Q&A with Coach K

July 20th, 2009

Durham, NC

Jeremiah Tittle: I'm hear with Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K who has decided to return to coach the US Men's Olympic team. Coach, welcome, it's also nice to have you, the host of Basketball & Beyond on Sirius XM Radio. I don't want to forget that.

Mike Krzyzewski: Jeremiah, it's always great to do stuff with you.

JT: Well, we appreciate your time, and I just want to start on the personal level because we'll spend some time on the professional side, but what emotions were you feeling with respect to the pressures from family, from Duke, the Olympic players, and your friend, Jerry Colangelo himself, to either return or call it quits?

MK: It's not so much I felt- I didn't really feel any pressure. The first time when I was asked by Jerry to do this, it was easy. Emotionally, you didn't have to think about it twice like you had to do it, and you wanted to do it. To do it again, it's going to be differrent, first of all, and you asked people to understand and they did, whether they be at Duke, Duke Athletics, my family, and they all did and thy were on board. Now to go do it again, instead of it just being an emotional decision, intellectually, I had to just take some time, and make sure that everybody [was] telling me the truth when they said that it didn't hurt them. Once I felt that, I knew that I would want to do it again.

JT: What is something that not a lot of people would know about the decision process for you? Is there someone who reached out to you and said, 'You should do it again!' You know the history of Coach [Henry] Iba who won two golds and a bronze, and had the opportunity to win it more than once. Was that enticing for you?

MK: I've never thought about that, but there were a couple things. One: In one of the meetings that I had with Jerry Colangelo - and he and I are great friends and I love working with him, you know, that is one of the big perks is being with Jerry again - and we were talking very candidly about everything, and I said, 'You know it's not going to be the same experience,' and Jerry said, 'Well, that's good,' and it hit me that he was right. It is good. You don't want to try to replicate the experience. It's going to be a new experience, and that's exciting. So, that was a big thing. And my wife had talked to a number of people, and she and Jay Bilas had a conversation, and she relayed her thoughts about it. She said, 'What about losing? Are you afraid to lose?' People would look at that and say, 'Are you afraid to lose in Olympic competition or the World Championship competition?' And what she was saying [was] you gotta be a little afraid to lose the opportunity to do this. And when I thought about that, I said, 'You know I've never had any regrets in my coaching career.' Really, I've been very fortunate, but if I didn't do this, I'd regret it, and I would lose. So, I guess you could say I was afraid of losing, and that's why I accepted it.

JT: But it was about the opportunity which [is] honorable. I guess I want to delve into the relationship with the players a little bit. You have Lebron James and Kobe Bryant [who] stand out, but all the players, what is the relationship, and more specifically, the friendship with these superstars like for you? I know you talk about 'street cred' a lot, but also I know how important it is to be genuine. So how do you balance that?

MK: Well, when we finished and won the gold medal in Beijing, we won it as a group. We're all brothers. Obviously, I'm an older brother than those guys, and Jerry Colangelo and those guys Jim Boeheim and Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan, we'll be forever bonded because of that experience, friends for life, brothers for life. I mean, that's the way that we approached it. Everybody was completely honest. They were so genuine, the relationships, and now going forward, we're hoping that we get a lot of those guys back and renew those relationships; make sure that the bond is still there as we go forward in a new experience. To do something again with hopefully most of the same group, I think will make those relationships even better, and they're pretty darn good right now.

JT: Jerry Colangelo and yourself took it very seriously and made it serious, a strong committment from the players who went to China, went to Beijing with you. There could have been multiple motivators, motivating factors there with 1.3 Billion fans in China to be able to see some of their favorite players from half the world away. When we're talking about the upcoming World Championships in Turkey and then London 2012, does that present less of a motivation for these players?

MK: You know, I don't think so. I think these players are incredibly special people. If people would look at a player's life who's career is like a dog's life. Is it ten years? Is it twelve? Is it thirteen? And for them to make committments during their summers, during that time, and they risk injury and they really don't get paid - they might, if we win and do well, they'll get endorsements...some of them - I think these guys wanted to play because they wanted to play for their country, and they wanted to wear 'U-S-A' on their uniform, and they wanted to play with the best from their profession from their country right now, and they wanted to see how that would feel, how that would be for them. And that's the motivation that I would hope that they would have in going forward once again because if there's a different type of materialistic [motivation] I don't think that we would get to the depth that we need to get, and we got to a good, really deep level with that group. They loved being together, and they loved representing their country, and that's the thing we'd like to replicate for them, that type of an experience while we pursue a World Championship and another Olympic gold medal.

