Coach K says he’ll stay with Duke through 2016 Olympics
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski joined the show to talk about his decision to remain as Olympic coach and more.
Coach K explained why he will remain with USA Basketball despite saying he was done. “I wanted to be sure I weighed in with everybody,” he said. “Especially my family. I feel great about making the decision. … When I said I wouldn’t do it again, I felt that I wouldn’t.”
Dan asked if this would impact how long he would stay at Duke. “I think it’s lengthened my Duke career,” Coach K said. “I’m more energized. I feel great about coaching. I’m in really good health. This is exciting and coaching at Duke is exciting.”
C0ach K was specific about remaining in Durham until at least 2016. “It will go at least through the Olympics in Rio [coaching] at Duke,” Coach K said. “You need to be sharp. I don’t think you can just coach the national team. I’ll see. I’ll be right around 70 then.”
Coach K told some great recruiting stories. He said he recruited Bobby Hurley and Kenny Anderson at the same time and chose to go after Hurley (even though there was no guarantee he had Anderson). He also said he looked at Michael Jordan, but not that hard because he knew he was going to UNC. “No one knew he was going to be that good,” Coach K said.
Coach K talked about the hype around his recruit Jabari Parker. “Our culture is bigger on movie previews than the actual movies,” he said. “Jabari is a very versatile basketball player so I’ll make sure he’s given an opportunity to show his stuff. Jabari is going to be a great college player and eventually a great pro player.”