Krzyzewski likes to call West Point "the greatest leadership school in the world." Mickie Krzyzewski was raised in Alexandria, Va., and attended a small Southern Baptist college, but left before graduating. Mickie says she and her husband made an agreement when he began coaching at Army: that he would never say she couldn't go somewhere with him because no other women would be there. Debbie Savarino, the oldest, is an assistant athletic director, and Lindy is the staff counselor for the men's basketball team. It was also important, Jamie says, for her young family to establish and protect boundaries, showing respect to Krzyzewski but not necessarily appeasing him. Krzyzewski showed up. It was clear-cut. If money is your only passion, good luck and God love you.". Mickie It rained, and my tent just floated away. 's wanting to rub up against a sports figure. If the right mood hits, Coach might disappear into the kitchen to fetch a spoon, then return to serenade Mickie and everyone else by singing Smokey Robinsons Ooh Baby Baby into his silver microphone. It hurt, to be honest. A successful corporation might be led by a straight-from-the-gut guy like Jack Welch, or a recede-into-the-background geek like Bill Gates, or a visionary like Steve Jobs. The couple got married in 1969, tying the knot at a small Catholic chapel in West Point, New York on the day of his graduation. I know it is. Mike got up, walked away, and went over and stood outside the room and said, Thats the last (expletive) time. He was never going to break John Woodens record of 10 national titles, of course, but these kids pushed him past Wooden with that 13th trip to the Final Four, and Krzyzewski could never fully repay them for that. A trinket from West Point? He turned down a job he didn't want. No more games to win. And that's not the only advantage he starts with over his competitors. Krzyzewski joined Duke as head coach in 1980 with his wife and three young daughters in tow, a quintet he, according to his grandson Michael Savarino, lovingly But its branches drooped, making it look a little like a forlorn Christmas tree. His daughters admit feeling unmoored, considering their dad has led the Blue Devils since two years before Jamies birth. Krzyzewski played three years for Knight. Lindy is a dean at a private school. This is why nearly anyone who has been successful can go out on the road as a leadership expert or write one of the dozens of books that are published on the subject each year. They know it before they even arrive. No more pep talks to give. Mickie Krzyzewski They're all good. during a 2019 interview with The Washington Post, announcing last year that he would retire after this season, New York Times story, and scatological and anatomical references., beat North Carolina and win the mens national title. When he recruits a player, Krzyzewski tells him, "We're developing a relationship here, and if you're not interested, tell me sooner rather than later." Lindy graduated from Wake Forest in 1999 with a psychology degree with minors in Spanish and theater. He enjoys living well, but it's clear that his peripatetic off-court life is something other than a money grab. Here they are prior to the Opening Ceremonies on July 25, 1992, at Estadi Olimpic de Montjuic in Barcelona, Spain. After Tuesday's win, Mike Krzyzewski celebrated with his wife of 42 years, Mickie. Sixty-three years later, its all over. "He told us freshmen to stop playing passive and to play with an attacking style," Greg Paulus, a first-year point guard, told me. Judy Rosener, an expert on gender differences in leadership who has written for the Harvard Business Review and other publications, told me that men and women respond to different signals. It was not a hard thing for him to agree to because he did not believe, even then, that there was something sanctified about the all-male atmosphere of a men's college team. Before the national semifinal game tipped off, OConnor says Knight handed Duke special assistant Colonel Tom Rogers an envelope, and asked him to give it to Krzyzewski. Mike Krzyzewskis Finish at Duke Comes on His Terms Also in the photo, at left, is Jerry Colangelo, and that's Nate McMillan just at left of Krzyzewski. Kind of looking to see if there are good things in those eyes or bad things, says Frasher, whos now a home builder and real estate agent in Durham. "Mostly, I've been in a male world," he said. 2004-2023 CBS Interactive. Jamie earned her English degree from Duke in 2004 where she also minored in Linguistics. Now, they have more time to focus on their philanthropy as they enjoy their downtime post-retirement. But when Jordan approached Krzyzewski and addressed him as "Coach," the small nod of respect resonated. You're probably thinking, We really want to hear what you have to say, you idiot.". It's amazing how little he's aged -- and how he's never really changed his hairstyle. "Having the talent that Mike has -- the best, the brightest -- makes some things easier and some things harder," he says. He has the right to his own standards. