Coach K's Duke Basketball Camp

Coach K Biography | Coach K Quotes | Coach K Photo Gallery

	Shane Battier (2001 National Player of the Year now on the Memphis Grizzlies)... "It's very rare, especially in an athletic world that is so focused on winning games, to find a man who both inspires and demands adherence to higher principles. With Coach, it's not just about winning games, it's about performing with class and integrity. It's about having fun along the way. It's about knowing who you are. And it's about continually improving yourself... There wasn't a day in my career at Duke that I didn't look him in the eye and believe what he said to me... He's a mentor. He's a friend. He's a coach. He's a brother. I am the luckier person to have the relationship with him for the last four years."

	Johnny Dawkins (Stanford Head Coach and 1986 National Player of the Year)... "Coach K is grounded. He has changed? Yeah. But his values haven’t. He’s still a going-to-church-early-Sunday-morning type of guy. He’s still the same coach who coached me. He’s still a believer in where this program could be and what it could represent. He’s always had a vision. He still coaches like he has something to prove. The lesson our young coaches are learning by being part of it is that here’s a man who is just as passionate about something today as he was when he first started. You can only dream about being passionate about something 25 years later."

	Grant Hill (Three-time All-American playing for the Phoenix Suns)... "Coach K told me that I would be something special. It took a while for me to believe in myself, but he always believed in me and he was patient. With time, he helped me develop my skills as a player and he helped me gain the confidence I needed to make it in the NBA... But the most important thing of all about Coach K is that he taught me the principles and values that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Those principles and values transcend basketball. They can be a guide for success in whatever you do in life -- whether that is running a big business, ministering to a church, coaching a sports team, or simply trying to achieve your dreams... What Coach K and Duke have done for me and so many others is a blessing.”

	Christian Laettner (1992 National Player of the Year)... “You can go anywhere if you want to be a basketball player. If you want to learn what excellence is and be the best leader, basketball player and person you can be, then all the guys will tell you -- from Johnny Dawkins to Grant Hill to Shane Battier -- there is no one like Coach K... People need to be around him a whole season and see how much he cares about it, puts his heart and soul into it. And I think that rubs off on you, so you try to play hard for him and try to play great for him."

	J.J. Redick (Two-time National Player of the Year playing for the Orlando Magic)... “Just walking around Duke, you can tell it's a special place. My time with the players has been great, and the coaching staff, I just love every one of them. It's a real family... Coach K is not like other human beings. He doesn't have off-days. I've never been around Coach when he hasn't been great, whether he's coaching or just talking to you."

	Jason Williams (Two-time National Player of the Year)... "It’s a dream to play for a guy like that -- a guy who’s just a rock, who believes in you every second you’re on the court. I love Coach K. I’d run through a brick wall for him... I think so many kids when they choose a college, they look and say, ‘Well, I'm not going to start,' or ‘Oh man, I'm not going to get a lot of minutes.' I don't think a lot of kids look at a college and say, ' When I leave here, I'm going to be the man I want to become.' I can say that.”

	Elton Brand (1999 National Player of the Year playing for the Philadelphia 76ers)... "Coach K is a great coach, a great teacher and a great person... I trust him. I trust him like no other. He knows the game... He has helped me unbelievably. I haven't doubted him one time. He's always 100 percent right in what he says. He's been a mentor to me. He tells me what's going to happen before it ever happens. He's been the best, and I don't think I would have gotten that anywhere besides Duke... Duke was the greatest experience of my life. I had a great time... Coach K pushed me to help make me the player I am. He never took it easy on me, and I know how hard he works. He always wants to do his best in whatever he does."

	Jay Bilas (ESPN Analyst, Lawyer and Former Duke Player and Assistant Coach)... "I learned more about myself, about life, and about what it takes to be successful than any other five-year period in my life... When Coach K is in a huddle and he says, 'We're going to win it, and this is how we're going to do it,' when we're down a point with two seconds to go, you believe it."

