best coach in college basketball. What does coach Krzyzewski’s legacy mean to the game of basketball?
Through the years of 1966-1969 Hall of Fame basketball coach, Bob Knight, coached a point guard by the name of, Mike Krzyzewski, who went on to become the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils in 1980.
Back in 1989 when the time came for, Grant Hill, to make a decision to go to college he decided to go Duke University, instead of the University of North Carolina because he wanted to play for the Duke Blue Devils head coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
Ever since Jurrell Cottman could remember he’s always loved the Duke Blue Devils head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, because in 1991 and 1992 he led Duke to back to back national championships.
Knight, Hill and Cottman are a few of the many people in the world that hold the Duke Blue Devils head coach, Mike Krzyzewski in great esteem, and high admiration.
For as many people who love coach Krzyzewski there are many people who also have mixed feelings about him.
Regardless of what any negativity that’s spread his way, coach Krzyzewski has always been classy, he’s always been respectful, and he’s always won. No matter what anyone’s ever said, he’s also the only coach in Division I basketball to ever win 1,000 games.
*On another note: It might sound a bit premature, but sorry St. John’s, even D’Angelo Harrison can’t save you from this loss, this is a game that you’re going to lose.*
He’s hated by people outside of the city of Durham. No matter what anyone’s ever said he’s also the only coach that’s ever figured out how to win more than 1,000 games in Division I basketball. How much has his presence impacted the game of basketball?
How about a fun fact.
In the ACC there are two schools who coach Krzyzewski has more wins than the entire program. Those two schools are Florida State with 996 wins, and Miami, with 827 wins.
For Duke
There isn’t much left for coach Krzyzewski left to achieve as a collegiate basketball coach.
During coach Krzyzewski’s time at Duke, he’s managed to accomplish a lot including winning four NCAA Championships, getting to eight NCAA Championship games, having an insane 82-26 record inside of the NCAA Tournament, and being named to the College Basketball, and Basketball Hall of Fame.
It’s been often said that the best ability is availability and no one in college basketball personifies this more than coach Krzyzewski.
While coaching at Duke, he’s only missed 19 games in the 35 years that he’s been in Durham, North Carolina. For any type of school to get that type of responsibility from a head coach is incredible because like the old saying goes, people will follow the leader.
Under the leadership of coach Krzyzewski, Duke has been ranked in the AP polls nearly 86 percent of the time. That leadership is also the reason why Duke keeps managing to get quality star talent into the gymnasium every year.
Just look at some of the notable players that coach Krzyzewski has brought to Duke:
Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier, Kyrie Irving, Jabari Parker, J.J. Redick, and that’s only a cusp of the talent that he’s brought into Duke.
Because of the awesome track record he has, he even has players such as Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, and Justise Winslow getting ready to take their games to the next level and possibly bring a fifth NCAA Championship into Durham.
For the NBA
Back in 2004 the Los Angeles Lakers were looking for a new coach, and their first target was coach Krzyzewski. At the time coach Krzyzewski had won three NCAA Championships at Duke and was offered a five-year, $40 million dollar contract to join the purple and gold. At the end of the day coach Krzyzewski never made the move and decided to stick to the school that he had grown so fond to love.
However his desire to coach professional players wouldn’t get quenched until the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
As the head coach of the 2008 USA Basketball team, coach Krzyzewski was the leader of one of the greatest Olympic games when he had to face Spain in the gold medal game.
With a roster that was chalked full of All-Stars, and All-NBA players coach Krzyzewski demanded that his team played like one unit. In fact instead of having a traditional basketball lineup that featured three big frontcourt players, coach Krzyzewski had a new approach.
Coach Krzyzewski used a lineup that featured a dual point guards with Chris Paul, Deron Williams. Then to round out the five on the court he selected Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwight Howard for the finishing touch.
It was during that Olympic run when the stretch four came back into style, and then in 2012 he did it again and made it look better by having Carmelo Anthony being utilized as his power forward.
It’s because of his intelligence as a coach that many players who haven’t even endured him for a full season speak glowingly about him.
In an interview with Eamonn Brennan ESPN.com, LeBron James said this.
"“We have a great relationship. We’ve been together since ’05, and our relationship has grown every year. I’ve grown from a young man into a man into a leader of that team. He’s helped me develop that. I give a lot of credit to him.”"
While in during a video segment Kobe Bryant said this:
"“Coach K, one of the things he was stressing to me all the time was to be who I am, to be a scorer…I never had a coach come up to me and say, ‘We want you to shoot it, shoot it, shoot it.”"
Moving Forward
We could talk for days about how coach Krzyzewski has impacted the game of basketball.
We could single single-handedly look at his coaching tree, which features head coaches such as Quin Snyder, Tommy Amaker, Jeff Capel, and Johnny Dawkins, to highlight some of the great names he’s influenced in his time. We could even look at the players in the NBA that he’s had a hand on developing, either at Duke, or during his time working with the USA National team.
Truly his latest accomplishment of getting 1,000 wins is only another drop in the bucket to a tremendous career by one of the best coaches to walk on the planet.
Congratulations.
In the mean time, go learn how to spell his last name.
Next: When will the Miami Hurricanes, Angel Rodriguez get some help?