Coach k vs coach knight

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________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Professors Scott A. Snook and Leslie A. Perlow and Research Associate Brian J. DeLacey prepared this case with assistance from the Global Research Group. This case was developed from published sources. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright © 2005 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School.

S C O T T A . S N O O K

L E S L I E A . P E R L O W

B R I A N J . D E L A C E Y

Coach K: A Matter of the Heart

There is no greater thing that you can tell someone [than], “I believe in you, you’re good, I’m there for you.”

— Coach K, quoted in Time magazine’s selection of America’s Best 2001

There was shock and disbelief in “K-Ville,” the grassy area just outside Duke University’s Cameron Gymnasium. Late one Friday afternoon in July of 2004, hundreds of students gathered to speculate about the future of their beloved basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski (pronounced Sha-shef- ski and widely known simply as Coach K). Normally a place of tremendous energy and optimism, Krzyzewskiville had fallen into an ominous quiet.

No one could believe the rumors.

How could Coach K, the 57-year-old heart and soul of college basketball, even consider leaving for the glitz and glamour of the professional game? But the rumors were true. Krzyzewski was taking the weekend to review a five-year, $40 million contract offer to leave Duke and coach the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.

One fan gazed up at Krzyzewski’s fourth-floor office overlooking K-Ville and pondered, “It’s not like he’s a deity. But sometimes when he’s up there”—pointing to the office—“he does look like Saruman gazing down from the tower in Lord of the Rings.”1

Since his arrival in 1980, Krzyzewski had grown Duke’s basketball program into one of the most successful college sports dynasties ever. Coach K was “[n]amed ‘America’s Best Coach’ in 2001 by Time magazine and CNN, [and] earned nearly every award imaginable. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.”2

When the father of a current Duke basketball player learned of the Lakers’ offer he said: “[I]f it happens . . . I would be sad for Duke, sad for the Duke players and sad for (our) family because of the relationship we have with Duke.”3

After almost 25 years with Coach K at the helm, it was hard to imagine Duke basketball without him.

For the exclusive use of X. Han, 2015.

This document is authorized for use only by Xihang Han in ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (Winter 2015) taught by Ken Mawritz, at Drexel University from January 2015 to July 2015.

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Learning from Coach Knight at Army

What I learned from him was the incredible passion it took to be successful, the amount of preparation and an understanding of the game to a level that I had not experienced.4

— Mike Krzyzewski about his coach, Bob Knight

Krzyzewski played college basketball for the United States Military Academy at West Point. His freshman year was also the first year for Army’s new head coach, a fiery young disciplinarian named Bob Knight. By the time Cadet Krzyzewski was a senior, he had earned the respect of both his coach and his teammates. At a school known for its leaders, Krzyzewski was named team captain. Together, Knight and Krzyzewski led an undersized Army team to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1969. (Exhibit 1 provides additional biographical information on Coach K.)

Source: http://www.coachk.com/coachk-student.htm.

Krzyzewski graduated from West Point in 1969 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. Knight left West Point in 1971 to coach at Indiana University (IU). It was not long before their paths crossed again. In 1974, after serving five years as an Army officer, Krzyzewski was hired by Knight as a graduate assistant at IU. After only a year, Knight recommended Krzyzewski for the head coaching position at Army.

Five years later, when Duke called Indiana looking for a head coach, Knight once again recommended his young protégé. According to Knight, “Tom Butters, the Duke athletic director, genuinely didn’t know Mike (Krzyzewski’s) name when he called me in 1980 to ask if I would have any interest in the Duke job. . . . I told him I wouldn’t have any interest in it, but he should talk to Mike.”5 Based largely on the strength of Knight’s recommendation, Duke hired the relatively unknown coach with a strange name. (See Exhibits 2 and 3 for a summary of Coach K’s accomplishments.)

Years later, Knight reflected on some of his more enjoyable moments with Coach K:

Mike and I had always had a great relationship. . . . But nothing made me happier for him than the night in September 2001 when he was inducted into the (Basketball) Hall of Fame at Springfield. . . . I was sincerely honored when he asked me to be part of the ceremonies, because no one who has played for me was ever closer to me than Mike, nor have I ever been more pleased by anyone’s success.6

After Coach K earned his 700th win, The New York Times reported Krzyzewski’s appreciation for Knight:

He [Krzyzewski] gave a nod to his former coach and mentor Bob Knight, the only one to reach 700 faster than Krzyzewski. Each started his career with a successful tenure at Army, where Krzyzewski played under Knight. “There's no greater teacher for me than Bob Knight,” said Krzyzewski, whose career record is 700-240. “There must be something about those old Army coaches.”7

For the exclusive use of X. Han, 2015.

