Krzyzewski’s crowning feat

[AP photos] Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski celebrates with daughters Jamie, left, and Lindy, after the Blue Devils claimed the national title.

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By GARY SHELTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 3, 2001

MINNEAPOLIS -- There was nothing new in the sight. The coach in the dark blue coat had climbed the ladder before.

The crowd was cheering, and the players were embracing, but there was nothing new in that, either. After all, this is Duke, where other treasures have been claimed and other lands have been conquered. Complete a journey so many times and after a while, no one wants to hear how bumpy the road might have been.

Duke won a championship?

Of course Duke won a championship. Isn't that what Duke does?

This time, however, do not allow the regal past of the program to lessen the impressiveness of the performance. This was not simply a return to prominence by the Blue Devils; it was a crowning achievement for the man who runs them.

It is the nature of coaching that the more a team wins, the less the rest of us consider the coach's role to be. But if you had not been so impressed with Mike Krzyzewski before this season, you would be so impressed with him now. If another man had done this, with another program, you would label him a genius. Just because Krzyzewski has been called that so many times before does not make him less so.

Duke head coach Mike are presented with the championship trophy by Mike Tranghese, chairman of the Division I men's basketball committee, after beating Arizona 82-72 in the final game of the Final Four on Monday.

Krzyzewski's Blue Devils returned to the throne Monday night. They tamed a talented, feisty Arizona team 82-72 for their first title since 1992. They won despite a starting lineup with three sophomores and a freshman. They won at times because it seemed Krzyzewski willed it.

Take Monday night's game, when all the Blue Devils had to beat was the best script to hit Hollywood in a decade. The Wildcats were a solid team, forged by the midseason death of Bobbi Olson, the wife of coach Lute Olson, from cancer. Hoosiers of Endearment. And Duke was better than that.

There was a moment, as the clock ran inside of 24 seconds, when you could see Krzyzewski still coaching his team, standing and gesturing and pointing. And all of the sudden, he realized the game was won, and he lept into the air, a kid again, a young coach winning for the first time. Then he was embracing Shane Battier, and all was right in the land of Duke.

There is an air of privilege to the Duke team, a sense of entitlement. It gets that from Krzyzewski. It is the finest gift a coach can bestow upon his team, that expectation that in the end it will find a way. There are times he is given to rage, but for the most part, Krzyzewski watches his team intently, his profile resembling that of a bird of prey. Usually, he likes what he sees.

This is not news. For some time it has been clear that Mike Krzyzewski has been the gold standard for college coaching. He wins championships without throwing chairs. He graduates players without strangling them along the way. He has found a way to light a path without laying a torch to his reputation, evidently a harder task than most of us might imagine. It is to the point where those who would criticize him must select the smallest arguments -- at times he can appear smug; his team seems to get a lot of breaks from officials. Still, if you were a college president who could select any coach in America, the choice would remain Krzyzewski.

Coach K hugs Duke guard Jason Williams after the win.

That said, this is as fine an hour as any in his career. In two seasons -- only two -- he has rebuilt what was destroyed in St. Petersburg.

You remember that Duke team, don't you? It was supposed to be one of the finest of all time, a blend of athletes so young, so good, that they seemed to own the sport. But after they were upset by Connecticut, the Blue Devils were stripped for parts. Elton Brand, William Avery and Corey Maggette couldn't wait to get to the ATM of the NBA, leaving Krzyzewski with Shane Battier and a lot of empty chairs.

Turns out Duke wasn't quite as bankrupt as a lot of people may have thought.

For one thing, it still had Krzyzewski.

Even judged by his peers -- and there are darned few coaches who merit the consideration any more -- it was a remarkably fast, remarkably solid job of reloading. Krzyzewski wasn't so much a recruiter as he was the head of a pit crew, rushing out and adding athletes who seem to come in battle-ready. It was as if he stuffed his recruiting class into a microwave and presto, two years later they were jumping around in glee.

"It has been incredible what we've done since getting hit with that," Krzyzewski says. "It would have been easy to get down and use that as an excuse."

This was the third national championship for Krzyzewski, which makes him one of four coaches to win at least three. The others are John Wooden (10), Adolph Rupp (four) and Bob Knight (three).

Those are numbers, however. Great coaches are not simply about numbers, they are about achievements. They are about impact. And, with the exception of Wooden, you may now compare Krzyzewski with any coach who ever snarled on a sideline.

Ask Shane Battier, the player of the year award winner. He'll tell you Krzyzewski is the motor to this program. He will tell you about Krzyzewski's eyes, how they flame and how they focus. He will tell you that Duke is successful because Krzyzewski refuses to accept that things could be any other way.

And so you watch the Blue Devils as they bounce around again, like emperors opening Christmas gifts. You have seen it before. There is nothing new here. Nothing new but a fiery coach adding to his program's legacy, and to his.

You have seen it before.

Hang around. You will see it again.

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