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
Mike Krzyzewski quotes about
I never want to lead a team that is not allowed the freedom to pursue what's in their hearts. If you want your team to be fully committed, then you'd better be fully committed
I try to see each new season as a new challenge because I have a new team to work with, new opponents to encounter, and often new ideas and theories to try
Sometimes in a defeat, you can set the stage for future victory. I wanted them to feel good about what they had accomplished. Not to like losing, but to like the success that they had.
That's another thing, we made up games. We didn't have equipment. When it snowed, we would play slow motion tackle football. We would play hockey, but we wouldn't skate. We just made things up. I loved doing that.
Playing sport was somewhat frivolous, but I liked it. I rebelled a little bit, and wouldn't go to music lessons and things like that, but I would go and play ball. My parents learned to love it because they saw how much I got out of it.
Once you win a National Championship, how do you do that again? How do you get the passion to do that again? We won it again right away, the next year. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I didn't give myself an opportunity to enjoy the first one.
When you cleanse yourself of a big victory, you may open yourself up to the opportunity for an even bigger victory
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.
Usually when you play bad, somebody makes you look bad and we didn't respond very well.
We will put together a team that will represent our country on and off the court and the way the game should be played, ... It's our game and it's time to reclaim it.
We weren't ever a dominant team. We knew that. So things had to go right for us to win.
We weren't as good of a team last year. That team did remarkable things - they were a remarkable team to accomplish what they did.
We were never a dominant team. We knew that, and things would have to go right for us to win.
We're probably going to get beat a number of times. I just think we have to keep improving. I like my team, but we're not who we will be.