This document is authorized for use only by Xihang Han in ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (Winter 2015) taught by Ken Mawritz, at Drexel University from January 2015 to July 2015.

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Coaching Philosophy: “We might be great tonight”

Given their shared experience at the Military Academy, both Knight and Krzyzewski followed a surprisingly simple and unregimented approach to coaching. According to Knight:

I had one training rule: If you do anything in any way, whenever or wherever, that I think is detrimental to the good of this basketball team, to the school, or to you yourself, I’ll handle it as I see fit.8

Following his mentor’s lead almost verbatim, Coach K greeted every new team with the following simple message:

We have only one rule here: Don’t do anything that’s detrimental to yourself. Because if it’s detrimental to you, it’ll be detrimental to our program and to Duke University.9

Krzyzewski went on to explain the logic behind following such an uncluttered approach to coaching: “Too many rules get in the way of leadership. They just put you in a box. People set rules to keep from making decisions.”10 He added, “I don’t want to be a manager or a dictator. I want to be a leader—and leadership is ongoing, adjustable, flexible, and dynamic. As such, leaders have to maintain a certain amount of discretion.”11

Having few rules did not mean being undisciplined. “Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do in the best possible manner at the time you are supposed to do it,” Coach K said.12 He taught discipline by investing heavily in drills and skills with his players, practicing set plays and exhaustively analyzing practices, game films, and strategies. He also spent “a large percentage of . . . time . . . getting inside a player’s head, understanding where (the player is) coming from, helping him get to where we all need to be as a team.”13

The journey from individual player to team was not always an easy one. Coach K recalled one practice when he noticed “a little friction” between two of his top athletes, Shane Battier and Jason Williams.

“Do you guys have a problem with each other?” Coach K asked. “Shane, do you not like Jason?”

“I like him, Coach.”

“Do you not trust Jason?”

“I trust him.”

“Jason, do you like Shane?”

“Yeah, I like him.”

“Do you trust Shane?”

“Yeah, I trust him.”

“Then why won’t you guys pass the ball to each other?”14

Unlike most coaches, Krzyzewski rarely used a whistle in the gym—too much distance. Instead, whenever possible, he communicated up close and personal, eye to eye: “Throughout the season, I look into my players’ eyes to gauge feelings, confidence levels, and to establish instant trust. Most of the time, they won’t quibble with me—and they certainly can’t hide their feelings from what their

For the exclusive use of X. Han, 2015.

This document is authorized for use only by Xihang Han in ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (Winter 2015) taught by Ken Mawritz, at Drexel University from January 2015 to July 2015.

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eyes reveal. So I ask all members of our team to look each other in the eye when speaking to one another. It’s a principle we live by.”15

This principle cut both ways. He could read them, but they could also read him. Depending on the situation, “A leader also has to show the face his team needs to see. Because, before he ever utters a word, they see his face. They also see his eyes, even his walk.”16 According to Coach K, the impact could be huge:

I’m always aware of how I enter a room. Before a game, I might walk into the locker room quickly, with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. And as I come in, I might say something like, “Hey, we’re going to be great tonight.”

Whatever I say after that will not be as important as how I look to them.

“Did he really mean it?”

“Yeah, look at his face. He really meant it. We might be great tonight.”17

Relationships with Players: A Family Affair

People have to be given the freedom to show the heart they possess. I think it’s a leader’s responsibility to provide that type of freedom. And I believe it can be done through relationships and family. Because if a team is a real family, its members want to show their hearts.18

— Mike Krzyzewski on family

When The Sporting News named him “Sportsman of the Year—the first time a college coach had ever won the honor—they said, ‘On the court and off, Krzyzewski is a family man first, a teacher second, a basketball coach third, and a winner at all three. He is what’s right about sports.’”19

Krzyzewski credited much of his coaching success and personal priorities to his upbringing: “Whenever I go back to Chicago, I find myself thinking, ‘Gee, I’m so lucky, it’s amazing.’ Not because my family was poor or that I had humble beginnings—but, rather that I had it so good. And also because of all those values my folks taught me. They were great values—and they proved to be the basis for how I would conduct myself for the rest of my life.”20

As his celebrity grew, remaining close to his players took work. He made it a point to fly with them in coach class to away games and have them over for family dinners throughout the season. Bobby Hurley, who helped lead Duke to two NCAA championships and set a record for the most assists in NCAA history, recalled the importance of family: “When I was being recruited, we went out to his house and watched football games. A big part of my decision in coming here was that everyone got along real well. I decided if I was going to go far away from home . . . I’d like to have that family environment.”21

