Mike Krzyzewski Interview (page: 4 / 6) Collegiate Basketball Champion	Print Interview

You're revered in this field as someone who develops a relationship with the kids. How important is that to you?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Mike Krzyzewski: The relationship that I have with my players is the most important aspect of my job. I'm selfish about this. I want to make sure I've had a positive impact on that young man's life. But I also want him to know that he has an impact on my life. Relationships are not one-way. I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. I don't make a player, and a player doesn't make me a coach. We make each other. I think, if you're honest with a player like that, they appreciate that.

When they go on that court, even though I'm coaching them, they're alone out there. They're in their underwear. I mean, they wear short and they're exposed. They have to know that they can do it. Am I there for them? Yes, but they have to know that they do it. I tell them that. "I'm impressed with how you can do that."

If people don't know sport that well, they might imagine that when I come into a locker room before a game, I'm going to say "We're going to win one for so-and-so," or "We're going to do it for Duke." That's not always the case.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Sometimes I go into that locker room, and I'm afraid. All of a sudden, I look at Bobby Hurley, or I look at Steve Wojciechowski, or Grant Hill, or kids that have played for me. I see in their eyes anticipation. I see ambition, I see a glaze, and all of a sudden I say, "Holy mackerel, I've got a chance to coach these guys tonight." And it helps me get over my fear, and hopefully I'm doing the same for them. That's when you connect as a group, when that's going back and forth.

[ Key to Success ] Courage

You've implied that parents sometimes get in your way.

Mike Krzyzewski: Parents can really help, but they can also really hinder the development of their youngsters. When I was growing up, the teacher was always right in my parents' eyes. If I came home from school and said, "Ma, can you believe? Father Roag did this..." And she'd say, "Father Roag must have had a reason." It wasn't, "Poor Mike. I'm going to go and talk to Father Roag. I'm going to get on him." I'm old-school in that way.

I don't have the time, necessarily to explain everything. If you have to explain everything to everyone, that means you've never developed trust. I would like the parents, if they choose me to coach their son to say, "Coach, I trust you with Grant's development, and I'll do everything I can." That doesn't mean we never talk to them, but I'm going to do some things that put them in tough situations. They're not going to develop fully just by me patting them on the back, or saying, "You're a good boy."

Get the Flash Player to see this video. We're not only trying to build good habits. Sometimes we're trying to destroy bad habits. A bad habit being the fear of failure. How do you destroy that? Is there a book on that? Is there a pill that you take? It's different in every individual. In some cases, you have to exorcise that. It takes passion, it takes a lot. If somebody's just looking from outside, they'll say, "Well, you shouldn't do that." I'll say, "No, you don't understand what I'm doing." And I wouldn't try to do it unless I already connected with this kid and we had a relationship.

I need to have that bond between me and that kid. Maybe that's intimidating at times, to the parent. I don't want to be the kid's father, or mother, or take the place of the parent. On the contrary, I want to be that kid's mentor, teacher, coach, whatever name you want to give me.

So you see the role of teacher as one of pushing them higher?

Mike Krzyzewski: I'm extending their limits. As I said before, I don't know how many floors are in their building, but if they're on floor seven I'm with them to 27 or 37. You don't climb those floors by just saying, "You can do it," or even just working hard. You have to attack some things. In doing that, you have to be ethical, you have to be fair. No physical abuse, I'm not saying anything like that. I would never hit a kid. But I'm going to knock the heck out of fears, the fear of looking stupid.

There are kids don't want to do something because they're afraid of looking stupid to their peers. There comes a time when they start protecting themselves, instead of extending. I want to make sure that they're always trying to extend themselves.

How would you describe the contribution that you've made, the most important thing that you think you've done?

Mike Krzyzewski: First of all, I don't think there's only one good coach. There are a lot of good coaches. When you win, it validates what you do. If you win a National Championship, or you win two, people think you have not only seen the Holy Grail, but you've embraced it. Basically, I do what a lot of people do, but I've been able to win.

What I've tried to do is tell people about the simple things of relationships and trust, and to use the coach as a teacher, so we don't become big-headed. I've tried to handle winning well, so that maybe we'll win again, but I've also tried to handle failure well. If those serve as good examples for teachers and kids, then I hope that would be a contribution I have made to sport. Not just basketball, but to sport.

Steve Lavin at UCLA says that meeting you was like meeting Elvis, in a good sense, that he admire you as a coach and as someone who really connects with the kids.

Mike Krzyzewski: Well, I can see myself in Steve Lavin. I'm older now, but I hope I'm still enthusiastic. I think that in sharing ideas with young, enthusiastic people, by associating myself with the Steve Lavins of the world who are trying to learn, it keeps you a little bit more grounded. Also, it gives you a chance to tap into their energy, their enthusiasm. You connect with kids, and look in their eyes and say, "Wow, they don't know what they have, but I'm excited about working with them." That's what I do in my job. The kids I recruit give me a lot.

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