Things I Didn't Know About Coach K

[75Crazie]

I didn't know where to post this ... please feel free to move or remove as appropriate, it describes things I did not know that might be common knowledge. Coach K was interviewed on the Dan Patrick show today. Among other things, he said that his father at one time changed his name to something like "Stan Cross", to attempt to avoid persecution and bias due to his ethnic background. Also, he refused to allow his sons to learn Polish, so that they would not have an accent when speaking English. When DP asked Coach K if he ever considered changing his name, he responded something like "heck no!".

One other thing he mentioned is that it was not actually his decision to go to West Point, it was his father's desire that he do so and that he bowed to his father's wish. He ended that story by saying "It was the best decision I never made".

[UrinalCake]

If this is the thread to share fun facts about Coach K, here’s mine: I read that he hand writes a birthday card/note to every one of his former players every year.

[uh_no]

When Coach K cuts onions, the onion cries!

oh wait....i'm getting my threads confused :)

[swood1000]

One other thing he mentioned is that it was not actually his decision to go to West Point, it was his father's desire that he do so and that he bowed to his father's wish. He ended that story by saying "It was the best decision I never made".

Apparently one thing that helped change his mind about West Point was that after telling his parents that he was turning down a free ride at a first rate college he heard his parents in the other room talking about "poor Mike," who was making such a hideous blunder.

[dyemeduke]

Apparently one thing that helped change his mind about West Point was that after telling his parents that he was turning down a free ride at a first rate college he heard his parents in the other room talking about "poor Mike," who was making such a hideous blunder.

From what I recall from an old interview, it wasn't so much "poor Mike" as it was "stupid Mike." His parents were not happy with K's desire, and they let him know it by speaking Polish to one another and saying "stupid" and other terms of endearment in English around his name.

[swood1000]

From what I recall from an old interview, it wasn't so much "poor Mike" as it was "stupid Mike." His parents were not happy with K's desire, and they let him know it by speaking Polish to one another and saying "stupid" and other terms of endearment in English around his name.

I think you’re right.


"When you have one parent who never went to high school," he said, "and another who never finished high school, they looked at West Point as an opportunity for their son to do something that only the rich and privileged got to do. I could have let me down, but I couldn't let them down." http://www.esquire.com/sports/a1477/esq0306coachk-226/

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I didn't know where to post this ... please feel free to move or remove as appropriate, it describes things I did not know that might be common knowledge. Coach K was interviewed on the Dan Patrick show today. Among other things, he said that his father at one time changed his name to something like "Stan Cross", to attempt to avoid persecution and bias due to his ethnic background. Also, he refused to allow his sons to learn Polish, so that they would not have an accent when speaking English. When DP asked Coach K if he ever considered changing his name, he responded something like "heck no!".

One other thing he mentioned is that it was not actually his decision to go to West Point, it was his father's desire that he do so and that he bowed to his father's wish. He ended that story by saying "It was the best decision I never made".

Dan Patrick isn't my favorite radio guy, but he is pretty dang good on interviews, and he and K have great banter.

[duketaylor]

What did K do directly after leaving West Point? I don't recall him spending 4 or 6 years in the Army, like Roger Staubach did with Navy.

[BD80]

What did K do directly after leaving West Point? I don't recall him spending 4 or 6 years in the Army, like Roger Staubach did with Navy.

I do believe he did a tour overseas - coaching basketball - teams of servicemen.

[YmoBeThere]

He would have had a 5 year service obligation and would have had to go to Officer Basic Course(I think they've changed the name for this since I was in) and become branch qualified. He would have then gotten an initial duty assignment, if I recall correctly, he branched Artillery and was stationed in South Korea. I think after that initial assignment is then when he started coaching basketball while in the military.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

He would have had a 5 year service obligation and would have had to go to Officer Basic Course(I think they've changed the name for this since I was in) and become branch qualified. He would have then gotten an initial duty assignment, if I recall correctly, he branched Artillery and was stationed in South Korea. I think after that initial assignment is then when he started coaching basketball while in the military.

I was not alive then, but I would have to think that he was extremely fortunate to graduate from West Point in 1969 and not have to go anywhere near Vietnam.

[johnb]

I was not alive then, but I would have to think that he was extremely fortunate to graduate from West Point in 1969 and not have to go anywhere near Vietnam.

I’d guess he requested coaching over on-the-ground infantry leadership.

[DoubleBlue]

https://www.stripes.com/sports/coach-k-recalls-his-army-years-during-visit-to-camp-casey-1.53281


CAMP CASEY, South Korea — Before he became the famous “Coach K,” Duke University and Team USA basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski was one of many soldiers stationed within eight miles of the Demilitarized Zone.

Former Army Capt. Krzyzewski was a field artillery liaison to the infantry in the early 1970s at Camp Pelham, later named Camp Garry Owen.

Krzyzewski returned to Area I on Wednesday with the USA basketball team, which appeared before about 1,000 servicemembers at Carey Gym on Camp Casey.

“The whole world has changed here,” Krzyzewski said of his former Area I stomping grounds. “The dirt roads looked like demolition races when someone got to a stoplight.”

Krzyzewski later transferred to Yongsan Garrison to coach service basketball teams, then moved on to coach the U.S. Military Academy Prep School in Fort Belvoir, Va. After resigning his commission in 1974, he worked as a graduate assistant for up-and-coming coach Bob Knight, for whom Krzyzewski played as a West Point cadet.

After a year with Knight, he took over the Cadet head coaching job for five years before moving on to Duke to become one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history.

[Tripping William]

Not entirely certain if this is the right thread for this, but it seems appropriate. Here is an interesting listing of some of Coach K's professional accomplishments (http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-12-04/duke-basketball-20-eye-popping-stats-frame-age-mike?cid=ncaammsocial_fb_sf175205087&sf175205087=1), written by Mike Lopresti and published today on NCAA.com. Some of this is just staggering to me. As Duke fans, we are so incredibly fortunate.

[swood1000]

Not entirely certain if this is the right thread for this, but it seems appropriate. Here is an interesting listing of some of Coach K's professional accomplishments (http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-12-04/duke-basketball-20-eye-popping-stats-frame-age-mike?cid=ncaammsocial_fb_sf175205087&sf175205087=1), written by Mike Lopresti and published today on NCAA.com. Some of this is just staggering to me. As Duke fans, we are so incredibly fortunate.
One wonders what changes there would have been to Wooden’s record if he had participated in the 64 or 68-team NCAA tournament. Probably fewer championships and more tournament victories.

[JetpackJesus]

Not entirely certain if this is the right thread for this, but it seems appropriate. Here is an interesting listing of some of Coach K's professional accomplishments (http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-12-04/duke-basketball-20-eye-popping-stats-frame-age-mike?cid=ncaammsocial_fb_sf175205087&sf175205087=1), written by Mike Lopresti and published today on NCAA.com. Some of this is just staggering to me. As Duke fans, we are so incredibly fortunate.

I was going to share that here, too. I thought one of the most remarkable numbers in there is that Coach K has lost more NCAA tournament games (28) than all but 19 NCAA coaches have won in history.

[uh_no]

I was going to share that here, too. I thought one of the most remarkable numbers in there is that Coach K has lost more NCAA tournament games (28) than all but 19 NCAA coaches have won in history.

NCAA tournament losses don't really tell you all THAT much...every team that makes the tournament regularly will lose about 1 tournament game a year.

So while it says something about consistently making the tournament and longevity, you might as well measure that metric with tournament appearances....since why should a title punish you when you're measuring for long term consistency?

All in all, it's more a trivia stat than anything particularly meaningful.