K.
When you’re known simply by a single letter, legendary status is a given.
In his 42 seasons at Duke, Naismith Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski led the Blue Devils to five national championships and an NCAA record 13 Final Four appearances.
Coach K won 1,202 games, more than any Division I men’s basketball coach. (The first 73 came in five seasons at Army) He also earned 12 National Coach of the Year honors at Duke and won six gold medals as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Add to this 13 Final Four appearances, winning 15 ACC Tournaments and 14 ACC regular season titles.
He also received the key to the City of Durham in December 2022.
“I have done what I wanted to do since I was 16,” Krzyzewski told PBS ‘News Hour’ in May 2022. “I wanted to be a coach. I have loved it. And in order to do something you love, sometimes, you have to do things you don’t like to get it done. I think I would still like to coach, but I wasn’t willing to put all the time and effort of all the recruiting. And the rapidity of it got too much. I mean, 47 years is pretty good.”
Since retiring after the 2022 season, Krzyzewski says he’s reflected some, but more about people than his many successes.
“For me, it has been very emotional, but very gratifying, in not remembering that we won a national championship or we lost our last game or whatever,” he told PBS, “but what really matters is people.”
