There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to participate in one of Mike Krzyzewski's camps down in Durham. When I had the opportunity a few years back, I jumped on it. I love basketball and I wanted to learn from one of the greatest coaches ever. Today I want to share with you two of the things I’ve learned from the man they call Coach K.
Consistency over time equals credibility.
I always say that consistency over time equals credibility and I can’t think of another man more suited to break the 1000-win barrier in men’s college hoops than Coach K.
Think about it…1000 wins, 40 years in coaching, the national titles, the gold medals, the All-Americans…is there anyone that will refute that he may be the greatest coach of all time? His success on the highest level can be attributed to the manner in which he approaches every game, or every practice for that matter. Whether it's the preseason or the Final Four, it's all the same.
You can understand why his former players have a high level of success in the pros, on the sidelines as coaches and even in the broadcast booth. A lot of people think about the 1000 wins, but I think about another column- all the people that have been positively affected by his consistency.
Doing the right thing makes all the difference.
Seeing first-hand how things are done at Duke, it was easy for me to understand that everything is important, everyone is important and there is a tremendous amount of energy put into the process. Everything is calculated.
So, how did he get to that point? Learning from others. He set himself up well from the beginning by doing things like being an assistant for USA Basketball in the 80s and 90s. Did he have to stay busy all those summers after the college season? No, but now he’s busy winning gold medals.
