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Special K Duke coach turns author with a new book
Posted: Tuesday May 02, 2000 03:23 PM
He's a championship coach, a noted corporate speaker, and now he's an author. Mike Krzyzewski has a new book called "Leading with the Heart - Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life." CNNSI.com's Jim Huber visited with the five-time national coach of the year. Jim Huber: Coach, the new book is out and I'm guessing you didn't put all of your coaching secrets inside. But I'm also guessing that one of the great clues might be here [on the cover] in big bold letters, "Leading with the Heart." It's the title of the book, but it's also a great part of your philosophy isn't it? Mike Krzyzewski: Well, it is. Basically, that's our main secret. It's that it's not about an offense. It's not about a defense. It's about the people working on offense and defense. And can you [as a coach] get them together to be as one. Can they take ownership of the team along with you and play like they are not afraid of failing? Huber: And you never put that into play any better than last season, right? Krzyzewski: This season for me was such a happy one because a year ago, we lost so many kids to the NBA. And one of our youngsters transferred and it looked like we might not have a team. And then all of a sudden we not only have a team, but we end up finishing the regular season No. 1 in the country. That came about because of guys believing in each other, talking, trusting one another. That's one of the things I try to get across in my book. Huber: You had pretty good balance, too, in the long run. You had some good seniors, great leadership there, who took care of the younger kids. Krzyzewski: You hit on maybe the most important point about leadership. Leadership is not just me leading the team. It's allowing other people to lead the team like Shane Battier, Chris Carawell and Nate James. They were leaders, 21, 22 years old and, all of a sudden, you have a bunch of 18-year-olds coming on the team. They created a culture, an environment that did not have jealousy in it, or selfishness. So it did not matter if Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mike Dunleavy, our freshmen, had big games. They would look at Shane Battier and Chris Collins and say, "Oh, those guys are happy for me." That's something I can't do as the leader but other people on my team who help me lead can get that point across. Huber: There is a continual reference in your book to Bobby Knight. He was such a part of your career both in college [U.S. Military Academy] and at Duke. How do you view what has come about the last few months? Krzyzewski: Well, I think it's really unfortunate and I think it can happen to most people in public life where all of a sudden you just taking a certain view or the clips of that person or the pictures of that person are always where you are yelling or complaining about something. We all do that. There isn't a coach alive who hasn't yelled at an official or yelled at one of his players. I knew coach Knight when he coached me at West Point. He was a tough, fair coach with me and I learned a lot. Then I worked for him for a year at Indiana University. I wish that people were able to see some of the other aspects of who Bob Knight is. Certainly, in the most current situation that's happening now, I think until you hear from coach Knight, no one should make a final decision on everything. In other words, let's hear the whole story because we can take little things out and make it look like a whole story and that's not really what it is. Huber : But the video of him supposedly choking Neil Reed is pretty definitive. Krzyzewski: I've been in situations with my players where it looks like something they've done is definitive. I want to know why. How did that happen? What were the circumstances around it? Whether or not that's good or bad, everyone has a view of that. Let's figure out why that happened. In other words, give people an opportunity to tell both sides of the story. Huber: Have you talked to him? Krzyzewski: No, I haven't talked to coach Knight for a while. Huber: Would you be interested in finding out the background on all of this? Krzyzewski: Well, if I was in a position to make judgment on this, which I'm not, I can make an opinion on it, but a judgment on it, I would want to know everything about that. Including all the stuff he has done for Indiana University. You know, it's not like he's had a history of just doing horrible things. Coach Knight has had a history of doing some great things. Has he been controversial? Absolutely. But he's also been a darn good coach and a great representative. Huber: Well, obviously, you have other things on your mind right now like promoting this book. This book tour is like a recruiting trip isn't it? It just never ends? Krzyzewski: No, it's tougher. It's tougher. The one good thing is that I don't have to get a recruit. And no one is going to say "yes" or "no" at the end. I believe in the book. The book really helped me. I did it last spring and early summer after having my hip replaced and all these things that happened to my program. And basically in doing the book with Don Phillips, who has written books on leadership, I came back to the reasons why I coach and the beauty of developing relationships. It helped me have my happiest year in coaching. Huber: Best of luck with it. Thanks for joining us. Krzyzewski: Thank you. I appreciate it.
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