Profiling Coach Krzyzewski and Some Duke Xs and Os

Coach Mike Krzyzewski leaves an indelible legacy. 

• Five NCAA titles
• Thirteen Final Fours
• Thirteen ACC titles
• Three Olympic Gold Medals as coach USMNT
• Naismith Hall of Fame as Coach and part of the "Dream Team"

I've never done a profile on him, but mentioned him dozens of times in my years of blogging. Here are blog excerpts including mentions, clips, and quotes.

Mike Krzykewski - "Next play."  Jay Bilas includes this in his landmark article "Toughness."

How do we teach it? Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski teaches the "show" or "hedge" on the pick-and-roll defense as "fake trap." That visual tells players exactly what happens. 

Find a collaborator. 

"It's not about running plays, it's about making plays." - Mike Krzyzewski

"Character drives everything...when you have a lot of it, it drives upward...character is the foundation upon which you win." - Mike Krzyzewski

Coach K USA Basketball achievements

Can we categorize elite coaches? Realistically, nobody is a 'pure version' as each overlaps elements into a unique recipe. 

The Patriarchs (Red Auerbach, Gregg Popovich, Jack Clark)

The Philosophers/The Zen Master (Phil Jackson, Pete Carril) 

The Generals (Bobby Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Bill Belichick, Nick Saban)

The Professors (John Wooden, Pete Newell, Dean Smith, Brad Stevens) 

 "It's NOT okay." A player makes a negative play (e.g. throws the ball away). Teammates say, "It's okay." Don't confuse being sensitive with being sensible. I don't want players looking over at the bench because they make a mistake. I want them to redouble their engagement, not double down on mistakes. Whether it's Coach Krzyzewski's "Next Play" or "be in the moment", the message remains "do the next right thing right."

Just looking. Yogi Berra quipped, "you can see a lot by just looking." Great coaches like Tom Izzo and Mike Krzyzewski share their knowledge as we study their situational play.

In How to Win at the Game of Life, Christian Klemash explains how John Chaney emphasizes the difference between the MEANING of advice and the EFFECT. We can't know what advice Duke's Coach Krzyzewski gave to Grayson Allen last season. But Allen cleaned up his act after the advice...and one game suspension. 

Coaches come from various backgrounds and traditions with different identities and philosophies. Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr share far different zeitgeist than Bob Knight or Mike Krzyzewski. Fortunately, we have no political litmus test to determine the fitness of basketball coaches. 

Quotes from "Leading from the Heart"

Coach K tells a story about getting mud on his shoes as a plebe at West Point. Initially, he was mad at his friend who had splashed mud and led to a royal reaming. But he realized that it was HIS choice not to go back and clean them up, leading him to remark, "Embrace the hell out of personal responsibility."

Lagniappe: Krzyzewski 3 shot sequence (post motion development)

Use coaches' words and actions as their standard. Coach Mike Krzyzewski says, "There is more than one way to run a business, and just appreciate the expertise of all the people doing it in these ways." On Krzyzewski's website, he writes, “In our program, the truth is the basis of all that we do. There is nothing more important than the truth because there’s nothing more powerful than the truth. Consequently, on our team, we always tell one another the truth. We must be honest with one another. There is no other way.”

Authority figures. Industry leaders have greater reach than nobodies, the food chain principle. An individual author is literally, "vox clamantis in deserto," a voice crying in the wilderness. Coach K suggests an all-in NCAA Tournament. An idea derives some credibility from its source. Others have suggested this previously; but when the big dogs bark, people listen.

Duke's Coach Krzyzewski's teaching spawned an acronym, DR FlaPS

• Drive into gaps (Punch it)
• Reverse the ball (Dribble it)
• Flash into open areas (Cut)
• Post up 
• Screen (Screen it)

The decades change but concepts endure. 

One and Done K turns into Calipari

"When you have the best program, most people...won't like you." - Mike Krzyzewski

STORY. Ian O'Connor's new book Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski, shares LeBron's buy-in to the Olympic 'redeem team'. "The room turned quiet...LeBron was not very trusting of male figures and coaches, and Coach K just wore him down and established a trust. That meeting was so emotional and empowering that I think LeBron was like, ‘All right, I’ve got to plant my flag here.’

James started talking about the U.S. needing to be “a no-excuse team.” He looked around the room, saw all the talent any basketball player could ask for and announced that a failure to win gold would be theirs and theirs alone. “How many times do we say, ‘I wish I had Chris Paul in the backcourt,’ or ‘I wish I had Dwight Howard with me,’ or ‘I wish I had Jason Kidd with me’?” he asked. “Well, guess what? I’ve got Dwight Howard. I’ve got Jason Kidd. . . . This is what we always wanted. There are no f------ excuses.”

Lagniappe. Everyone needs an 'early offense' often more than just filled corners and rim running. It might be flat drag screens, pistol, or something like Duke's. 

Lagniappe 2. Simple Duke actions. Duke Horns elbow. 

Duke Zone middle ball screen attack. 

Duke BOBs... Stack and Diamond