DURHAM -- Mike Krzyzew-ski takes vacations, just not as many as he could.
With another NCAA trophy locked inside the glass case, with the squeaks and shrieks of kiddie camp receding, he will soon resume the role of Coach 2K.
Team USA will conduct tryouts in Las Vegas aimed at blending advanced college players with the established pros along the busy summer road to Turkey for basketball's world championships. Krzyzewski will return Sept. 13, exhaling briefly before fusing Duke's extensive new talent with veterans.
When Krzyzewski took the USA Basketball job, some Duke folks and media geniuses frowned. They saw him walking stiffly on replacement hips and predicted exhaustion as he entered his 60s. They saw the Blue Devils check out in early NCAA rounds -- especially two years ago -- and projected program weariness.
Krzyzewski says he scans the newspaper-TV-web world merely to assess the landscape for his team, and monitoring on this subject revealed measurable criticism that wasn't necessarily reflected in his fan mail.
"It's something to talk about," Krzyzewski said. "I don't think there's a wave going out there, and there shouldn't be now that we won the gold medal and we won a national championship. All right. I don't know. It's never been a big thing for me. Look, when I got here and we were losing, I only played man-to-man. There was a wave of people. I've been in the waves. That's not a wave."
All about getting better
For fretful Blue Devils, tide is out on the dual-coach debate. Krzyzewski figures he proved his point. When one day or one season ends, he goes on to the next thing.
"The next thing is getting better as a basketball coach," he said. "For me, you've got to get better. You've got to get better each year, so the opportunity to coach the U.S. team gives me an opportunity to get better. I'll coach this summer more than anybody in the U.S., my whole staff. As long as I take my breaks and stay fresh, I think that's a good thing."
He compares the approach to doctors and lawyers routinely studying changes in medicine and law. The average American might not draw that parallel, but the average American doesn't make $4.2 million a season. That's what the AP reported as Krzyzewski's university compensation during the 2008-09 academic year, based on Duke's federal tax filing.
"I'm a basketball coach all the time," Krzyzewski said. "That's what I do. I don't play golf. I chase my dog, or he chases me. I whack down some trees and bushes, and play with my grandkids, and drink a little bit of wine. I like to socialize, but I'm a basketball coach every day of my life, so why not?"
A game that works
So, why not golf?
"Just, for me, it doesn't work," Krzyzewski told reporters last week. "I like watching it, and I'm all for people who do it, believe me. I'm not against it. I watch it. I think it's a hell of a game. The only thing is, if I did it and the four of us went out, the three of you would want to beat me -- more so than each other, because then you could say: ‘I beat him.' And then I would not like that. So, then I would want to beat you, and then I'd have to practice. It doesn't work, for me."
Krzyzewski decided that golf takes too much time after playing a couple of times.
"I just try to whack the heck out of, or hit it," he said. "Before whacking, hitting is a good thing. Like, touching the ball with the club. I'm amazed at what they can do, but I know they practice and practice. And, they're amazed when guys hit 30-foot jump shots."
Krzyzewski is more at home watching guys hit 30-foot jump shots or miss 50-foot title prayers, in winter or summer.
lrawlings@wsjournal.com
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