Various things to report on in the aftermath of Coach K's 903rd win. First of all: jealousy, envy and laziness.
This article by Andrew Sharp, who cites, among others, Ken Burgess, is an excellent example.
We want to be careful here to distinguish between father and son here: Ken is not nearly the man his son Chris is. Chris did leave Duke, but he has spoken warmly of his time in Durham and of what he learned. Suffice it to say that he was not and is not bitter; quite the contrary. He's also a nice guy.
The rest is the normal claptrap, and there's no point in revisiting it. You can search the archives for most of our previous responses to it if you have time and the interest.
What we searched for after reading this and cannot find (please understand that our archives go back to around 1996 and there are 32,000 posts at a minimum, so it's not necessarily an easy thing to do) is the junk about 1995 and who the record belongs to. As you may or may not remember, we pointed out that an NCAA rule mandates how this situation is dealt with. Duke contacted the NCAA to ask about this and the NCAA advised them on how to proceed. It was never Duke's (or Krzyzewski's) decision to make.
As far as the rest of the article goes, we're pretty sure that every member of Mike Krzyzewski's family will tell you that, like anyone else, he's not perfect. Most of his players would probably say the same thing.
But as we saw leading up to the Michigan State game, and after too, people who actually know Coach K and have dealt with him have overwhelmingly positive responses. You can run down the list of former Duke players and then rival coaches and go from there to a few particular people who have personal experience with Krzyzewski and have said overwhelmingly kind things.
We would be among the first to caution anyone against hero worship; as Coach K said to Dan Patrick on Wednesday, coaches are human being too and just as capable of the foibles as they are of being celebrated.
But if you like you can put aside the comments and feelings of Jim Boeheim, Jerry Colangelo, Jim Valvano, the entire Olympic team, Gary Williams, Roy Williams, many people with life-threatening illnesses, employees, neighbors, dozens of military offices and people affiliated with various charities, not least of all the V Foundation, all of whom find Krzyzewski to be an extraordinary person.
Or you could just take Andrew Sharp's word for it. Apparently without ever meeting Krzyzewski or spending time around him, he knows better than the rest of the people we just mentioned.
WRAL will have a special on Coach K called: Journey to 903. It'll air on Thursday at 7:00. We don't know if they plan to post it online but it's worth looking for.
Also, here are some more links.
- Krzyzewski at top, with no end in sight
- Former UVa coach Holland recalls competing against Krzyzewski
- âKrzyzewski relieved record's reached
- âLeadership lessons from Coach K
- âA footprint that extends beyond basketball court
- âMany More Wins Still Left for Coach 'K'
- âMike Krzyzewski's Humble Duke Career
- âKrzyzewski appreciates tough times as he breaks Knight's record
- âFamily, former players made moment special for Coach K
- âBoeheim praises Mike Krzyzewski
- âKrzyzewski record no surprise to former players
- âKrzyzewski's feat likely impossible for future ACC coaches
- âKrzyzewski's Drive to Win ⦠Angry Birds
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