Exclusive: Mike Krzyzewski discusses Duke, Dean Smith and future of college basketball

In March 1980, in his introductory press conference as the men’s basketball head coach at Duke, a 33-year-old Mike Krzyzewski was asked by a reporter to confirm the spelling of his last name.

He obliged at the time.

And he’d famously never have to do that again.

Coach K, now retired and 76, is our latest subject for “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” the multimedia project in which we interview sports stars about their journeys to transcendence. Krzyzewski’s journey, which he discussed in this hour-long conversation, includes entering the ACC during its “magical decade,” building common ground with UNC coach Dean Smith and coaching his way to an all-time record of excellence — five national championships, 13 Final Fours and 1,202 wins (the most in Division I college basketball history).

The Q&A below covers about 25% of Coach K’s discussion with Observer reporter Alex Zietlow, which took place in the office he still maintains at Duke earlier this month.

The fullest version of the conversation — which also includes Coach K talking about his most impactful players at Duke, the NBA job he thought about leaving Duke for in 2005, his charitable endeavors and more — is available as a free podcast by searching “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” wherever you get your podcasts.

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Coach K: ‘I don’t want to be a president. I want to be a point guard.’

Alex Zietlow: We’re a little more than a year since you coached your final game. So what has Mike Krzyzewski been up to?

Mike Krzyzewski: I’ve been really busy but the main thing I’ve been is happy and healthy. Really glad. No regrets about retiring from coaching. I still am the luckiest guy in the world. … I maintain my office at Duke. I have a lifetime contract at Duke as ambassador for the school. But I do a lot of speaking. I have been speaking all over the country for the Washington Speakers Bureau. And I have a Sirius XM show that I’ve had for 18 years. …

And North Carolina is our home, and our three daughters and their families live within 10 minutes of us. We have 10 grandkids. That keeps you really busy. So It’s been a joyous year, really. Probably have done a little bit too much speaking because I’ve been on the road too much. My wife thinks I’m still recruiting for Duke, I think.

AZ: Before you were “Coach K,” you were a standout high school player in Chicago. What was your goal as a player?

MK: I wanted to play college basketball, and I wanted to use it as a means to then become a coach. I was recruited late to go to West Point. I was probably going to go to either Creighton or Wisconsin, and my family really put a lot of pressure on me to go to West Point.

Their parents were born in Krakow, Poland, and all of a sudden, one of their sons has a chance to go to the greatest leadership school in the world. I didn’t see it that way. My Mom and Dad would say, “That’s where presidents have come from.” And I said, “I don’t want to be a president. I want to be a point guard.”

But I went because I trusted my parents. And I call it “the best decision I never made.”

AZ: After your college playing days ended in 1969, you served as an officer in the U.S. Army until 1974 and then joined Bob Knight’s coaching staff at Indiana for a season. Then you got hired at Army, at age 28, which today would be the youngest coach in (Division I) college basketball. Did you feel young at that time?

MK: I still feel young (laughs). But no, I didn’t feel young then. I thought I was ready. My wife (Mickie) and I got married on graduation day when I graduated from West Point in 1969. We had our first child, Debbie, a couple years later. I served five years in the military. I had led men. And I really felt I was ready because it was my alma mater. I didn’t think anybody would know West Point better than me.

We took over a program that was 7-44 for two years. So really the only way to go was up. I learned to do everything during my five years at West Point. It was a great proving ground for me.

AZ: What is “everything”?

MK: Painting bleachers. Laying carpet. Running all over the United States recruiting. Sports information. It was like running a startup company. So I think it really helped me develop a key word in being a leader, and that’s “empathy.”

Building a program, and a legacy, at Duke

AZ: Five years at Army and then you get introduced as Duke’s head basketball coach. The most enduring memory from that day is a reporter asking you to spell your last name. What else do you remember about that day?

MK: Well, it was a surprise to a lot of people. Our last year at West Point, we were 9-17. We had lost six kids for a bunch of different reasons. But overall we were 73-59 after taking over a program that was 7-44. I actually thought one of our best years was that year. The year before that, I was offered the Vanderbilt job and turned it down. When I was going for the Duke job, I was offered the Iowa State job. So it wasn’t like I wasn’t in contention for other really good jobs.

But an ACC job was different. And I was so appreciative of the trust that Tom Butters, the AD, had in me. We developed an amazing relationship. Tom believed in me at three critical times. It paid dividends — for me, him and everybody. I owe a lot to him.

AZ: What were the other two times Tom Butters believed in you?

MK: The second time was during our first three years. … In our first three years, we were 38-47. And a group of people formed a separate entity from the “Iron Dukes” at Duke. It was called the “Concerned Iron Dukes.” It’s true. I mean, they wanted me fired. And we lost at the end of our third year to Virginia in the Omni Coliseum 109-66 (which still stands as the worst conference loss in program history). And a lot of people were like, “Get rid of him.” And Tom said, “Hell no!” Then, the next year we made a jump and won 24 games.

And during the mid-1990s, after we had gone to seven Final Fours in nine years, I got a back injury. I came back too soon, and I really burned out. And I had some physical and mental health issues where I had to take off for half a year. I resigned. I went over to (Butters’) house and resigned, and he said, “I’m not accepting that. You’re going to get well. You’re my coach.”

And I worked with one of my former (Duke) presidents, Keith Brodie, for four months. I came back, and I came back better. But if there was not that belief those three times, then there wouldn’t be more national championships. There wouldn’t be Olympic gold medals. There wouldn’t be 42 years at Duke and 11 years with the U.S. (team).

