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Coach K rules out coaching Lakers
He says his current job at Duke will be his last position in basketball
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Published: July 1, 2009
DURHAM
Mike Krzyzewski will finish his coaching career at Duke, not with any other college program or in the NBA.
Krzyzewski has been mentioned as a possible hire for the Los Angeles Lakers should their coach, Phil Jackson, retire. Krzyzewski put an end to any speculation about his intentions yesterday in his annual summer meeting with reporters by saying that he will not leave the job that he has held for the past 29 years for any other job.
"I'm not going to the Lakers," he said. "They have one of the great coaches in the history of the game. I didn't think he left yet, unless they're looking for somebody to do away games. I couldn't do them as well as he could, so I wouldn't want to be considered for that.
"I'm not leaving Duke. Whatever you hear about anything like that (don't believe it). I will never leave Duke until I leave coaching. Anything else that's being said would be somebody saying stuff."
Krzyzewski said he sensed in the summer of 2004 that he would never leave Duke until he retired. He turned down an offer that year, on July 6, to coach the Lakers for five years at $40 million.
"To hear another rumor about that -- not that it's so bad -- but I'd rather not go there at all," he said. "I don't want my Duke team -- the community -- to feel like you're looking at other things or whatever."
Krzyzewski said he doesn't envision quitting any time soon. He's 62 and has been coaching for 34 years overall, but he has said that he feels energetic and that he has no new health issues.
"I don't see the finish line yet," he said. "I know that the finish line will be there sometime, but it's not in my vision right now."
The only other coaching job in which Krzyzewski is interested is for the U.S. National Team. He coached the team for a three-year period during the college offseason, which ended in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he guided the team to the gold medal.
Krzyzewski has said he's interested in a second tour of duty. He said that USA Basketball officials are still deciding who the coach and assistants for the 2012 team will be but that the choices will likely be made on July 21.
The USA national team will hold a mini-camp in Las Vegas at that time, with 25 prospective players in town for four days of practice and play.
Krzyzewski said that he has talked to numerous basketball personnel since the 2008 Olympics about taking the job again.
"It helped our program," he said. "It helped me. It helped our school. It's just a good thing. There is nothing negative for me.
"I'm going to go forward with USA Basketball whether I coach or not in some capacity. You invest too much to give it up."
Krzyzewski said he wasn't taken by surprise by Elliot Williams' decision to transfer to a school closer to his Memphis, Tenn., home after only one season at Duke because of concerns over his mother's health. Krzyzewski said he was aware of the situation in 2007 when he began recruiting Williams.
Williams' transfer and Gerald Henderson's decision to enter the NBA Draft a year early have left two recruited players, Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith, in the backcourt. Jordan Davidson, a walkon, will return next season as a graduate student to help.
Krzyzewski said that some slight concessions might have to be made next season in defensive pressure on the ball because of the lack of depth in the backcourt. Junior forward Kyle Singler will play on the perimeter next season in a move plotted by Krzyzewski before Williams left.
"You adjust to the people you have," Krzyzewski said. "I don't see us picking up full-court man dogging somebody with Kyle on a 5-11 guy or something. We're not going to do that."
Krzyzewski is confident that ball handling will not be a problem next season. Duke made on average fewer turnovers in the last 12 games of the season after Krzyzewski altered the lineup by putting Scheyer at point guard and starting Williams at the other guard position.
Krzyzewski said that the players who handled the ball a majority of the time in those games are back.
Both of Duke's incoming recruits, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee, are big men. Seth Curry, a transfer from Liberty University, is a guard but must sit out a season under NCAA transfer rules.
Krzyzewski did not rule out an addition of a guard to the recruiting class before the start of school.
"I will tell you this: we never stop recruiting," he said. "You're always looking for every class. We'll continue to do what we do."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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