	Jeff Capel (Oklahoma Head Coach and Former Duke Player)... "I talk to Coach K often. That's a relationship that I value. I love the guy. There's not a decision that I make of any importance that I don't call him and talk to him. I believed in the guy since I was 17 years old. We're going on 15 years of that relationship. I lean on him for everything. Why wouldn't you, with the experience he's had, the success? He's one of the most brilliant men I've ever known."

	Chris Carrawell (2000 ACC Player of the Year )... “No matter who's in uniform and who leaves, as long as we've got Coach K, we're going to be on top… If Coach K says it, I believe it.”

	Chris Collins (Duke Assistant Coach)... “I pinch myself all the time and talk to my wife about how lucky I am to be a part of this. It's not going to be truly appreciated until Coach is out of the business and done coaching. But trust me, the staff and the people in the program know how special it is. What he's done has truly been amazing, and he's not close to being done. His fire and his passion, if you watch him coach today, he's coaching like he did when was in his 20's. It's a great lesson for all coaches.”

	Chris Duhon (2004 All-American)... “Coach K is not only a wonderful coach, a wonderful family man, but to me he is just like the father I never had, and I don't know how I can ever thank him for that.”

	Billy King (TV Analyst and Former Duke Player)... “The best four years of my life were spent at Duke. When we went to the Final Four for the first time in '86, I didn't know if anybody could do better than we did. But what Coach K has done -- with different players, different generations -- is amazing. Being at Duke made me what I am today. Everybody that's played here, it's a special place for all of us. Once you're part of the Duke family, you're always part of the Duke family.”

	Steve Wojciechowski (Duke Associate Head Coach)... "He's coaching like he's defending the most precious thing in the world to him... It's contagious. How can you not play hard or be passionate when a Hall of Fame coach, a coach in his mid-fifties with a family, three daughters, and grandchildren, is on the floor pounding it? You have to be lifeless to not to want it that way... For a Hall of Famer to still be that way, to maintain his desire to pursue excellence, is very special.”

	Chuck Daly (Former Duke Assistant Coach and Hall of Fame NBA Coach)... “Mike Krzyzewski as a coach and a person is probably about the premier coach in the country. Not only what he does as a coach on the floor but what he stands for outside the basketball arena. He's a nice person, a brilliant guy, a great speaker, a great coach, a real model for anybody who wants to go into coaching."

	Bobby Knight (Hall of Fame coaching legend and Coach K's Coach at Army)... "The best coach in the country is Mike Krzyzewski. He runs the best program, gets the best players, and does the best possible job with his players... I think Mike has had as long a continuation of really good teams as anybody that has ever coached."

	Jim Calhoun (University of Connecticut Head Coach)... “Mike is the coach of this generation. He has the ideal program... He has the highest profile of all of us coaches... You could make a case that he will be the greatest college coach of all. He has a chance at Duke to get to a point where you might be able to argue he was the greatest at what he did, like a Ted Williams or a Joe DiMaggio.”

	Roy Williams (University of North Carolina Head Coach)... "I personally think what he's done is just as difficult as any run that anybody has ever had at any place, including Coach Wooden at UCLA... Mike has not only taken them to the Final Four, not only won national championships, he's done it the right way... I respect the heck out of everything he's done and admire everything he's done."

	Tom Izzo (Michigan State Head Coach)... "When you look at domination in the modern-day era, with the parity being so good, it makes what Mike has done so much better. He's definitely the benchmark. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it... It's like I've said a hundred times, it's because he's done it over time and he's done it the right way… I mean, Duke is Duke.”

	Rick Pitino (University of Louisville Head Coach)... “Mike is a modern-day John Wooden because what he's accomplished in the game is what John Wooden was accomplishing.”

	Gary Williams (Maryland Head Coach, about Coach K)... “I don't think there's much argument -- he's probably been the best college coach. So I've always felt anytime you go against the best, it brings out the best in your game. I certainly respect him."

	Herb Sendek (Arizona State Head Coach)... “I think if I had to pinpoint one thing -- and really that's an oversimplification because there are so many things -- it would be leadership. It's a subject (Coach K) writes about, speaks about and takes a special interest in. He's a leader first, and a lot of other things emanate from that.”

