Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The definitive biography of college basketballs all-time winningest coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as Coach K, is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAAs all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewskis best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian OConnor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career. Krzyzewski built a staggering basketball empire that has endured for more than four decades, placing him among the all-time titans of American sport, and yet there has never been a defining portrait of the coach and his program. Until now. OConnor uses scores of interviews with those who know Krzyzewski best to deliver previously untold stories about the relationships that define the venerable Coach K, including the one with his volcanic mentor, Bob Knight, that died a premature death. Krzyzewski was always driven by an inner rage fueled by his tough Chicago upbringing, and by the blue-collar Polish-American parents who raised him to fight for a better life. With updated coverage of Coach Ks stunning final season, OConnor shows you sides of the man and his methods that will surprise even the most dedicated Duke fan. Basketball fans might feel as though they already know Coach Kor Mike Krzyzewski, the decades-long coach of the Duke Blue Devils whos set to retire after this season. In this insightful biography, sportswriter OConnor captures the formative experiences and inner drive that catapulted the coach to icon status. Even the most die-hard fans will learn something. Washington Post