Mike Krzyzewski doesn't seem the type to mix well with the plastic Hollywood tinsels or elbow-rubbing glitterati. Coach K is more off-the-rack than Armani, more rhinestone than Tiffany. He probably thinks a casting couch is in an orthopedist's office.
He once coached at Army. He studied under professor Bob Knight, who thinks the NBA hides weapons of mass destruction. Coach K is far too straight for the paparazzi.
But they're starting to turn over tobacco land in North Carolina in favor of truffle farming. No kidding. More money in it, at $150 an ounce.
So maybe we can understand why Coach K, basketball leader of Duke University, of Durham, N.C., is contemplating turning over one of the more brilliant college careers in favor of raising difficult Lakers.
More money in it.
But there's a warning label on this one: Coaching the Lakers can be hazardous to your psyche.
Still, one must wonder if Krzyzewski is disenchanted. And maybe the money is a ripe enough carrot for him to load up the truck, take the first Tobacco Road offramp, and move to Beverly.
And, lest we forget, there is some arrogance to Mike Krzyzewski, who often makes his assistants speak for him. And Duke, while still damn good, isn't what it used to be. It now is a part of the college game. Not long ago, Duke was immune, in a world of its own, up here, with everybody else down there.
Durham had become the game's Vatican, and Coach K its pontiff. He won championships. He got to Final Fours. And his players graduated.
As fishermen know, lures can be lost. Krzyzewski not only is losing scholarship players to NBA money, but prized prep recruits. Maybe he figures it's time he gets some of it for himself. Maybe he figures if he turns pro, he can coach some of the kids he was supposed to coach in the first place.
Mike Montgomery left Stanford for the Warriors and there was some surprise, but mostly a shrug. This one is different. This is Coach K, The K Man, closest thing to John Wooden since John Wooden.
Some will tell you he's Wooden's equal, and he's real close. What Krzyzewski has accomplished during an explosive, scandalous and hypercompetitive era in his sport has been equinoxes and solstices beyond impressive.
Where he now resides, he is deity, so it's easy to say it's risky for him to walk away. But he can fall flat on his consonants in Staples Center and his reputation is not going to break.
No word if Jack Nicholson wants Krzyzewski to replace zenmaster Phil Jackson, but Kobe Bryant does. And what the L.A. star wants these days he gets, including arrested and indicted.
So Bryant's agent without portfolio, L.A. General Manager Mitch Kupchak, reportedly has offered Krzyzewski $40 million of owner Jerry Buss' more tasty clams over five years. This is not the first time an NBA club has approached Krzyzewski, but it probably is the first time he's been offered Monte Carlo.
"I don't think he's going to take the job," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher says. "But, when you're offered that kind of money, you have to take a second look.
"I'm sure Kobe Bryant was consulted and asked, what do you think about this guy and this guy. And Mitch Kupchak, having played at Carolina, knows that area. So Kobe says he likes Mike, and Mitch says: 'Let's go for it.' "
Coach K had better watch where he steps amid the glint.
Boss Bryant is a free agent. Buss wants him back at all costs – and that's what it will take, all costs.
Meanwhile, center Shaquille O'Neal, pouting over Jackson's pink slip and quick to mention that Kupchak is no Jerry West, wants to be traded. No word a Krzyzewski hire would change Shaq's mind. No word if Shaq has heard of him, or if he thinks Coach K is a breakfast cereal.
Shaq's wife wants The Big Hubby to skip town. That's serious – or serious smokescreen. But the Lakers may have no place to move his salary and be compensated with someone who can dribble only from the side of his mouth.
So Coach K has some thinking to do. And he reportedly is sequestered, taking the weekend to mull the offer. Money can be a siren. But he's 57, obviously wealthy, and has a lifetime contract in Durham.
Wooden doesn't think he'll take the job. Louisville's Rick Pitino doesn't think so, either. UConn's Jim Calhoun hopes Krzyzewski doesn't move, although he can feel his frustration.
There are those who believe Coach K's defection to L.A. would be a terrible blow to college basketball. Can't agree. Wooden retired. So did Adolph Rupp. And Pete Newell. And Dean Smith. And Hank Iba.
The game has survived. Krzyzewski isn't going to work until he's 90, nor is he the only person who can coach hoops. He has done remarkable things, but a move west won't kill college basketball.
"Who knows?" Fisher says. "He's been so immensely successful, maybe he wants to do something else. Maybe he thinks he's going to have trouble keeping continuity within his program."
Maybe so. Maybe not. It's his life, his decision. He has earned the right to do what he thinks is best.
