Judy: Finally tonight, one of
college basketball's most
successful coaches on his almost
50-year career.
I sat down with recently retired
duke coach Mike krzyzewski,
known to many fans as coach K.
A college basketball legend has
hung up his whistle.
Duke men's coach Mike krzyzewski
retired this season as the
winningest coach of all time
after a 47-year career.
>> When you are going, you take
a quick look at him and if you
don't get it, get back up there.
>> He came from humble roots,
raised in Chicago in a Polish
American catholic family.
His mother Emily encouraged him
to attend west point where he
was a standout basketball player
under head coach Bobby knight.
He served in the army before
coaching his Alma mater.
From there, krzyweski went to
duke where for 32 years, he was
a force in the college game.
He set the NCAA record for all
wins.
He also led the U.S. National
basketball team, winning three
olympic gold medals, and at his
side, his wife Mickey, their
three daughters, and 10
grandchildren.
I met Mike krzyzewski in his
office at duke for an exclusive
conversation about his life and
legacy.
Mike krzyzewski, I try to be a
fair reporter always, but I have
to say being here at duke, my
Alma mater, with the chance to
talk to you, it is a real treat.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
Judy: This is a big change for
you after coaching for almost
five decades.
>> It has sunk in but in a good
way.
Since I was 16, I wanted to be a
coach.
I love it.
Sometimes to do something you
love, you have to do things you
don't like to get it done, and I
think I would still like to
coach, but I was not willing to
put all the time and effort of
all the recruiting and rapidity
of it got too much.
I think 47 years is pretty good.
Judy: Coach K's office is a
museum of mementos.
From the army --
>> I did serve.
I was never in combat.
I was an artillery officer.
Judy: There are keepsakes from
those five national
championships and the U.S.
National team wins.
>> People say, what's the
greatest moment.
It is that.
Judy: More than any duke when?
>> That's not to minimize, but
this is the world.
Judy: Photos from fans.
>> I have three groups of nuns
around the United States that I
write to.
They pray for you.
They say rosaries.
Judy: And family photos.
>> My brother who passed was a
captain in the Chicago fire
department, and my mom probably
had the most influence of anyone
in my life.
Judy: And of course, his wife.
Married 52 years.
She has been in on all major
decisions you have a in your
life.
>> A lot of people say it is the
coach, but it is the family that
makes the decisions.
I was blessed to have her and my
three daughters, and I learned
sometimes the hard way the
wisdom of a woman and the way
she looks at things and my
daughters do, that has helped me
immensely grow, and change along
the years.
Judy: I have heard it said that
among your many qualities, Mike
krzyzewski can be stubborn.
>> Kyiv, I'm stubborn, but I'm
also very flexible when I hear a
better solution.
It does not have to be my idea.
In fact, in the mid-1990's, I
changed my leadership style a
lot because I have been kind of
a micromanager.
Maybe I was too stubborn then up
until the mid-1990's, but after
then, I had some health issues,
physical and mental health
issues in the mid-1990's, and I
got through that, and it helped
me immensely.
Judy: And you have been open
about that.
>> Yeah.
>> You have talked openly about
that because you think it helps
others who may be going through
similar challenges.
>> It is human.
So many people who have problems
physical and mental.
In the old days, people would
say you are crazy.
I'm not crazy.
I'm crazy if I don't help.
I had no feeling during that
time.
Maybe the greatest man I have
ever known who was president at
the time helped me.
He worked with me for three or
four months, and thank goodness
I was around good people again.
Judy: She Sheskey spent more
than four decades here at
Cameron indoor stadium.
The court is even named after
him.
We walked out on the floor he
spent so much time on.
What does this place mean to
you?
>> Once we started going, every
home game when I walked out
here, I knew our crowd would be
ready.
It was a rush.
Judy: Should Sheskey thinks the
pressure got to his team in his
last home game here -- krzyweski
thinks the pressure got to his
team in his last home game here.
>> They were terrific.
One of my closest teams.
I thought everything got really
big for them.
Judy: Coach K is stepping off
the court at a time of flux for
college athletics.
What do you think the state of
college basketball is right now?
>> It is in chaos, really.
College sports.
Because of the NCAA not evolving
and not adapting over the years
to where now the old way of
doing it and being structured,
it has not worked.
It is a business, and things
like the in il -- nil have
opened that up, and the NCAA is
not equipped to handle it.
It has to restructure to figure
out how you put like people,
like institutions in certain
places to govern themselves and
maybe come under one total
umbrella concerning certain
roles.
Judy: Nil -- names, images, and
licenses.
It has begun to change.
>> The horse has left the barn
or whatever those sayings are,
it has left for the world.