AZ: What was it like coming into the league in the early 1980s, a time you called the “magical age of the ACC” with coaches like Dean Smith, Terry Holland, Jim Valvano and Lefty Driesell already there?

MK: It was, in some respects, overwhelming. It’s like moving into a neighborhood that you never knew even existed. And I can remember Coach Knight, who was my college coach, told me, “Remember, you’re not recruiting for Army.” Like, you have to change how you recruit. You have to broaden your vision. We did not inherit a great talented program, comparatively. So we had a rebuilding job to do. …

My first full recruiting year, we did not have a good year. We recruited too many guys. So we changed our style of recruiting and our method. And it was a method then we used forever. We didn’t recruit as many, but we recruited them hard. We looked for talent, whether they could fit in our environment, and character.

Coach K: ‘I loved Dean Smith’

AZ: Can you expound on your relationship with Dean Smith and Jim Valvano?

MK: During the ‘80s, it was very competitive. I don’t know if envy is the right word, but (Dean Smith) was the guy. And that was the program. Dean was one of the great coaches of any sport of all time and he built a program that was built to last.

During that time, coaches were not paid what they’re paid today. Every coach who was coaching did it because they loved the game. They loved working with those kids. And the ACC functioned to help the conference. There was a sense of teamwork while we’re being competitive, and we developed friendships.

Jim Valvano passed away 30 years ago. In the last four months of his life, we spent three nights a week together at Duke Hospital. We were like brothers. Bobby Cremins and I are best friends. … You got to know one another. Today, it’s very territorial. There’s not a collective camaraderie. I don’t think there’s any camaraderie, to be quite frank with you.

With Dean, once we started winning at that level, that national championship level, I understood him better because I was experiencing it. And we became friends. And my wife (Mickie) and Linnea (Smith, Dean’s second wife) became good friends. Not that we went out to eat together or whatever. But there was some mutual respect.

I loved Dean Smith and respected the heck out of him. And Roy Williams and I developed a great relationship, too. He is also one of the great coaches of all time.

AZ: There are some fascinating parallels between you and Dean Smith. Some UNC fans hung him in effigy early in his career. You literally submitted a resignation letter.

MK: That’s great. I love that. The programs are very similar. What Dean did — and I think we’ve been able to do it — is have tremendous loyalty from your players and your former players. You hear the word “family” tossed around a lot. It’s not necessarily appropriate for everybody, but it is for our two programs.

AZ: I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up the final game of your career — playing North Carolina in the 2022 Final Four. How do you look back on that whole experience now?

MK: I feel very fortunate that I was in that moment. I could have ended my career not making the NCAA Tournament or losing in the first round. Our run in the NCAA Tournament was magical. …

For me, it wasn’t a Duke-Carolina thing. We were trying to win a national championship. You’re within a play of it going either way, and they made that play. Storybook endings don’t happen that often. And it would have been a storybook ending to win the whole thing. But to get to that position? I’m very proud of that.

Life after coaching for Coach K

AZ: Your replacement, Jon Scheyer, was 33 years old when he took the mantle. You were also 33 when you started at Duke. What challenges does he face that perhaps a 33-year-old Mike Krzyzewski did not?

MK: Well, we have a program already. And we had a plan. Jon was on my staff for eight years. And I coached him — he’s a national champion — for four years. And when I knew I was going to retire, I knew a year in advance.

Some people say that I wanted a farewell tour. Everyone else made it the farewell tour. We had a succession plan. … The plan was where I would not recruit. He could actually recruit two classes, where those kids knew they were playing for him. And he could learn even more knowing that he’s going to be the head coach. And so when he took over, he took over running, not trying to figure it out. I mean, he was ready.

AZ: You’ve mentioned that it’s important for UNC and Duke and the rest of the ACC to have “common ground.” Why?

MK: Overall, what’s most important is the game. You want to perpetuate the game. What’s happening in the sport right now — and in college basketball especially — there’s really no leadership from the so-called parent organization, the NCAA.

College basketball needs to be run like a business. It’s a billion-dollar business. It’s the only thing that runs the NCAA. Football does not run the NCAA. Football runs conferences and they make millions of dollars. The NCAA does not get one penny from football.

And so their main source of revenue is men’s college basketball. My feeling is you should combine men’s and women’s college basketball, make them an autonomous group, have a leadership structure and marketing and run it like a business. But what do I know?

AZ: Is there a definitive autobiography or some other big project in your future?

MK: We’ve been hit by documentaries. Books. But I don’t want to be committed. I don’t want to do TV. I don’t want to sign contracts or have to be someplace, unless it’s a single speaking engagement. And my wife and I figured it out really well this year. I call it being an independent contractor. …

I’ve loved this past year. I do not miss coaching basketball. I’ve squeezed every little bit out of that.

I love the game. I miss relationships with players. But I’m glad I have better relationships with my grandkids. And you know, I’m a curious person. I’m a lifelong learner. I’ve learned so much this year. Not how to try to beat (Jim) Boeheim’s zone or Roy (Williams’) run-and-jump. Those days are past. But learning about leadership and teamwork has been fascinating for me.

For much more from this interview as well as other “Sports Legends” guests like Steph Curry, Roy Williams, Jeff Gordon, Jay Bilas and Dawn Staley, check out the “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” podcast. The “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” coffee table book debuts in November 2023 and is now available to pre-order — at a 20% discount — at SportsLegendsBook.com.