Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski

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Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as “Coach K,” is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski’s best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great, but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career. The book, "Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski," chronicles the fabled career of the Duke men's basketball coach, who is retiring after 42 seasons and five NCAA national championships. He announced that this would be his last season on June 2, 2021 -- with Scheyer named his successor the same day. This is cool: I realized from the tales of Coach K’s West Point squads that I actually saw Coach K’s first Army team play. Army came to Knoxville, Tennessee for the old Volunteer Classic tournament. I remember that tournament well. The good news is that I got to see a legendary coach do his thing long before he became a legend. The bad news is that since this game was played forty-five years ago, I am therefore old.

Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski - Kindle Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski - Kindle

Ian O’Connor’s “Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski” purports to be the definitive biography of the man who is arguably the definitive figure in college basketball in the past 50 years. From his early days growing up in Chicago to his time as West Point – first as a player, then as a coach – to his ascension to the top job at Duke, where he turned a decent ACC team into one of the greatest college basketball programs ever. Mike had to explain to Tommy why he couldn't be the guy," one Duke source said, according to the book. "He can be Don Corleone when he needs to be." Eventually, Amaker decided not to take the job. Someone close to him, O'Connor writes, said he was "heartbroken" not to get the job. Scheyer was eventually announced as the successor. An examination of past allegations of NCAA rules infractions and eligibility issues, and a belief among rival schools and coaches that the governing body gives Duke favorable treatment. We wanted to showcase our student work chronicling one of the the most historic college basketball programs and demonstrate the unparalleled depth and breadth with which we’ve covered the coach who has won more than any other from NCAA Division I to the Olympics and World Cups,” Beau Dure, the book’s editor and member of Duke Student Publishing Co., The Chronicle’s board of directors, said. One of the fundamental truths that O’Connor teases out is the fact that there is a high cost to high achievement. And to reach these heights – 12 Final Fours and five NCAA titles, three Olympic championships – the cost is that much higher. The toll it takes on one’s health – physical and emotional – is significant. And yet, Coach K soldiers on.

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Mike Krzyzewski is portrayed as a real human being. If you’re looking for fluff, feel good pieces, you’ll find some of that; but the other side to Coach K is also shown, and it’s not always a pretty picture. Without a doubt, as a reader, I felt I got the good, the bad, and the ugly. K wasn’t the best because he knew basketball better than others, he was the best because he knew human nature better than others. If you admire leadership and are the least bit passionate, this book will bring it out of you in a hurry. The Chronicle, Duke’s independent student news organization, has published a new book documenting Mike Krzyzewski’s historic coaching career ahead of his final season leading the Blue Devils.

Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski - Kindle

In other words, it did what a biography should do. It painted an accurate and exhaustive portrait of the man. Both Scheyer and Amaker played for Krzyzewski -- Amaker from 1982 to '87 and Scheyer from 2006 to '2010. Amaker was an assistant coach at Duke for nine seasons, but left for a head-coaching job at Seton Hall in 1997 at age 31. He went on to coach at Michigan and has been the head coach at Harvard since 2007. Scheyer has been an assistant coach at Duke since 2013 and was promoted to associate head coach after the 2018 season. Coach K book Courtesy of Mariner Books This book read more like a repeat of everything I'd ever read about Duke Basketball, and as it turns out, I had indeed read most everything in this book in previously published material. The author relied heavily on previously published material in writing this book. When he wasn't using rehashed material, the author relied on anonymous sources, innuendo, and passive voice. There were factual errors, too. In writing about the 1996 team, O'Connor wrote, "Duke lost in the first round of the NCAAs for the first time since 1955, and yet this would go down as one of Krzyzewski’s most important teams ever." (The 1984 team says, "Hi, Ian!" On March 18, 1984, Duke lost to Washington by a score of 78 to 80 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Beasley Arena in Pullman, Washington. Duke finished that season 24–10. I remember these things, and these facts were easily verifiable with a simple Google search.) After graduation, he served for five years in the U.S. Army before moving on to become a grad assistant to Knight, who had taken the job at Indiana that would define his career. It was on Knight’s recommendation that Krzyzewski would land his first head coaching gig at his alma mater, taking over the Cadets and helming them for five years. Officials at Duke wanted to hire former Blue Devils star Tommy Amaker to replace Mike Krzyzewski after he retires this year, but the coach wanted current associate head coach Jon Scheyer to take the job, according to a new book by author Ian O'Connor due out next week.

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The Duke Chronicle Publishes ‘Coach K: The King of Cameron’ to Document Mike Krzyzewski’s Career | Duke Today More than a year of activities and events will highlight Duke’s past and propel university into its second century

Leading with the Heart: Krzyzewski, Mike: 9781538741610

Krzyzewski's relationship with former assistant and current Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, including one Duke player who's quoted in the book as saying: "I saw tension between them. I think I saw jealousy from K to Quin. K snapped at Quin more than any coach or any player combined, and when he did it, it felt personal." And then, in 1980, Coach K managed to land the Duke job, leapfrogging a number of more qualified candidates. While his resume might not have been as impressive as others, he brought an energy and desire that seemed to fit what the school was looking for in a head coach. About 80 percent of the proceeds will go toward supporting The Chronicle, which is now in its 117th year of publication and 27th year of financial independence. O'Connor's writing here is often one-note. Mostly what he's done here is collate information. Almost all of it is from other sources, is public knowledge and/or common sense. There's too much about Coach K as a student at West Point playing for Army and too many details about life at West Point (more than at Duke). Do you want to know the math book most students dreaded? In here along with more minutiae. One thing surprised me, because I was a child when Krzyzewski played for West Point: during the Vietnam War some crowds chanted "baby killers!" at the team. The author writes about Krzyzewski’s temper and profanity, and that in defeat he was at times unpleasant to be around. He states that Krzyzewski at times had trouble saying he was sorry.Ian O'Connor's Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski is a fabulous look into the leader of Duke basketball. He’s the winningest Division I men’s basketball coach in NCAA history. He’s won multiple national titles and been to even more Final Fours. He’s been in charge of USA Basketball and led the national team to gold medals more than once. He is an iconic figure, one of the titans of the game’s last half-century. A look into Krzyzewski's turbulent relationship with former Army and Indiana coach Bob Knight, who was a mentor to Coach K. It details how the relationship finally ended at a 2015 West Point reunion in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski is an excellent read for hard-core college hoops fans. Like me.