Judy: You have the argument that
it allows teams that are doing
well to reap some rewards, but
then you have the other argument
that it is turning college
athletics into a profession.
>> That is because it has not
been something that evolved.
In the early 1990's, our players
could go out and speak and make
money at camps or whatever.
Really, it was name, image, and
likeness, and the NCAA put the
kebab -- the kibosh on it, and
that was it.
Imagine if in 1993 they did not
do that and the iterations
occurred and they were adapting.
Today, you would learn how to
control that and govern that.
When it all hits you like a
tsunami, it is not going to
work.
Judy: In addition to that, you
halve the hole -- you have the
whole transfer portal issue, the
idea that transfer -- that
players can transfer to another
>> Without sitting out.
Judy: And immediately play for
another school.
What does that mean?
>> It is chaotic.
Basically we don't have any
leadership right now and we have
not a long time.
The lack of leadership and
adapting over the decades has
caught up to us.
It knocked on the door and said,
you know what?
You all are really behind.
It is time to build a new house.
Judy: Can you be part of
figuring that out?
>> Are more than happy to talk
to someone, but that's not what
I'm going to spend the rest of
my life doing.
I would like to know who is
leading before I do anything.
It has been very frustrating for
me and for a number of coaches
over the years to give up so
much time in ad hoc meetings or
whatever to try to influence
change because it went nowhere.
So I don't want to be involved
anymore in anything where it is
not going someplace.
I want my bus to go someplace.
Judy: Players now if they are
starved as freshmen can earn a
lot of money.
Are you comfortable with that?
>> It is the way it is.
It is not going to change.
We have to make that work well.
Judy: Some people say what is
going on in college basketball
is there's just too much money.
>> Do you realize how much we
raise for the school?
Besides making money, every
capital campaign, when it is a
$3 billion, $2 billion campaign,
sports is a big part of the
marketing structure to make that
happen, so, yeah, we make money,
but we make money for everybody.
Judy: One other big area I want
to raise is international
sports.
You coached the olympic team.
Teams of countries that played
against other countries.
Does it matter if you are
playing against a team, like
Russia right now with what is
going on in Ukraine?
>> When there has been a world
War, there are no olympics.
Personally, I would not do
anything with them, but that's
in the next room where it
happens, not my room.
Judy: She Sheskey -- krzyweski
has never shied away from
voicing his opinions.
In 2020 when the murder of
George Floyd rocked the nation,
he released a video statement
after a series of conversations
with his current and former
players.
>> Black lives matter.
We should be saying it every
day.
It is not political.
This is not a political
statement.
It is a human rights statement.
Judy: Do you think college
sports have done as much as much
as it could have two address
systemic racism?
We all agree there is systemic
racism.
>> I think it has done a really
good job, especially in
providing opportunities -- you
know, sport has given people --
youngsters who did not have the
economic ability to go to a
college to go to college in so
many sports, and title IX for
women has been helping in that
regard.
Judy: How do you think we're
doing in the rest of the country
?
>> We are not doing enough.
Why does one part of congress
sit on this side and the others
sit on that side?
My thing is two is better than
one if two can act as one.
It would be a hell of a lot
better country if two can act as
one, and that is not the case
and both are at fault.
Judy: One of the issues is if
the 2020 election was fairly
decided are not.
>> That's crazy.
To me, that's nuts.
Everyone in our country should
have the ability to vote in the
easiest possible manner.
Judy: And yet, there are active
efforts right now to make it
harder.
>> Crazy.
I think that's nuts.
Judy: Every corner of
krzyweski's office is a living
monument to a man who achieved
success through dedication and
structure.
>> That's the price you have to
pay.
Every night before practice, I
would write out a practice plan.
I probably have written 5000
practice plans.
Judy: Now for the first time in
nearly half a century, his
entire routine will change.
As you sit back or sit forward
at this stage of your life in
your career, what do you take
with you right now?
>> For my whole career, I was a
car that never had a rearview
mirror.
Once I did something, it was
done.
No regrets, gave it my best.
Is that going to bother you?
You know what?
It doesn't make any difference.
Now I have reflected some, but
not so much about games.
For me, it has been very
emotional but very gratifying in
not remembering that we won a
national championship or lost
our last game or whatever, but
what matters is people.
We have had a tremendous impact
on people during the almost five
decades we have coached.
Judy: Still no regrets?
>> I have no regrets.
For youngsters, there are two
things I ride along.
Always try your best.
To me, you are a winner if you
always try your best.
The others follow your heart and
the pursuit of your dreams.
I have done both, and I have
been a lucky guy.
Judy: Mike krzyzewski, a lucky
guy, thank you very much.