Mike Krzyzewski
Mike Krzyzewski
Michael William Krzyzewskiis an American college basketball coach and former player. Since 1980, he has served as the head men's basketball coach at Duke University. At Duke, Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils to five NCAA Championships, 12 Final Fours, 12 ACC regular season titles, and 13 ACC Tournament championships. Krzyzewski is also the coach of the United States men's national basketball team, whom he led to two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth13 February 1947
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I don't think you play for other people's expectations, you know. You don't go and become a lawyer because your mother or father want you to, you don't become a coach because somebody wants you to.
I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. I don't make a player, and a player doesn't make me a coach. We make each other.
I think you're not a human being unless you have doubts and fears.
If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win.
I don't think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them.
I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.
I think some parents now look at a youngster failing as the final thing. It's a process, and failure is part of the process. I would like it if the teacher and the parents would connect more. I think that used to be, but we're losing a little bit of that right now.
Don't worry about losing. Think about winning.
One of the worst things anybody can do is assume. I think fools assume. If people have really got it together, they never assume anything. They believe, they work hard, and they prepare- but they don't assume.
We weren't ever a dominant team. We knew that. So things had to go right for us to win.
I've always said that you want to end the season where you're cutting down the nets or you're crying in your locker room. And our kids were all crying in our locker room.
We were never a dominant team. We knew that, and things would have to go right for us to win.
Usually when you play bad, somebody makes you look bad and we didn't respond very well.
I don't feel like crying, I feel happy. Not that we lost, but I feel happy that I've had them. I mean how lucky. We have been really fortunate with this group, these seniors, to have four years like that.