Just leave it this way. Alright. David i dont consider myself a journalist. And nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . Coach k, thank you for taking time to be with us. Mike youre welcome. David i call you coach k, but your last name is krzyzewski. When you were growing up, wind did you learn how to spell that name . Mike you know, it took me a while to learn how to pronounce it. We lived in chicago on the north side. My dad was from the south side. During christmas, we would visit relatives, and my uncle joe, who was a Chicago Police man, when ever we would go see him, the first thing when we opened the door he would say, what is your name . Before we walked in, i would say to my mom, mom, what is my name . She said its mike krzyzewski. The reason he asked that is because some of my family changed their name to cross because of ethnic discrimination. They couldnt get jobs and that. They did not want krzyzewski. And he wanted me to always have krzyzewski. David you never considered changing your name . Mike no, although my dad did use the name cross when he was in world war ii and when he was an elevator operator in downtown chicago. Again, he was afraid of not getting jobs. On his tombstone he died when i was a senior at west point the government paid, and it was william cross. David really . Mike we finally had it changed when my mom passed away to say krzyzewski. David lets talk about how you got into basketball. You grew up in chicago. When you were growing up, did you say im going to be a great basketball coach . How did that come about . Mike i was an allstate player and went to catholic schools. I was the leading scorer in the Catholic League in chicago for two years and was recruited, but my mom never went to high school. My dad went two years. So when i was recruited by west point, they could not imagine that a polish kid from chicago was going to go to school, could go to a school where president s went to. David right. Mike and so i didnt really want to go to west point. David because . Mike i wanted to dribble behind my back or throw bounce passes that were fancy. I did not want to carry a rifle. David did you have a division i scholarship offer . Mike oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I probably would have gone to creighton, and wisconsin maybe, and, but my parents kept putting pressure. Like they would speak polish in the kitchen. Thats where we never had a house, but we had a flat and they would talk in polish. Stupid. David and you did not know polish . Mike i did not. I did not know this until later. They did not want me to take polish in grade school and high school, so that i would not have an accent. Because they were afraid i would be david it was not because they did not want you to hear what they were saying . Mike probably they had a number of different motives, but they would put a few english words in there stupid, mike. Finally i said, i will go, and it was the best decision i never made, you know, to go to west point. David right. Mike it is really, going to west point is the basis, the foundation, of everything i am right now as a man. David when you went to west point, were the players a better level than you thought they were . Mike yeah, we were good. Yeah, coach knight, bob knight, one of the legendary coaches to coach. We were a top 20 team one of the three years. Freshmen were not eligible at that time. We always had a winning record. We went to the nit. The nit was as big as the ncaa during that time, so we were good. We were very good. I got to be a point guard and captain of the team. David so did people come along and say, well, you have to go into the military, but youre good enough to play in the nba . Mike no, i was not good enough to play in the nba. David did you know that . Mike yeah, yeah. Its not like it was everyones dream at that time. My dream coming out of high school was to be a teacher and a coach. David ok. Mike and i was able to play a lot during my five years of service. I was a captain in the army, field artillery, but i got to play on a number of allarmy and all Armed Forces Teams and travel around the world on temporary duty a lot during that time. David so when you finish your military commitment when you go to west point, you have a commitment of fourfive years. Mike five. David you finish your commitment, then you got into coaching. Where did you first coach . Mike indiana, i was a graduate assistant. I was getting my mba at indiana. Coach knight was there, and i was there for one year and did not finish my mba. And i was fortunate to go back to my alma mater at the age of 28 and coach at west point. We took over a program that had seven wins and 44 losses in two years. I got the best start that you could get going there. David you coach there, then duke was looking for a coach, and they interviewed you. Your coaching record the year before you were hired was i think 916. Mike 917. David 917. So it was not that auspicious. So why did they hire you . Mike well, first of all, they wanted to make a great decision. You know from your business, a lot of times if you look at one line item, it does not tell the full story. So, we took over a program that was 744, and after five years, we were 7359. David the Athletic Director at duke then was tom butters, and he took a chance on somebody he didnt really know. Your record was explainable, but not great. Did he know how to pronounce your name . Mike he did. I hit it off with him right away. David all right, so you got it. The first couple of years were not wonderful. Mike no. David after three years, you had a losing record. Mike yep. 3847. David 3847. So were people calling for your firing . Mike a lot of people were calling for my firing, and we have a fundraising element here called the iron dukes. And during my first three years, i was able to establish a new fundraising element called the concerned iron dukes, and they were concerned about me being their coach. But my Athletic Director, tom