Coach K Accomplishments

Krzyzewski. It’s a name so famous and distinct, that anyone tuned into the world of leadership and sports will have likely heard of it at some point, if not a lot. It’s a name the holds great honor and success. Mike Krzyzewski has been Duke Universities basketball coach for the past 36 seasons, a feat that, in and of itself, has not been accomplished by many if any. Dubbed Coach K by sport fans everywhere, his accomplishments do not stop there. Evident by his numerous accomplishments and awards, Coach K is a master of his craft. He boasts 5 National Championship rings, 1043 career wins as a coach (the most in NCAA history) and 12 National Coach of the Year awards. That is only the tip of the iceberg for Krzyzewski’s accomplishments, but it’s

Another way of looking is if you think of the team as a moving train, moving towards a common goal. Thus you will need something to be the tracks for the train to move on. This is where one of Coach K’s traditions comes in. While playing at West Point, the team he played on had rules that all of the players needed to follow, but Krzyzewski did not agree with any of them. In an interview conducted by Sim Sitkin, a professor of management at Duke University, Coach K explained, “Usually when you’re ruled, you never agree with all the rules, you just abide by them. But if you have standards and if everyone contributes to the way you’re going to do things, you end up owning how you do things. In my experience, the best teams have standards everyone owns” (6). As seen with many Krzyzewski observations, he understands things. He took an aspect he noticed in his own college experience, an aspect of his team that he did not like, and chose to incorporate a more productive version for his Duke teams. This s another part of his way of leadership that allows players to buy into his philosophy. By establishing standards, players are able to take pride in living up to those standards instead of just following rules because their in place and have to be followed. Living up to team standards gives players a sense of pride and self-confidence

He empowers his assistant coaches to design their own personal coaching plan with out him micromanaging. In another interview conducted by Sanyin Siang, Coach K touches on his concept of empowered leadership, stating, “what happens when you empower is you create ownership and that is critical in the development of a total team” (5). When that sense of ownership is created teams will have a much greater sense of succeeding because they will be playing for the team instead of for themselves. Coach K goes on to explain the outcome of incorporating this concept. When that leader who was empowered to lead leaves the team, the team will have a good chance of being able to continue to function at that level. This is so because the value instilled in those affected will