And so Mike Krzyzewski’s extraordinary 47-year coaching career came to a bittersweet end after 1,570 games — 1,202 of them victories. The sweet part for Krzyzewski was steering a team that once appeared overwhelmed by the pressures of his goodbye season to a record-breaking 13th Final Four. The bitter part: losing his final game —Only two great college basketball coaches have retired after winning national championships: UCLA’s John Wooden in 1975 and Marquette’s Al McGuire in 1977.
He had come a long way from literally having to spell out and pronounce his name at his introductory news conference. The school newspaper’s headline was direct:I have written before about meeting him when I was in college and he was the coach at Army. And I have written about what is now known as the “Denny’s Game,”Advertisement
Tom Mickle, Duke’s sports information director at the time, raised a glass of water and said, “Here’s to forgetting tonight.” To which Krzyzewski responded by raising his glass and saying, “Here’s to never f---ing forgetting tonight.”in Indianapolis, I walked onto the court and put out my hand to congratulate him. He pulled me closer so he could whisper in my ear: “We’ve come a long way from the f---ing Denny’s,” he said.Yes, they had. And yes — gasp! — he does curse. Detractors, and they are legion, act as if he is the first and only coach to utter a profanity.
He might have retired at the end of last season, but he didn’t want to go out in the wake of a pandemic-damaged campaign, playing games in empty arenas and with a lousy 13-11 team. He wanted one last hurrah with a good team. He was turning 75 in February and thought this was the moment.
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