JT: And I'd argue that you also made it cool. Not just by winning, but also by securing the committments by the players by taking it seriously, changing the culture or adding your own twist on the culture, you made it cool. So, I understand that there's been some success in the lower ranks, and so, hopefully, that will carry over to your next Administration, or maybe it's Jerry Colangelo's Administration, or your combined Administration.

MK: Well, it's really important, Jeremiah, for us to continue that, and it became cool because the guys who are recognized as the best players did things that the normal person would want that player to do. They represented, they truly represented our country. You know, in other countries, when a country is playing, it's easy for the country to pull for their [national team]. For us, we're pulling for the Red Sox, the Giants, the Bears. We're fragmented. We felt that was part of what we wanted to do is to get the country behind us. That was a neat feeling. I thought our players felt that our country respected us and wanted us to win and were happy about it. Again, going forward, we want that...same feeling. In order to do that, we need to act the right way, play the right way, and represent people the way they should be represented.

JT: Do you make any changes to the way you coach Duke structurally with responsibilities, etc.? Do you delegate a lot more? And will that change with this next phase of your Olympic contribution?

MK: Well, at this time in my career, I delegate a lot because I've been here for thirty years now. I have a lot of good people around me, and they make me better. Just like in any really good organization, it can't be top-heavy or bottom-heavy. It's got to be heavy throughout. Obviously, with some of the time committments that I'll have over the next several years, some people will have to do a little bit more, but I'm good with that - not our players, and it doesn't take away from what we do with our team. It has to do with how we run our program because the time we miss is time we could not work with our players anyway. Most of the time we miss is time where we could not be on the road recruiting anyway. So, not too many - hardly any changes in that regard, and all of our people are really proud of the fact that their coach and some of the members of my staff were part of this Olympic experience.

JT: That's great. Since you already won gold, what would you consider with the team from now through London 2012? And how much onus are you placing on the World Championships in Turkey as a bid, if you win it, for the Olympics?

MK: There are three things that we felt going into this in 2006 that we wanted to do. Now, I'd a fourth thing. We wanted to win a gold medal. We felt that it would take a few years to get the culture in place, and put us into a position to win a gold medal. We wanted to win the respect of our country, and we wanted to win the respect of the world. What I would say is that you can add the World Championships to that and say there are four things. We want to win gold in Turkey in 2010. We want to win gold in London in 2012, and we want to continue to have the respect of the people of our country and the respect of the world while we do it.

JT: You've won National Collegiate titles. You've won Olympic gold. Compare your feelings about winning the two, if they're different.

MK: Well, they are different, and they're both, they're great. In my day job which is the Duke basketball job, the biggest thrill in the world has been winning an NCAA Championship with the kids I had an honor to coach, and to pursue that championship each year because it's a tough thing to get. The Olympics are completely different, and it's a global stage. It's your country. It's the best players in the world. When you win there, that's a huge high, and a great feeling of accomplishment. To be quite frank with you, I'd like to do both of those things again during these next few years.

JT: Well, we wish you luck, and just one final question, actually, a request; if you could relay the story of being in the elevator with Lebron James prior to the gold medal game, and a follow-up question in advance...is what would the next elevator scene look like if [you're] in this position again if you're so fortunate?

MK: Well, it was actually in a hallway-

JT: Oh, in a hallway, OK.

MK: -In a hallway after a meeting. Lebron and I had a very close relationship. And I just knew he's still, he's a young guy, and this was going to be his first major championship, the first one outside of High School. I just told him, 'There's a chance you're going to be nervous,' and I said, 'I'm going to be nervous. Nervous is good.' And I said, 'Let's help one another out. If there's anything I can do to help you during that game, let me know,' and I said, 'I just want you to know it'll be an honor for me to be your coach in your first major championship.' And he didn't say anything. He just smiled. We won, and he smiled again. If we're doing that again, I'd say, 'OK man. We're not nervous. Let's go after it! Let's win World's and let's win London!' It's part of the progression of a relationship and a career. You know we both achieved milestone wins on August 24th in Beijing that will be a part of our [lives] forever, and serve as a base for what [we] want to do in the future. So, Jeremiah, Lebron was terrific. He's a great leader, a great player, and really a terrific guy, and hopefully he'll be with us every step along the way because he's certainly a leader on that team.

JT: [He's] obviously not only very talented, a professional athlete on the court, but he's also a human being just like you are, and amongst relationships in my life, I value ours, and I appreciate you taking the time today to speak [with] me about this new endeavor which is different than it was over the past few years.

MK: It definitely is different. Thanks Jeremiah.

JT: Thank you very much, Coach.