butters, and president Terry Sanford at that time, said when i was hired, you have a lot of work to do. There is a lot of rebuilding here, and just keep doing it. So, i was never worried, whether i was naive or whatever, and the next year, we turned it around and it went crazy. And it is one of the reasons i stayed at duke. They were loyal to me. I love duke, but i am a big people guy, you know . Like, if you are honest with me, you trust me, you believe in me, i am going to be committed to you, and that is how i felt about this university. David because you are so successful, a lot of people root against you. Mike our sport is a very intimate sport. You are playing in your shorts and people can see you. They are right on top of you. So if i can see five guys in the front row of some arenas who look like doctors or lawyers, and they are giving you finger signs and telling you Different Things and you are saying, whoa, you know, where did that come from . Mike it is really the main thing i have done my whole life. I sought good people. And thats why i am at duke for 36 years. How can you be better . How can you be better . [applause] mike and so, as you move forward, choose your occupation and all that, but choose people. Good people will make you better. Believe me. Good people will make you better. David so you turned it around and then you won the National Championship the first time in 1991. Mike right. David but to do that, you had to beat a team that crushed you in 1990, unlv. What was that like preparing your team for that . Mike they had won 45 in a row going in. A lot of people felt they were one of the greatest teams in the history of sport, but we were good, too. And the two best players stayed on the team, hurley and laettner, and then we added a player who was better than anybody in grant hill. And because unlv had beaten us by so much, im not sure they had the edge that we did. And so, we ended up winning one of the greatest games in the history of College Basketball, but it was not the championship game. So now, psychologically, we have got to get ready 48 hours and beat kansas, and we were able to turn that around to where they were thinking of kansas, and we won our first one. David but the next year you came against kentucky in a semi final, and that became one of the greatest games ever played. Mike right. David can you recount what happened at the end . Mike it was really a backandforth game, and they went ahead 102101, and so our guys called a timeout with 2. 1 seconds. We were down by a point, and when all the guys came in i think the very first thing a leader has to show is strength, and so i met them as they were coming to the bench and i said, we are going to win. We are going to win. I dont know if i really believed that, but i kept saying it. And then we sat down, and a lot of times it is good to ask a guy to do something instead of telling him, so grant hill, i said, can you throw the ball 75 feet . He was going to inbound the ball, and he said, yeah, i can do that. I said, well, i want you to throw a ball and im going to bring laettner up to the top of the key, and i looked to laettner, who was very confident, very cocky, and i said, can you catch it . He said, coach, if grant throws a good pass, i will catch the ball. David ok. Mike and i said, well, he throws it, you catch it, and ill have two guys run this way, if you dont have a shot, hit one of them and less see what happens. So he threw it, laettner caught it. He dribbled once, which your heart sinks because david he is not a famous dribbler or . Mike no, but there are only 2. 1 seconds. He had enough courage and knowledge where he put it in, and then he shot the ball and it went in. There is the pass to laettner. Puts it up. [cheering] david so you won the game and went on to win a National Championship. The last championship you won, the fifth one, 2015, that was a team where you were basically playing freshman. How did that happen . Mike well, it was a most unusual year. Three of the freshman who went pro after that, they went early. They were one and done. They really didnt care, david, about their own stats. Like if you can find people who are all into winning david you mention the phrase one and done, and for those who are watching this who may not be College Basketball aficionados, that refers to the fact that today you have to play at least one year of college before you can play in the nba. Mike right. David then you can go professional. Mike and be 19. David are you a supporter of this one and done rule . Mike it does not make any difference if you are supportive of it. We have no control over it. What you have to do like you do in business, is you have to adapt. You are not only adapting to different players over the 40 years i have been a coach and their cultures, but you are also adapting to when guys leave and the age of the team, how you teach your culture. So, grant hill, laettner, and hurley, if they were here today, i know mrs. Hill and mr. Hill would not want but some probably would have gone after a year. But now, that has changed. It is a different thing. David well lets talk about recruiting. Mike i work harder at recruiting now than i have ever worked, because you have to do it more often. And to recruit the top players you dont know if they will be one and done, but they will go early. The really good ones are going to go early. So, that means you have to do it over and over, and it is not so much what you do in the home. Before you ever get to their home, its what you do on social media, the texting, how you communicate, the relationship building. Relationship building is so much different now than it was then, and that whole landscape has changed dramatically where many nights you go home and you are texting 17yearolds. David let me ask you about the Overall Program you have built. Now, you have a situation where duke is considered royalty in College Basketball. But as a result of that, because you are so successful, a lot of people