Coach and Mrs. K have frequently been asked about the “pressures” that accompany Coach’s current role as the head coach of both the Duke Basketball team and the first-ever, three-year head coach for USA Basketball. Indeed, he is primarily responsible for a top-25 college basketball team whose standards of success deem losing in the Sweet Sixteen somewhat of a disappointment and merely making the NCAA tournament a veritable travesty. Additionally, he heads up a star-studded USA Basketball team given the difficult task of redemption – to bring basketball supremacy back to the United States and to include winning an Olympic gold medal this coming summer in Beijing.
It certainly sounds like pressure. But neither Coach K nor his wife would call it that.
If you were to ask Coach K what word he would use instead, he would say that this is an unprecedented opportunity. While winning both a National Championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year seems nearly impossible, Coach K feels lucky, thankful, blessed to be in the position where that could even be. He marvels at this tremendous opportunity and, to him, it doesn’t feel like pressure. It feels like a chance that he can’t believe he has. He wonders why he is the one who has it. It humbles him. It makes him reverent.
Coach also emphasizes the fact that one of these roles does not serve as a distraction from the other. He insists that right now his focus is entirely on Duke Basketball and all evidence seems to suggest that this is true. Even after arriving back home at about 3:00 am after the Duke trip to New York and a tough loss to Pitt, Coaches K and Collins were on a plane to Florida later that morning to see some of Duke’s high school prospects at work. He spent the holiday reviewing tape of every Duke game thus far this season and conversations around the Christmas dinner table inevitably shifted to talk of the Duke team.
While he is one hundred percent focused on Duke Basketball right now, it still brings a smile to his face when he hears from members of the USA team – a note with photos of Kobe and his family, a call from Chauncey, a Merry Christmas text from Amare. And, of course, the USA coaching staff is still in touch. It is neat to see the way they learn from one another, their mutual respect, and their genuine desire to see the other succeed. So, while both the members of the team and coaching staff are in communication, they are all focused on their respective missions for the current college and NBA seasons.
Mrs. K sees the situation a little bit differently, but she still wouldn’t call it pressure. She says that the level of what many would call “pressure” is no different now that at any other time in her husband’s career. His standards for himself are perpetually high. These standards are no different from those he has for himself in any job he is doing. Were they headed to Napa Valley this summer, Coach K would expect to raise the most money ever for the Jimmy V Foundation. Were he to spend August doing speaking engagements, he would work hard on his presentation to ensure stellar feedback and inspirational results. Were he working on another book, he would want it to be the best he’d ever done. The standards are no different, so there is no new level of pressure.
She, too, recognizes it as an opportunity, but would also classify the situation as a time management challenge. The biggest adjustment is the amount of time that must be devoted to USA Basketball in order for it to be done the right way. It is not a matter of a new stress level, but rather more to do with no additional time. When such a major commitment is added to an already busy life, some things have to change in order to make room for that new thing. Something’s gotta give.
At a family dinner table at Durham’s University Club in the fall of 2005, the Krzyzewski family had a serious discussion about exactly what that something would be. Separately, each member of the family stated that they were not willing to give up the time devoted to the annual Krzyzewski family vacation. While Coach K had recognized the true honor in being offered the chance to be the national head coach and to participate in the Olympic Games, his family, and his wife in particular, reminded him of what an honor it is to be a member of an incredibly loving family.
So, the family embarked on this journey together, recognizing that there would be some sacrifice and knowing that the most difficult part would be to figure out how to fit it all in. And, each summer, thanks to some crafty scheduling and cooperation, there has been a Krzyzewski Family vacation. This year, for Christmas, Coach and Mrs. K surprised their three daughters, three sons-in-law, and five grandchildren with the knowledge that all of them would be headed to China for the Olympics in August.
Coach and Mrs. K are looking forward to both the opportunity to win an Olympic gold and to the time spent doing something amazing as a family.
But, first and foremost, they are looking forward to Cornell on January 6.