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. And at the same time, he had strengthened the Krzyzewski brand -- the Winning With Virtue brand. All of this is easy to ridicule because Krzyzewski is, after all, a mere coach -- and in some quarters, especially among rival fans in the bitterly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference, a reviled one. David Beckham meets Lionel Messi in France amid Inter Miami transfer speculation, Rafael Nadal pulls out of Monte Carlo, still not prepared to compete, Kamilla Cardoso: The college basketball players height and more, Jaime and Gabriela Jaquez make March Madness history, Beau Casper Smart talks about Metaverse dancing and the time he met Bad Bunny, Gerard Piqu arrives in Miami and more estrellas we love, Ana de Armas surprises a fan in a restaurant in Cuba, Kim Kardashian breaks down in tears talking about Kanye Wests lies. The Krzyzewskis were married on his graduation day at West Point at the academy's Catholic chapel. "They pick up on body language. Gamecocks dominate: The womens national championship is officially heading back to Columbia, S.C., for the second time in program history after a wire-to-wire 64-49 victory by South Carolina over Connecticut. So happy this photo exists. We're all about the end of the story, the punch line. The effort to make his grandkids call him Coach, Lindy says, was one of the moments where hed really laugh at himself, and we just slayed him., Other than Michael Savarino, who actually plays basketball for the Blue Devils, Krzyzewskis nine other grandkids address him as Poppy., Hes an elite trash talker, reminding Chris that he may be a better gardener now, but he will never be on his father-in-laws level. And thats just a sad-looking tree.. The attendees may, in their day-to-day lives, feel burdened by various pressures and perhaps even be cynical, but here they dress down in business casual, breathe in the mountain air and open themselves up to inspiration. Whats also true is that Jamie and her two older sisters grew up around their father, gradually learning to navigate his emphases and quirks. Grant Hill, who came to Duke a decade into Krzyzewski's reign, told me: "He's extremely persuasive. "In the picture I was diving for a loose ball," Alarie says. Did she comment on matters involving basketball, like how a certain play should be run? The best insights from the ultimate insiders, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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So I've got to go after them really hard. Before that, he graduated from the United States Military Academy, where he played basketball. I said to him once, 'You may be better at what you do than anybody I know is at what they do."'. Like in 2015, when he became the first coach in history to win 1,000 NCAA division basketball games. Coach said he did more (expletive) for (Krzyzewski) than he did for his own kids, or as much.. ET. I'll say, 'There's nothing wrong with him.' The Krzyzewski brand is so strong that he need not be physically present when Duke Corporate Education (which is separate from the leadership center) teaches Duke basketball as metaphor. All of his children has followed in his footsteps and attended Duke, undoubtedly making their father proud. Because guys can be dirtbags.. On 2 June 2021, after more than 40 years as coach, Krzyzewski announced he will retire at the end of the 2021-22 season. Attracting top talent to Durham was not the slam dunk it is now. 's Los Angeles Lakers. We had to add something that was valid.". If he hadn't enrolled at Duke to play basketball, he could have played football at Notre Dame. Krzyzewski's toughness and his wisecracking, just-one-of-the-boys manner are certainly part of his leadership style. His wife has poured her considerable energy and intellect into his career. In leadership, it's like you have 20 or 30 or 40. How can you have that?, It was a bad Weeper, he said. Lindy and her husband, Steve Frasher, live in Durham. Nobody stays lucky for a quarter-century. Here he is in 2006, while coaching Team USA Basketball. Dennis Rodmans daughter Trinity signs the richest deal in NWSL history, 7 things you didnt know about Michael Jordans wife: Yvette Prieto. But the girls and I had to live up to it. "Mike's ability to take risks has helped him, and it was risky, at the time, to include us like he did," she says. He doesnt remember what Krzyzewski said, but it was unforgettable the way he stared deep into the young mans eyes. The deep relationships forged with well-behaved, diploma-earning hoopsters. Krzyzewski knows from his time in hospitals that they are big, complex workplaces with hierarchies that stretch from high-paid specialists to residents to nurses to orderlies and janitors. Because what does Coach K actually want from this? This was in 1997, not long after Wojo appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Look each other straight in the eye, tell the truth, full disclosure. The books don't straight out tell male executives to be more like women, but that message is clear. But there is a larger truth to keep in mind. Duke players also tend to be better students than most National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball players at major programs and -- though it is difficult to generalize about such things -- more likely to come from stable, middle-class backgrounds. "You gotta get through all their layers and right into their hearts and say, 'I want this from you and I want it right now.' She also has an MBA from Cameron University and a masters in Liberal Studies from Duke. Ethics exemplar. Mack, of Morgan Stanley, is one, along with Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino magnate, and Schwartz at Bear Stearns. Fairly packed crowd, and notice the cheerleaders in the background. Isnt that what we need to do? (He has another, much bigger office in a building next door.) Its also a metaphor for a healthy father-in-law and son-in-law relationship: that the father-in-law is there, you know hes watching, you know hes still looking out, but ultimately hes not going to pull up your Weeper.. 