Coach K stated "I see myself more of a leader who develops people instead of a coach that develops his players." Having quality players that stay out of trouble and become successful after the program is the ideal way.
4. Coach K also looks for his players to be intelligent. Not only should a player be able to handle pressure on the court, but in the classroom as well. He loves a true student-athlete.
5. Last but not least, he searches for talent. "You have to have talent in order to compete for a championship" is what Coach K told reporters from CNN. He recruits some of the most talented and highly recruited his school players all around the country (www.bleacherreport.com, 2014).
Former Duke Player Kyrie Irving says "Coach K separates himself from other coaches with the relationships he has with his players. He taught me how to be a professional and how to understand the mental aspects of the game. He teaches basketball and he teaches life lessons you need forever too. I believe he's the greatest of all-time." Coach K does not look at individual performances, he looks for team performances and how an individual helped lead their team to a win. A team is a unit of two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to accomplish a shared goal or purpose (Daft 260). Coach K's principle of having coachable players enables him to set different goals for each team based on the personality and abilities of each team (www.coachk.com, 2014).
Coach Krzyzewski was asked to be Duke's head coach in the spring of 1980 (www.coachk.com, 2014). His first season at Duke was not the best but it soon turned around when he started a different recruiting style. Coach K started looking for student-athletes. Not only did he want a person full of athletic ability, but he also wanted someone who was an excellent student in the classroom because you have to be a student before you can be an athlete.
