He's been producing winning basketball teams at Duke University for years. He was chosen to coach the 2008 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team. His last name is too hard for many to pronounce or spell.He is, simply ... Coach K.
But when you live in the ACC basketball belt of North Carolina, you know the name ... the person ... the teams. Coach Mike Krzyzewski is a living legend in Carolina.
His U.S. team won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics ... giants of men jumping up and down on the court while the coach stood on the sidelines applauding and watching and smiling. He had tamed the egos of multi-millionaire players, melded them together as a team, encouraged them, and worked hard to restore the gold medal after losing it to Spain four years ago.
And Spain was their rival again ... but this time when the clock ran out, it was the United States that led ... and it was Team USA that reclaimed the gold.
After the awards ceremony, all those basketball players, each wearing a gold medal around his neck and carrying a bouquet of roses in his hand, approached the coach and, one by one, removed the medal from around their own neck ... and placed it around Coach K's.
A fitting tribute to a man who never gives up. Thanks, Coach K.
"I try to see each new season as a new challenge because I have a new team to work with, new opponents to encounter, and often new ideas and theories to try."
- Mike Krzyzewski
2 comments:
Coach K is USMA Cl 69.
Yes, a lot of people don't know he went to West Point, played on their basketball team, coached them, served in the Army. Most people just know him as Duke's coach.
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