After graduating from Duke, Hurley was selected seventh overall in the 1993 NBA Draft. Shortly after the start of his first season, he was seriously injured in a terrible car accident. Broadsided by another car traveling at night with no lights, Hurley suffered collapsed lungs, a torn trachea, broken bones, and numerous cuts and sprains. Shortly after he came out of eight hours in surgery, Krzyzewski arrived at his bedside. According to Hurley’s father, “(My son) literally sat up . . . and he took the ventilator tube out of his mouth, which he hadn’t done before, to talk to Mike. I think it just meant so much to him that Mike would come all the way across the country just to see him.”22

For the exclusive use of X. Han, 2015.

This document is authorized for use only by Xihang Han in ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (Winter 2015) taught by Ken Mawritz, at Drexel University from January 2015 to July 2015.

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Grant Hill, former Duke player and later a five-time NBA All-Star, described his relationship with Coach K this way: “It’s like a parent . . . even now . . . (it’s) like I’m 18 years old in his office talking to him. He’s still coaching, offering advice. . . . I’m just like a sponge trying to soak it all up.”23

According to Krzyzewski, “You have to work hard at staying in contact with your friends so that the relationships will continue and live on. . . . Friendships, along with love, make life worth living.”24 In the macho world of college athletics, Coach K never shied away from words like “heart” and “love” to describe his feelings for his players and the game.

But there was also another side to Coach K. During a game, he was all business. Stern and unyielding, he paced the bench, actively working referees as well as his team nonstop from the opening tip to the final buzzer. Former Duke star Christian Laettner saw it this way: “What you don’t know about him [Krzyzewski] from watching him on TV is that behind closed doors he’s, you know, a little more like Bobby Knight.”25

Coach K argued, “There’s a time to get in someone’s face and there’s a time when you just put it on the line without yelling. There’s a time when you pat on the back. And there’s a time when you hug.”26 When challenged about his paternalistic approach to coaching, he responded: “[T]his isn’t all about ‘I love you,’ and ‘Let’s hold hands and skip.’ . . . Am I tough on the team? Absolutely. If they don’t show respect for the program, for the university, for one another, I’m all over them. I don’t want fear to be my primary motivator. But the team has got to know that if they are screwing up, the hammer is going to come down.”27

Whenever Coach K talked about his team or his coaching philosophy, there was a good chance that his story would begin and end with family:

I always knew my mother, my father, and my brother would be there for me. I knew because they loved me. And, as a basketball coach, I have no problem telling a team, “I love you guys.”

When I say that, there is absolutely nothing phony about it.

I try to convey the idea to all members of our team that we are not just playing basketball. I would hope that our kids would see that we love them. I would hope that the players who played in the past would say that they loved playing at Duke; that they loved a teammate; that they loved the situation they were in.

Sharing with one another and caring for one another—that’s what love is. That’s what family is all about.28

Outsiders might find all this talk about family and love a bit over the top, hard to imagine in the high-pressured masculine world of men’s college basketball. Former Duke player Jay Bilas had this to say about Coach K’s sincerity: “When he would speak about, you know, winning or what he wanted to accomplish, he would get goose bumps on his arms and legs. I’ve heard a lot of what I’ve considered to be phony speeches in my time playing. You know, you can’t fake goose bumps.”29

The Decision

By the summer of 2004, Coach K had become as important to Duke University off the court as he was on it. In addition to leading the basketball program, Krzyzewski also served on the faculty of Duke’s business school. As an executive-in-residence at the Fuqua/Coach K Center of Leadership

For the exclusive use of X. Han, 2015.

This document is authorized for use only by Xihang Han in ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (Winter 2015) taught by Ken Mawritz, at Drexel University from January 2015 to July 2015.

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and Ethics, Krzyzewski translated his lessons from the locker room to the board room. His annual leadership conference attracted hundreds of executives from around the world.

In addition to coaching and teaching, he was also a special advisor to the university president and often served as a lead spokesman for the school. Duke President Richard Brodhead said: “[Coach K] means more to this place than the record of his victories, impressive though that is. He’s a real teacher. He teaches character as well as basketball.”30

For his work at Duke, Coach K was handsomely rewarded. According to The Washington Post, his annual compensation from the university was reported to total at least $875,000 per year over the past several years.31 In addition, in 1993 he signed a lucrative deal with Nike, reported to include a “$1 million signing bonus: $500,000 a year for, reportedly, seven years . . . [and] . . . $75,000 annually until death does him part.”32