Mike Krzyzewski won't be making a mistake if he takes it. Forty million dollars will buy enough makeup to cover up a career pimple.
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He once coached at Army. He studied under professor Bob Knight, who thinks the NBA hides weapons of mass destruction. Coach K is far too straight for the paparazzi.
But they're starting to turn over tobacco land in North Carolina in favor of truffle farming. No kidding. More money in it, at $150 an ounce.
So maybe we can understand why Coach K, basketball leader of Duke University, of Durham, N.C., is contemplating turning over one of the more brilliant college careers in favor of raising difficult Lakers.
More money in it.
But there's a warning label on this one: Coaching the Lakers can be hazardous to your psyche.
Still, one must wonder if Krzyzewski is disenchanted. And maybe the money is a ripe enough carrot for him to load up the truck, take the first Tobacco Road offramp, and move to Beverly.
And, lest we forget, there is some arrogance to Mike Krzyzewski, who often makes his assistants speak for him. And Duke, while still damn good, isn't what it used to be. It now is a part of the college game. Not long ago, Duke was immune, in a world of its own, up here, with everybody else down there.
Durham had become the game's Vatican, and Coach K its pontiff. He won championships. He got to Final Fours. And his players graduated.
As fishermen know, lures can be lost. Krzyzewski not only is losing scholarship players to NBA money, but prized prep recruits. Maybe he figures it's time he gets some of it for himself. Maybe he figures if he turns pro, he can coach some of the kids he was supposed to coach in the first place.
Mike Montgomery left Stanford for the Warriors and there was some surprise, but mostly a shrug. This one is different. This is Coach K, The K Man, closest thing to John Wooden since John Wooden.
Some will tell you he's Wooden's equal, and he's real close. What Krzyzewski has accomplished during an explosive, scandalous and hypercompetitive era in his sport has been equinoxes and solstices beyond impressive.
Where he now resides, he is deity, so it's easy to say it's risky for him to walk away. But he can fall flat on his consonants in Staples Center and his reputation is not going to break.
No word if Jack Nicholson wants Krzyzewski to replace zenmaster Phil Jackson, but Kobe Bryant does. And what the L.A. star wants these days he gets, including arrested and indicted.
So Bryant's agent without portfolio, L.A. General Manager Mitch Kupchak, reportedly has offered Krzyzewski $40 million of owner Jerry Buss' more tasty clams over five years. This is not the first time an NBA club has approached Krzyzewski, but it probably is the first time he's been offered Monte Carlo.
"I don't think he's going to take the job," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher says. "But, when you're offered that kind of money, you have to take a second look.
"I'm sure Kobe Bryant was consulted and asked, what do you think about this guy and this guy. And Mitch Kupchak, having played at Carolina, knows that area. So Kobe says he likes Mike, and Mitch says: 'Let's go for it.' "
Coach K had better watch where he steps amid the glint.
Boss Bryant is a free agent. Buss wants him back at all costs – and that's what it will take, all costs.
Meanwhile, center Shaquille O'Neal, pouting over Jackson's pink slip and quick to mention that Kupchak is no Jerry West, wants to be traded. No word a Krzyzewski hire would change Shaq's mind. No word if Shaq has heard of him, or if he thinks Coach K is a breakfast cereal.
Shaq's wife wants The Big Hubby to skip town. That's serious – or serious smokescreen. But the Lakers may have no place to move his salary and be compensated with someone who can dribble only from the side of his mouth.
So Coach K has some thinking to do. And he reportedly is sequestered, taking the weekend to mull the offer. Money can be a siren. But he's 57, obviously wealthy, and has a lifetime contract in Durham.
Wooden doesn't think he'll take the job. Louisville's Rick Pitino doesn't think so, either. UConn's Jim Calhoun hopes Krzyzewski doesn't move, although he can feel his frustration.
There are those who believe Coach K's defection to L.A. would be a terrible blow to college basketball. Can't agree. Wooden retired. So did Adolph Rupp. And Pete Newell. And Dean Smith. And Hank Iba.
The game has survived. Krzyzewski isn't going to work until he's 90, nor is he the only person who can coach hoops. He has done remarkable things, but a move west won't kill college basketball.
"Who knows?" Fisher says. "He's been so immensely successful, maybe he wants to do something else. Maybe he thinks he's going to have trouble keeping continuity within his program."
Maybe so. Maybe not. It's his life, his decision. He has earned the right to do what he thinks is best.
Mike Krzyzewski won't be making a mistake if he takes it. Forty million dollars will buy enough makeup to cover up a career pimple.
web page
