|
|
|
Thursday, May 31
Updated: June 1, 1:46 PM ET
Winning keeps Coach K feeling young
By Gregg Doyel
Special to ESPN.com
|
DURHAM – He still thinks of himself as a young coach, which is a hoot, considering he has been around long enough to win 606 games, reach nine Final Fours and, on Wednesday, earn a spot in the Hall of Fame. A bulky resume like that usually doesn't change much, other than start the inevitable fade.
Young coach. Indeed.
But then you listen to Duke's passionate Mike Krzyzewski, and you think he doesn't sound so old after all. You check his birthdate, and you realize the reason. He's not old. Not really. Certainly not as far as coaches go. He's 12 years short of the age that sent former nemesis and current dangling carrot, Dean Smith, to retirement.
Coach K is 54, and he's in the Hall of Fame.
|  | | Mike Krzyzewski may be in the Hall of Fame, but far from entering a coaching retirement home. |
And, after winning in April his third national title since 1991, he's greedy for more.
"I wondered if we did win again, how I'd feel," says Krzyzewski, whose first two national titles came in 1991 and '92. "I (thought) I might feel, 'That's it. Maybe I should do something else.' Instead I feel, 'Let's do the journey again. Let's go.'"
How far he goes, who knows? This is a man who in 1994-95 succumbed to exhaustion after years with an aching back and suffocating time demands. When he withdrew from the team for Duke's final 19 games, Krzyzewski looked more likely to be out of the business by age 50 than to coach past 60. Yet Wednesday, at a press conference announcing his spot in the Hall of Fame's class of 2001 – along with Temple coach John Chaney and longtime NBA center Moses Malone – he was declaring himself fit to coach "a long time." And sounding like he means it.
"I can see myself coaching a lot more years," he says. "I have a lot of years left. I still feel like I'm a young guy."
Two gallery members at Krzyzewski's press conference, his grandchildren, were proof to the contrary. One guzzled formula held by Krzyzewski's wife, Mickie. The other, a toddler named Joey, doodled on paper, prattled on about whatever caught his fancy, and slobbered. "At times like this," said Krzyzewski, who goes by 'Papa,' "I think he could be a sports writer."
Seven years after his career nearly ran aground, Krzyzewski has reclaimed his health and insulated himself from much of a world that once demanded another autograph, coaching clinic, motivational speech.
Both are important developments. The failing disc in Krzyzewski's back eventually sent the pain shooting into his hip, which was replaced in 1999. Two months later he was bragging about being able to tie his shoes. Two years later he is playing athletics director Joe Alleva, a former quarterback at Lehigh, again in racquetball. Alleva wins, but still. This is progress.
His body whole again – give or take an artificial hip – Krzyzewski has the mind sound, too, thanks to rigid scheduling of his personal time protected by a fortress of a six-story basketball facility. His office is at the top, and the elevator only goes that far if you have the correct fingerprint. If you have to ask, you don't.
Krzyzewski stays active in the Durham community and has a loud voice in the National Association of Basketball Coaches, but otherwise focuses on recruiting and coaching. Duke's third spectacular recruiting class in six years is in the works, to hit campus in 2002-03.
The 1997-98 freshmen (Elton Brand, Shane Battier, William Avery and Chris Burgess) were scary good. The 1999-2000 freshmen (Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, Casey Sanders and Nick Horvath) were of that ilk. The ones coming in two seasons – J.J. Redick, Michael Thompson and Lee Melchionni have committed; Shavlik Randolph and either Sean Dockery or Anthony Roberson probably are next – are thought to be of that caliber, too.
The wins will come, but Krzyzewski says that doesn't drive him. While he will go into the Hall as the third youngest coach ever – Bobby Knight was 50 and Dean Smith was enshrined at age 52 – Krzyzewski won't touch the issue of personal goals like catching Smith, the former UNC coach and all-time victories leader at 879. By the time Krzyzewski gets within range of Smith – in nine or 10 years at his current pace – the record may belong to someone else, perhaps mentor Bobby Knight (764) at Texas Tech, Lefty Driesell (762) at Georgia State or Jerry Tarkanian (759) at Fresno State.
Krzyzewski already has one more national title than Smith. A higher victory total would be similarly sweet for the Duke Basketball Nation, including its czar. But if Krzyzewski can last long enough to catch Smith, Knight or whomever, to quite possibly put the record out of reach, he will do so because he enjoys subtle achievements.
"An incredible thing has happened to me the last couple of years," Krzyzewski says. "Watching Johnny (Dawkins), Chris (Collins) and Steve (Wojciechowski) grow as assistants. They're going to be amazing head coaches. I didn't know that (enjoyment) was part of doing this for the length of time I'd be doing it. I've enjoyed that as much as coaching (Shane) Battier. I can see myself doing this a long time."
Gregg Doyel covers the ACC for The Charlotte Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
|
|
|
|
