INDIANAPOLIS —It’s John Wooden and Mike Krzyzewski.
Coach K won his fifth national championship Monday night with a 68-63 victory over Wisconsin. Only Wooden, who won an incredible 10 at UCLA, is above Krzyzewski on the list of champions.
When the buzzer sounded and No. 5 was official, Krzyzewski turned toward his bench with his hands high above his head. Then came the rush of assistant coaches — all former Duke players — for a group hug that included jumping up and down just like the players he led to a 35-4 record.
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He didn’t have to run around the court looking for someone to hug like Jim Valvano did in 1983 when North Carolina State shocked the college basketball world. Players ran toward Krzyzewski and one by one they got hugs, hard hugs, the kind of hugs men give each other after a hard-fought win that meant history.
Krzyzewski was already alone at the top of the Division I victory list. In his 40 seasons — 35 at Duke — he has won 1,018 games. His total is the only one with a comma.
His national championships came in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and now 2015. He was 44 years old when he won his first. He is 68 now and only Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun was older when he won a title — his third in 2011 — and that was by nine months.
“Two guys have distanced themselves from the rest of us — John and Mike,” Calhoun said minutes after Monday’s title game. “If you’re starting a Mount Rushmore of college coaches it’s them. He is one heck of a coach.”
Nothing much changes for Duke except the star players Krzyzewski recruits. It’s a program of consistency. It’s a program that has become the model for others.
Krzyzewski is loved by the Duke students and alumni. He is despised by most opponents, especially by fans of the University of North Carolina, which is just 8 miles from Duke. They feel Duke’s nickname of Blue Devils is very appropriate.
Krzyzewski has led the United States to three Olympic gold medals.