's and entrepreneurs, go-getters on their way to big jobs and big salaries. On the Carolina bench, assistant Roy Williams initially thought an ACC rookie shouldnt treat a legend like that before he pivoted on further review. So when someone enters the coachs realm with the bold intention of dating one of his daughters, Jamie finds the proceedings highly entertaining. Now hes an ESPN basketball analyst who, to make his own existence more complicated, must sometimes criticize Duke and its set-in-his-ways leader, who happens to be his wifes dad. They remembered details. Shes talking during an interview on Zoom when, through a window, she notices a vehicle pulling into her driveway. And maybe leadership itself is not complicated but, rather, primal: one person's ability to reach another and persuade him to be part of a team, all pulling in some common direction. Jamie Squire/Getty Images Affectionately known as After Krzyzewski and his wife, Mickie, had left for the airport, Steve Vacendak, who was then the No. -- and last year accepted a second basketball job (he's staying at Duke) as the head coach of USA Basketball. WebMike Krzyzewski was young, unproven, inexperienced and terrified when his boss summoned him early one morning in January 1984. Coach K will have plenty to do at Duke even after his coaching days end. ", Mike Krzyzewski says that his wife has served as a kind of early-warning system, that she can see things he can't: "Mickie will say to me, 'There's something wrong with Shane.' Krzyzewski nearly left Duke in 2004. But Frasher and Spatola have no idea what to get Krzyzewski for a retirement gift. And yes, this was a fitting final act for Coach K, given that hed effectively started his Duke career by picking a fight against North Carolina. Back injury, sitting out changed history for Then he falls apart again. Love this picture; it's like they're posing for a rock-band photoshoot. In her earlier life, she was an airline stewardess, which led to her meeting her future husband on a flight. Anyone can read what you share. All those national championships. Collaboration among large numbers of people, all of them sifting and synthesizing information, is ever more important. (The word "this," for example, comes out sounding more like "dis.") Over all, he has coached 19 high school all-Americans and seven national college players of the year. The PricewaterhouseCoopers employees suit up in basketball gear and learn a Duke play. A post shared by Duke Mens Basketball (@dukembb). Here he argues a call in a 2013 game against Virginia. Krzyzewskis family has recently begun preparing for another big occasion, and though he always will be Coach, soon he wont be Dukes coach. Something modest and palatable, equivalent to the Blue Devils reaching the NCAA tournament? Beautiful because those tears proved how much his kids cared, and how hard they had competed. Because Krzyzewski attracts kids who tend to feel secure, and not just about basketball, he can put pressure on them similar to what he experienced at West Point, knowing that even when they fail, they are unlikely to feel like failures. Lindy says her dad is so compartmentalized that he often doesnt remember many of his on-court eruptions or the fact that he initially wanted even his grandchildren to call him Coach before Mickie and everyone else nixed that. It is a remnant of roots that are working-class to the core. Nobody has ever come at them like that before. A winning sports team might be inspired by a fire breather like Vince Lombardi, or a fatherly presence like Joe Torre, or a diffident intellectual type like Bill Belichick. Courtesy Duke University WHEN KRZYZEWSKI WASa kid, sports (USATSI), The sneaker look -- for Coaches vs. Cancer awareness -- is a good one. The smart play, then, is to bring back options: three bottles that represent a range of value and quality. Krzyzewski's early teams at Duke struggled. Krzyzewski issued frequent reminders that men could and would fail them. His five national titles equal the combined total won by Roy Williams (3) and Smith (2). Since then Coach K has taken every opportunity to outline their many differences while still staying on Knights good side wherever that is undoubtedly a stickier task than teaching dozens of trophy makers how to spell his name., More:Coach K and Bobby Knight: A season on the bench. Debbie and Lindy were born prior to Coach K coming to Duke while their youngest daughter, Jamie, was born after the family settled in North Carolina. And soon to become, in marketing terms, "the Michael Jordan of college coaches," according to his agent, David Falk (who is, yes, Jordan's agent). 