root against you. Do you take that personally . Mike no, i never take any of that personally. I think that is useless to do that. You cant run your life based on that. And i think though those people respect you, and they respect me and my program. You know, our sport is a very intimate sport. You are playing in your shorts, and people can see you. They are right on top of you. So it is not like what the papers say as much as like during a game where people can say the worst things imaginable. I cant say them on the show. And they have to be hardnosed enough to take that. I get that, too, but im older. I can laugh it off. I can see five guys in the front row of some of the arenas who look like doctors or lawyers, and they are giving you finger signs and telling you Different Things and i say, whoa, you know, where did that come from . David last year, you won your third gold medal on behalf of the united states. Mike yeah, i love duke. College basketball has been my life, but when you win a gold medal and to have those guys with medals around the necks and your National Anthem being played, there is Nothing Better than that. Mike so all the teams i have been on whether the duke team, or the u. S. Team, you would be shocked. We would have these meetings with lebron, kobe, kevin durant, westbrook and all these guys. We sit around and say, how are we going to live . We talk about fundamental things, communication. We will look each other in the eye. We are going to tell each other the truth. We are going to have each others back. We are going to show strong faces. We are never going to be late. We are going to be enthusiastic. We are going to win and lose together. Those are great standards. David lets talk about the olympics. Mike yeah. David last year, you won your third gold medal on behalf of the united states. Mike the biggest honor, david, is representing your country. You know i love duke. College basketball has been my life, but when you win a gold medal, a World Championship or the olympic goldmedal, it is the whole world, and we respect the world. Basketball around the world is unbelievable. And to have those guys with medals around their necks and your National Anthem being played, there is Nothing Better than that. David initially, you were an assistant coach to the 1992 socalled dream team. Mike dream team, yeah. David for those who do not follow basketball, College Basketball players were the ones who played in the olympics before because of the rules of the olympics. 1992 was the first time professionals played, and those who played were michael jordan, magic johnson, larry bird among others. What was it like to coach that team . Mike it was literally a dream. And it really set off an explosion worldwide for basketball. International pro players played anyway, and now the players when they were sevenyear olds or eight year olds are watching, and it exploded. To be with them would be like if you are in music and have the best singers all on one team, the best musicians, and true professionals. David so when you coached that team 11 years ago, you won the olympic gold. What was it like saying to professional players, let me tell you how to do something . Mike well, you say this is how i want you to do something a little bit differently than you do to College Players. One is that they are professionals. The other thing is they have a wealth of experience. So when i am Coaching College kids, they are going to adapt to me. I am teaching them to change their limits to get better as a unit and individually. When i am with lebron james and kobe bryant and chris paul and all these guys, they are already accomplished. I want to know their best practices, and then my best practices, and what we do, it becomes our best practices. So, we do a lot of adapting so that i think, david, a keyword is to create ownership, you know, where everybody owns it and where they feel like they are not playing for the u. S. They are the u. S. And in order to get that feeling, we incorporated a lot of work with our military, so that they could get a feeling of what it was to serve our country. And no greater part of our society than the military to teach that. David so the three olympic teams that you have coached, how would you compare them to the dream team . Mike well the dream team in their prime there are 11 hall of famers on that team. Christian laettner is the only he is a college hall of famer. In their prime, there is no team like that. The beijing team was really good and could hold their own, but there is no team with the accomplishment all in their prime that was better than the dream team. David but did you ever think you could lose the olympics . Mike oh, yeah, yeah. I think we can lose every game. If you dont think you think you are going to lose, i dont think you prepare well enough to win. And in the pros, they dont play one and done. So, in your mind, you can play poorly in a game and get a chance. There are no Second Chances in olympics or World Championships. David so, when you are coaching an olympic team today, would you say it is possible if we only had College Players to win the olympics . Mike no, there is no way. There is absolutely no way our college kids could beat the International Teams. The International Teams are too good. They are, you know, a number of the International Teams would be playoff teams in the nba. And, you know, about 25 of the nba is international. No way, because you are playing men. We would get killed. David if you had to pick among the pro players that you have coached and witnessed, who would you say is the most competitive player you actually have ever coached . Mike wow. Well, they are all they would not get to where they are probably the two biggest assassins were when they look at you, you feel like, ok, im going to lose this guy, where jordan, i think jordan is the best player ever and kobe bryant. Their preparation and their ability to just focus is off the charts. But, i mean, you can take lebron jam