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We talked some the other day about how Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has worked with the V Foundation for decades now and the annual Napa valley fundraiser he does.
While he was out there he did an interview with the Napa Valley Register’s G.S. Whitt.
He hasn’t really done that many interviews since he announced his retirement and we can’t recall one that was this lengthy.
Whitt asked about a lot of stuff including retirement plans and Duke going forward. Here are a few excerpts.
- “I will still stay in my same office and try to help the university in whatever way I can, but also just speaking. And we have our nonprofit, the Emily Krzyzewski Center in Durham and it services about 2,000 kids a year. I’m involved with a lot of things, so I’m not worried about things to do.”
- “I’ve been lucky. I wanted to be a coach since I was 16, and I’ve always known I wanted to be a coach. And so, to do what you love for your entire life is pretty good, and I’ve been able to do it at a level that I could have never imagined. So that’s where you get lucky, by getting the right guys, having the support...Everyone looks at us and thinks this was inherited wealth. And these are all things that we’ve earned over the years, but also Duke has earned through its commitment.”
- “I’m not sure yet. You have to stay focused. All I know is that, especially when you are playing an away game, people recognize it. They’ll want to beat you more. They might be nice (smiling), but they’re going to want to beat you more. But teams over the years have wanted to beat us all the time. So, my feeling is just to go for it and not, as much as possible, with the players, let it be about me. Let it be about what we’re doing (as a team).”