1,000 being right around the corner for Mike Krzyzewski, we wanted to look back at the man through the perspective of some little-seen photos. ("Joe Torre's Ground Rules for Winners," Rick Pitino's "Lead to Succeed," Pat Croce's "Lead or Get Off the Pot!," Donald T. Phillips's "Lincoln on Leadership.") Mike Krzyzewski, former head coach of the Duke Blue Devils, and his wife Mickie watch the Notre Dame game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 14, 2023, in Durham, North Carolina. If you read a sampling of books and other advice on leadership, a recurring theme emerges: managers should be more "interactive" and less "command and control," meaning they should share rather than hoard information, spread decision making and initiative across all levels of the company, and make clear that individual goals can be met only through team success. ), his job was even rumored to be in danger. Krzyzewski watched Dukes final futile possession from his chair on the elevated court, with his arms crossed against his chest. For instance, the family will be able to celebrate Krzyzewskis birthday, which falls on Feb. 17 and therefore during the heart of the ACC schedule. Alarie, now a venture capitalist, played five years in the N.B.A. (Duke Athletics), This is from Mike Krzyzewski's first press conference in 1980, on March 18. Debbie works on Dukes faculty as assistant director of athletics, Lindy works as a staff counsellor at Duke and works with the basketball team, and Jamie graduated from Duke University in English and is an author. This year's team is a case in point. But her dad, Mike Krzyzewski, who was cradling two bottles of fine Napa Valley wine, seemed transfixed by this thing next to the walkway. It's a new way of showing the story of someone who's already had practically everything said and written about him. But Krzyzewski's admirers in the corporate world consider his handling of such an array of stars to also be his primary challenge -- and one that they specifically relate to their own businesses. They were future C.E.O. "But it didn't feel motivational. There is an element of stealing your girlfriends' parents' liquor, and at the end of the day, you want to bring up the right stuff.. He has also raised funds for the "K Lab" (officially, the Michael W. Krzyzewski Human Performance Research Laboratory at Duke Medical Center), a research center for the prevention of athletic injuries. He was told to swim anyway, and promptly sank and had to be pulled from the water. Because he was stubborn, he said during a 2019 interview with The Washington Post, he wouldnt get rid of the damn thing. It's a half-day of a weeklong program and is taught primarily by Krzyzewski's student managers. He is set to succeed Coach K as Duke head coach starting in the 2022-23 season. Sitting in his office one recent morning, looking out over much of Manhattan, he told me that Krzyzewski was his role model: "I think executives like me aspire to be his peer, and I don't say that tongue in cheek. "There's an empathetic part of leadership, and this is where my wife and my daughters have had a huge impact on me," Krzyzewski says. I partied, and it caught up to me. She also has a masters degree from Pepperdine. Not to Krzyzewski, an avid gardener whose luxury Escalades interior is often littered with leaves, mulch and assorted yard waste. According to people in the hotel ballroom where the event took place, Knight was holding court with friends at his table when his former point guard approached, OConnor wrote. Whose decision was this? asked Krzyzewski, Dukes legendary mens basketball coach and Chris Spatolas father-in-law. A few years ago, when a player was feeling sorry for himself, Krzyzewski ended practice and invited players, coaches and support staff to midcourt so everyone could have an actual pity party. Jamie was caught in the middle of this, essentially two rams clashing over a tree nobody liked. When asked if he thinks it's easier for him to coach the kind of students he is able to attract, Krzyzewski says their backgrounds do not make them smarter players, necessarily, but do give them other attributes he finds useful. (He was dressed in his Army "blues," a formal uniform he'd become eligible to wear only a few hours earlier, when he graduated as an officer.) Game day is not a day for long, drawn-out speeches. He will grimace, of course, and promise to plant it, right next to where the familys new puppy uses the bathroom. Alan D. Schwartz is the president of Bear Stearns, a Wall Street firm that generated more than $7 billion in revenue last year. But he says of Krzyzewski: "I'll be honest with you, I was kind of surprised at how smart I felt like he is. "Remember that this was before the time that TV cameras showed the families in the stands as a point of interest. And that was precisely the problem, Krzyzewski explained, in the same excruciating detail as if he were correcting a freshmans mechanics on a jump shot. Krzyzewski's teams turn a yearly profit for Duke. Some are rare, valued in the thousands, theoretically reserved for special occasions. A strong high school principal might be a big man whose booming voice resounds down corridors, or a small-boned woman who once taught English and barely speaks above a whisper. He loaded himself onto that golf cart, and slowly disappeared down a tunnel. "We heard him. Thanks for contacting us. But you always will feel great about being in the arena. "Let me introduce a great surgeon to you," he said, before adding, in jest, "He screwed up my ankle, so then he started doing knees." Ill do this, do that, and we can talk about the other team before the games. And he never got back to him, which was literally the worst thing he couldve done. The university, in an unusual move, put its basketball