Mike Krzyzewski’s last dance at Cameron Indoor Stadium
By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist
Mike Krzyzewski, just like you would expect, has tried to keep everything the same this week. The same practices, the same routine. Many of the same processes that have greeted the end of the previous 41 Duke basketball regular seasons have also been in place for this, his final one.
Ahead of Krzyzewski's final home game, against rival North Carolina on Saturday, he has said he doesn’t want it to be just about him. There’s no way that’s going to happen.
However, doing things the same way as normal was how he came to be congregated with his assistant coaches a couple of days ago, going over typical pregame matters, when the reality of it all suddenly kicked in.
"Who would have ever thought?" he said to them. "It’s my senior day."
Krzyzewski has tried to avoid a situation where his farewell season became a farewell tour, but it has become that way for a simple, unavoidable reason — because of what he means to the game.
Everywhere he has traveled for Duke road contests, he has been lauded and celebrated and at times it all got to be a bit too much. Yet on the court, he has mostly gotten what he wanted, with the Blue Devils having already secured the ACC regular-season title and in a position where a high seed looms in just over a week’s time.
"I’m talking to myself right now," Krzyzewski said. "Just let it happen. See what the hell happens. But try not to let it negatively influence anything from my players. It’s their game."
So much has changed since the day in March 1980 when Duke athletic director Tom Butters announced the arrival of what he described as the "brightest young coaching mind in America," a 33-year-old Chicagoan via West Point who would become known as Coach K.
The sport is drastically different now, from the way it looks and feels to how it is played. Krzyzewski was at Durham before the 3-point line, sure, but also prior to the college shot clock and the possession arrow. His college coaching career at Army started when dunks were still illegal.
For most of his time in charge, players stuck around long enough that one-and-done wasn’t even a term, and hoops transfers had to jump through bureaucratic hoops if they wanted to move programs. No longer.
For years, he has used the press conference before the final regular-season game as a sort of State of the Union address, a chance to look at where the sport is situated. It wasn’t anything like that this time, on Thursday, because how could it be when no one wanted to talk about anything other than this being his last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium?
But he did speak of a small sadness, and if it’s not worth listening to Coach K about such matters, then whose opinion could possibly be worthy?
He loves college basketball as much as ever, but that doesn’t mean he loves everything about the ways in which it has changed. He laments the lessened opportunities to build and grow relationships with players, especially elite ones, over four years.
He’d have loved for there to be an ongoing think tank of all the sport’s vested interests, with agents and shoe companies and coaches and programs talking to figure out a better way forward. We don’t get everything we want in life. Krzyzewski knows he’s been blessed to get what he has.
He’s barely had time to think this week, anyway. Countless former players have been in contact, and he texted with Kyrie Irving on Thursday morning. All 208 of his former players were invited to the Tar Heels game and around 80 are expected to attend. Krzyzewski’s wife and daughters are coordinating how to meet with different groups of them to make sure everyone gets their time.
He’s looking forward to a new life outside basketball, but he knows it will be a massive change. He is keen to get a new dog to take for walks to help pass time, because he won’t be around the program as much and won’t be coming to all the games, specifically to let incoming replacement Jon Scheyer have his space and a chance to thrive without interference.
He’s got a lot of things to figure out, but for now, despite all the pomp of this week, there’s a familiar feeling — a game to win against Duke’s fiercest rival of all.
His final game will be either a defeat or see him clinch a sixth national title, and will truly be the end. This is the end before the end, and he’d love to win this one, even more than ever, if that’s possible.
Occasionally during the week, he’s found his voice cracking. Sometimes the magnitude of never doing this again, here, starts to creep in. Krzyzewski's response to it all is the same as it would be for any player — he’s going to give himself some old Coach K wisdom.
"(I did) a little bit of thinking yesterday," he added. "It’s your last game, at Cameron, it’s crazy. How did that happen? It’s here. I’ll have to spend some time, have a meeting with me. Maybe a few tough talks about keeping my eyes on the road so to speak."
What a road. What an adventure. What a journey. What a coach.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
