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. 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.

Book: Coach K chose Scheyer over Amaker - ESPN Book: Coach K chose Scheyer over Amaker - ESPN

About the only big picture thing that isn't detailed is Krzyzewski's involvement with the '92 Dream Team. There's plenty of documentation on that story elsewhere, which might explain why O'Connor just gives it a drive-by.

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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. The second time I typed it, the time when I mentioned O'Connors inclusion of misspellings of Coach K's name, I spelled it wrong. Flagrant.

Coach K – HarperCollins Coach K – HarperCollins

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. 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.

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As the brief snippets from Coach K's videos in The Bear season 2 hint, Sydney learns through his books and lectures that in times of extreme pressure, a team should continue grinding while keeping composure. She also absorbs that true leadership comes from failing and understanding what may or may not work. Out of all the lessons from the book, the one that seemingly holds the most importance in Sydney's arc is Coach K's emphasis on being a good listener and thoughtful communicator. In The Bear season 2's finale, when they finally open their restaurant, Sydney's efforts into honing her leadership skills through Coach K's lessons finally pay off. This was a VERY in depth portrayal of the legend of Coach K. When he first started coaching, he was ridiculed and viewed by many as having a brief career, but this gritty leader who was shaped by Bobby Knight ended up being now recognized as the greatest college coach ever (And some question whether he was the greatest coach ever!)! on the record and a few here and there that perhaps weren't, this is for you. For me, reading it often was more like reading an encyclopedia than a biography. It was not worth my time, which is unfortunately very limited right now though that will change soon.

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

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. 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.) 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. This year marks Coach K’s last on the Duke bench. He’s walking away after the season, heading into a retirement that his family undoubtedly thinks is long overdue. It’s interesting to think about what a guy with this kind of competitive fire will do without that outlet; who can say what he’ll do next?

Coach K" is a workman-like account of Mike Krzyzewski's career, timed to cash in on his imminent retirement. O'Connor draws heavily from real-time reportage as well as interviews with Coach K's friends, players, assistant coaches, opposing coaches, and unnamed sources, the latter who tend to predominate the end of the book. (Coach K did not participate, though he did not discourage people from talking to O'Connor.) It appears that O'Connor had particularly good access to Krzyzewski's inner circle prior to his Duke days because he provides a fairly vivid and rounded account of Coach K's life up to 1980, the year he took over at Duke. In other words, it did what a biography should do. It painted an accurate and exhaustive portrait of the man. Ian O'Connor's Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski is a fabulous look into the leader of Duke basketball. 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. The author writes of allegations of Duke getting an unfair advantage in recruiting the best high school players because of Krzyzewski’s coaching of Team USA, for whom he won eighty-eight of eighty-nine games.

Coach K on Apple Books ‎Coach K on Apple Books

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.Hero to some and arch-nemesis to others, all can agree that Krzyzewski was great. And according to this book, he has mastered everything he tried. Except swimming. (Read it and see.) 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. I gained a lot of respect for Coach after reading another book and this one based on his relationship Jim Valvano and Dean Smith even though when they coached against each other during their time in the ACC and really was moving reading about how he was with Jimmy V right up to the end of his life.