coach's name on an academic center, the Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership & Ethics, and made Krzyzewski an "executive in residence" with the expectation that he will be able to become a professor whenever he stops coaching. "I didn't think of basketball coaches as mental giants." And coaches do, of course, take lots of trips. And how do you address him? His oldest daughter, Debbie Savarino, now oversees his charitable and community projects. As a former participant at Dukes basketball camp who has known Jamie since they were teenagers, Chris has been in the Krzyzewski orbit for years. "I was a mathematician,$(2$) Douglas Breeden, dean of the Fuqua School of Business, says. Having gotten married a decade prior, Mickie was able to see her husbands entire career unfold, standing by his side for some incredibly important moments. Were tough-love kinds of guys; were guys in sports, so were not the most sentimental dudes to begin with, Chris says. Jamie and Chris walked outside to greet them. The coach who came calling was Bobby Knight, then the head man at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Shes worked at Duke since 2002, currently as an assistant athletics director for special events and director of the basketball programs Legacy Fund. It was an evergreen, unusual looking, kind of big. Meet Duke coach Mike Krzyzewskis wife Carol Mickie The M.B.A. students were (as at all top business schools) mostly in their mid-20's or older, and most had already been in the working world. All the games are over now for Coach K, his 42-year run at Duke closed down for good in the Superdome, which opened the same year (1975) that Krzyzewski started his career at Army. He still has an athlete's build, but he walks stiffly after a series of orthopedic surgeries: two hip replacements and an operation on his back. Duke, led by Redick's 41 points, ran Texas right off the court, 97-66. "He crumpled it up and said, 'When are we going to see the Mark Alarie who would do that again?' And let's deal with that honestly, in a way that does not demean some or inflate the egos of others, and design a system that allows everyone to use their talents well. Why is Coach K retiring? Duke legend cites family, COVID in This story was originally published November 7, 2021, 6:00 AM. He has been married to his wife for more than forty years. When he talked about his mother, who died in 1996, it didn't come off as shtick; it was clear he missed her. The night before the call, Frasher watched as the Blue Devils blew a double-digit lead against Illinois, pleading with the basketball gods to let Duke survive. A coach has just a few moments each season to galvanize a team and lift it to a higher plateau, and Krzyzewski knew that this afternoon was one of them. Thatll mean more gatherings and louder songs and gifts to give, but that raises one more question. Not our rival: A Maryland fans farewell to Coach K, We gave him absolute hell, Lindy says. Coach K, Ian OConnors new book, details the contentious relationship that ended with Krzyzewski saying he "was finally done with Coach Knight.. Late Saturday night, Coach K knew when it was time to say goodbye. Each year Krzyzewski hosts a wine auction in Napa Valley named after former North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano, and since 1999 the event has raised more than $130 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research. By next spring, Mike Krzyzewski will make the full transition out of coaching when Jon Scheyer takes over the Duke program. (Duke Athletics), En route to his first championship: Mike Krzyzewski finishes cutting the net inside the Detroit's Silverdome, which hosted that year's Midwest Regional. Not in a workplace, in a family or on a basketball team. NEW ORLEANS Mike Krzyzewski took his seat in the back of a golf cart next to his bride of 53 years, Mickie, the flight attendant he married the day he graduated from West Point. In 2004, on their 35th wedding anniversary, they showed how strong their relationship remains by renewing their vows at Duke Chapel. No more plays to call. (Duke Athletics), It's 1987, and this is former Duke star/current Harvard coach Tommy Amaker celebrating a win with Krzyzewski. But Krzyzewski has cleverly framed the setup so that the responsibility flows both ways, telling the freshmen that the season will rise and fall on their performance: "I've said, 'Look, we don't have time to wait for you. Here is a look at Mickie Krzyzewski, the wife of Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. I traveled to Colorado Springs last summer to listen in as Krzyzewski gave one of his corporate speeches. Born on February 13, 1947, in Chicago , Illinois , Mike Krzyzewski is a veteran basketball coach who is popularly referred to as Coach K. Coach K has served Krzyzewski's credo is teamwork -- no one person can do it alone -- and his family has been his team. Spending more time with his grandchildren. Coach Ks family reflects on the Duke legends role as 2021-22. What are we going to bring, something that we picked up at Harris Teeter?. She actually went as far as to give her husband an ultimatumif he wanted to come home on what would prove to be his final day of coaching that season, he needed to skip practice and go to the doctor. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. The last ride for The Goat. "Guys don't share insights.