Meet Coach K: Leader

When Coach K came to Duke in the spring of 1980 he found a program that was searching for strong leadership and a rebirth of the success that Blue Devil fans had come to know and love. As he enters his 27th season at the helm, the numbers more than prove the faith that former athletic director Tom Butters put in the young, unproven coach to assemble a basketball program consistently ranking in the upper echelon of the country.

I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.
- Coach K

Krzyzewski runs a quality program from top to bottom, from the players he recruits to the performance of his teams on the floor, year in and year out.

"I want Duke basketball to be good on a continuing basis," said Krzyzewski. "All along it has been my goal to give Duke a program that will last, one that will be nationally ranked and worthy of postseason play every year."

No words can better describe the basketball program he has established at Duke University. Krzyzewski has led his Blue Devils to overwhelming success while building a program that will continue to flourish in the years to come.

The term "student-athlete" is used over and over in college athletics, but the Duke basketball team truly exemplifies the ideal. During Krzyzewski’s time with the Blue Devils, all but two Duke players that played four seasons have graduated.

Coach K, now in his 33rd year of coaching, continues to succeed in spectacular fashion in every area of life that he explores. It is impossible to fully describe the way in which he has impacted countless players, students, young people and individuals of all ages and interests, but legendary CBS commentator Jim Nantz comes about as close as words will allow.

Nantz said after Coach K’s 700th win this past season, "700 wins is a wonderful milestone. I could give you 700 superlatives to describe my respect for Coach K, but I prefer to look beyond the numbers. Mike has been the face and voice of college basketball for almost 20 years. Tell me another sport that could have a better representative. He is not a man who can just be described as a hugely successful basketball coach. We are talking about one of the great leaders, motivators, and humanitarians of sport. I've never been one given to hyperbole, but knowing Mike and his family, the way he relates to people, his military background, and his unimpeachable integrity, he would make a great president if he put his mind to it. Not the President of Duke University, but the President of the United States. But before he concerns himself with 1600 (Pennsylvania Avenue) let him savor 700 and the remarkable journey he has navigated from Chicago to West Point to Duke."