	George Bush (Former U.S. President)... "Coach Krzyzewski has values, an innate sense of decency and a commitment to friends and family I admire. Even if he didn't go to West Point, his character alone would make me a big fan of his. He and everyone in his program play to win in life, and that's the way it should be."

	Dick Vitale (ESPN College Basketball Analyst)... "For the Cameron Crazies, everything is beautiful... It seems the in place to be, if you're a high school star, is Durham, NC, wearing those four letters across your chest: D-U-K-E. The Blue Devils have become college basketball's equivalent to the New York Yankees.”

	*Jim Nantz* (CBS Sports Commentator)... "The smartest person I've ever met in athletics would have to be Mike Krzyzewski. He's a brilliant man who espouses so many wonderful qualities. You can't help but learn things that extend far beyond the parameters of basketball when you have the chance to be in the company of Mike Krzyzewski."

	Billy Packer (College Basketball TV Analyst)... “Today the term of ‘coach' of college basketball has to be defined as a person who's almost corporate America in the fact that he has to be a fundraiser, he has to be an educator, he has to be a public spokesman, he has to be a motivator, he has to be a man of social conscience. And then he has to be a guy that can teach basketball and a guy that can recruit, the guy that can coach a game. And the guy who can prove that he can do that over a period of multiple teams… When you define all of these things, and then ask the question, if that's your definition of ‘coach', then Mike Krzyzewski is the man of this era. Nobody does all of those things, and has proven he can do it over a span of two entirely different group of players, as well as Mike has.”

	*ESPN's Andy Katz* (ESPN College Basketball Analyst)... “Krzyzewski has built one of the most impressive programs in NCAA history. Duke's home games are events, and Cameron is arguably the toughest home court in the country. The Blue Devils have their pick of high school All-Americans every year. They produce National Player of the Year candidates. When Duke plays on the road, the Blue Devils are the biggest draw on every other schedule. No other school can sell out Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands or places out West other than Duke, regardless of the opponent. The Blue Devils are a happening every season, and it all started with Krzyzewski.”.

	Clark Kellogg (CBS College Basketball Analyst)... “There is simply no greater representative, role model or voice for college basketball than Coach K. His Hall of Fame induction says plenty about his accomplishments, but the way he cares, coaches, leads, mentors and teaches is what makes him so right for college basketball. "

	Dick Brodhead (Duke University President)... “Coach K means more to this place than the record of his victories, impressive though that is. He's a real teacher. He teachers character as well as basketball."

	*The Sporting News*... "On the court and off, Krzyzewski is a family man first, a teacher second, a basketball coach third, and a winner at all three. He is what’s right about sports.”

	*Time* (Time/CNN named Coach K America's Best Coach in any sport at any level in 2001)... “No college hoops coach has won more in the past two decades and Krzyzewski has accomplished all this with a program that turns out real-deal scholar athletes -- kids who go to class, graduate and don’t mind telling everyone about it.”

	*CNN* (Time/CNN named Coach K America's Best Coach in any sport at any level in 2001)... “Krzyzewski, known as 'Coach K,' has won a lot of games at Duke. In the last two decades, he has turned the Duke University men's basketball program in Durham, North Carolina, into the envy of the collegiate world.”

	*USA Today*... “You can mix unlimited academic expectations with unlimited winning. That’s what Coach K has proven at Duke. But maybe what says it best is this: Isn’t Duke where you would want your son to play?”

	*ESPN.com*... "There's no escaping the Duke Blue Devils. Like the New York Yankees, Manchester United or Tiger Woods, the Blue Devils define an entire sport, no matter who holds the championship trophy in a given year… The winning, the slapping the court, the graduating... it's what college basketball should be in this day and age of big money and loose morals."

	*Mike Lopresti* (USA Today Sports Columnist)... “Duke is the Yankees. Duke is the Soviet hockey team, pre-Miracle on Ice. Duke is the Roman army. The British navy. The Ming Dynasty. Duke is a meteor that always comes back, and the cloud that never stops raining... Duke is Jell-O and Coca-Cola and McDonald's. Duke is a given. Duke will be in the Final Four. Which is almost like saying a basketball will be in the Final Four.”