Michael William Krzyzewski is a retired basketball coach. He is the winningest men’s college basketball coach in history with over 1,200 wins. He coached the Duke Blue Devils to five national championships over more than 40 years at the university. He is frequently referred to as Coach K partly due to difficulty in spelling and pronunciation of his last name. He is 78 years old (February 13, 1947) and was born in Chicago.

Krzyzewski attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York where he played basketball under future Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight. He served in the Army until 1974, at age 27, and rose to the rank of Captain. He then reunited with Knight as an assistant for one year at Indiana University. After that single season, he was hired as the head coach back in West Point. He remained there for five seasons.

Duke had some national success in basketball in the early and mid-60s. Coach Bill Foster restored some of that glory in the late 70s with three NCAA tournament appearances in a row including being the national runner-up in 1978. In the spring of 1980, Duke hired Krzyzewski as their next head basketball coach, a position he would hold for more than 40 years. In his early years, the teams struggled and he narrowly avoided dismissal according to some reports. They were 38-47 in his first three seasons. They made the NCAA tournament for the first time under him in 1984. They would become regulars. By 1986, Duke became a national title contender. They advanced to the championship game before falling to the Louisville Cardinals, 72-69, in Dallas.

In 1990, Duke again advanced to the championship game but they were routed by the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, 103-73. UNLV wouldn’t lose again until the teams faced off again the next spring in the Final Four in Indianapolis. UNLV attempted to become the first undefeated champion since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers. Krzyzewski coached the Blue Devils to the upset win, 79-77. They won the championship two days later over Kansas to mark their first national title. It wouldn’t take them long to get another. Their 20-point victory over Michigan in the 1992 championship game marked the first back-to-back champions since the UCLA run of the early 70s.

Krzyzewski took a leave of absence in 1995 while recovering from back surgery. The Blue Devils missed the tournament that year. They had made the past 11 and would make the next 24. They reached the pinnacle and won again in 2001 over Arizona. In 2010, they survived a half-court shot miss by the Butler Bulldogs to win the championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, just seven miles from the Butler campus. They won their fifth, and last championship under him, in 2015 over Wisconsin, marking the third time they had won the title in the capital city of Indiana.

In the summer of 2021, Krzyzewski announced that he would retire in the spring of 2022. Duke had another stellar season in his last final season. They slipped to arch-rival North Carolina in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Duke’s campus. As fate would seem to have it, both teams advanced to the Final Four in New Orleans a month later for a rematch. The Tar Heels won, 81-77, to close his career.

Krzyzewski coached the United States Men’s Olympic basketball team to the gold medal three times. He assisted two other times including the 1992 “Dream Team”. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. He was an inaugural inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. He was inducted into the United States Military Academy Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He was inducted into the Naismith HOF a second time in 2010 as part of the Dream Team.

Krzyzewski has coached his Duke teams to five NCAA championships. His teams competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the most difficult in basketball. He has won 13 regular season and 15 post-season ACC championships. His teams won 1,202 games (including 1,129 at Duke) vs. only 368 losses, a winning percentage over 75%.

Krzyzewski supports a host of charities, most famously the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The V Foundation is named after the late coach of North Carolina State Jim Valvano, a Duke rival. Krzyzewski and broadcast legend Dick Vitale memorably helped a seriously ill Valvano off the stage after Valvano’s inspirational speech at the inaugural ESPY Awards in 1993. Valvano died of cancer a couple of months afterward. The Emily K Center opened in 2006, named after his mother. Their stated values are equity, education and opportunity, family and community partnership, and teamwork. They serve students from first grade through college with a variety of programs.

Krzyzewski has three children with Mickie Marsh (pictured with family). They have been married for 55 years. They live in Durham, North Carolina.