Educate me about Coach K
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Educate me about Coach K
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SaintofKillers
- Assistant Coach
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Educate me about Coach K
Okay I'll be honest with you: I don't follow Duke; ergo, I'm not familiar with his coaching style and how he does things. The only reason why I'm going "yay coach k" is because everyone else does but I really have no idea what kind of a coach he is.
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Lord Ashram
- Sophomore
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Hm.
Okay.
First off, he is a stubborn guy. He clearly has been successful, winning a LOT, but he is NOT the kind of guy who, generally, changes what he does. I suppose that is the same for most of the top coaches, but... he has had a few real sharp moves in his coaching career that have paid off, of course, such as using 6'4 Reggie Love as a center when Carlos Boozer went out at the end of a season, and riding Love and craptastic backup Casey Sanders to the Finals, but generally K tends to go with what has worked for him in the past.
He preaches D first, and everything flows from aggressive D. The Duke defenders are super aggressive and overplay passing lanes with the idea of generating turnovers, although this does sometimes leave them open to getting backdoored. Duke plays almost exclusively man to man D, as K thinks that keeps guys involved and active and aggressive, although this year Duke did play zone for tiny periods here and there.
On offense K seems to buy into the idea that 3>2. He clearly likes a mobile, slashing attack with a LOT of three point shooting. Everyone has done the whole three vs two efficiency charting before, but he seems to think that in the end 3s will win it. He rarely recruits big bruising centers; usually they are more finesse oriented... think Laettner. He has brought in a few more traditional semi-bangers who have been successful (Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer) but these guys were exceptions rather than typical examples. They are just examples who did very, very well.
In todays age, he seems to be going against the idea of recruiting one and dones and going more for four year players, especially having been burned VERY badly by some early losses to the NBA that had pretty deep impacts on the overall Duke program. This long-term player approach has definately hurt a little recently and Duke has fallen on harder-than-normal times as it has undergone this change in recruiting, but now the guys who were frosh and sophomores a year and two ago are rounding into shape as juniors, and coupled with some younger studs it seems that this strategy will be successful, as K mixes four year guys with a dose of two and three year guys.
Generally K is percieved as not playing ton of bench; he plays the five best guys as long as he can. This hasn't always proven true, as more talented teams have been used with more depth, but generally his substitution patterns keep the best guys out there. A rather intense belief in conditioning usually makes this easier to manage.
In a day when the individual often overshadows the team, K allows no showboating and ego. As a former captain at Army up at West Point, he is all about the team first, individual second. You can count the number of stories of rampant ego and selfishness in the history of the Duke locker room on maybe one or two fingers. He is FEROCIOUSLY intense and proud. The idea of the "Duke way" and the "Duke family" is clearly important to him. He has definately pulled away from the media a bit since he went out with exhaustion/injury some 10, 15 years ago, which has possibly hurt the public face of Duke a bit, but it has also apparently given him new energy. Players often speak of his intensity, but also speak of his humor; he is pretty generous with the four letter words and the off-color humor, and well known for being rather funny and self-effacing. Finally, and like many of the top coaches, he is a very charitable man, including getting involved in military charities (usually requesting it remain quiet) and of course with the V Foundation and a host of Durham-based charities.
Very into the idea of education and all of that. He takes his position as a guardian of young men (again, think former captain at Army and military officer) and teacher at Duke seriously, and works rather extensively with the business school and with the school administration to further the educational aims of Duke.
Generally seems to be a good guy. Some ego, like ANY hugely successful person, but generally seems to do things the right way in an increasingly intense world. It is about hard work and hard nosed play... the excellent defensive play is more important than the flashy offensive play. An excellent representative of an excellent university, and a nice throwback to an era of personal responsibility, team, and blue collar work ethic in a day these things are sometimes not common.
Okay.
First off, he is a stubborn guy. He clearly has been successful, winning a LOT, but he is NOT the kind of guy who, generally, changes what he does. I suppose that is the same for most of the top coaches, but... he has had a few real sharp moves in his coaching career that have paid off, of course, such as using 6'4 Reggie Love as a center when Carlos Boozer went out at the end of a season, and riding Love and craptastic backup Casey Sanders to the Finals, but generally K tends to go with what has worked for him in the past.
He preaches D first, and everything flows from aggressive D. The Duke defenders are super aggressive and overplay passing lanes with the idea of generating turnovers, although this does sometimes leave them open to getting backdoored. Duke plays almost exclusively man to man D, as K thinks that keeps guys involved and active and aggressive, although this year Duke did play zone for tiny periods here and there.
On offense K seems to buy into the idea that 3>2. He clearly likes a mobile, slashing attack with a LOT of three point shooting. Everyone has done the whole three vs two efficiency charting before, but he seems to think that in the end 3s will win it. He rarely recruits big bruising centers; usually they are more finesse oriented... think Laettner. He has brought in a few more traditional semi-bangers who have been successful (Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer) but these guys were exceptions rather than typical examples. They are just examples who did very, very well.
In todays age, he seems to be going against the idea of recruiting one and dones and going more for four year players, especially having been burned VERY badly by some early losses to the NBA that had pretty deep impacts on the overall Duke program. This long-term player approach has definately hurt a little recently and Duke has fallen on harder-than-normal times as it has undergone this change in recruiting, but now the guys who were frosh and sophomores a year and two ago are rounding into shape as juniors, and coupled with some younger studs it seems that this strategy will be successful, as K mixes four year guys with a dose of two and three year guys.
Generally K is percieved as not playing ton of bench; he plays the five best guys as long as he can. This hasn't always proven true, as more talented teams have been used with more depth, but generally his substitution patterns keep the best guys out there. A rather intense belief in conditioning usually makes this easier to manage.
In a day when the individual often overshadows the team, K allows no showboating and ego. As a former captain at Army up at West Point, he is all about the team first, individual second. You can count the number of stories of rampant ego and selfishness in the history of the Duke locker room on maybe one or two fingers. He is FEROCIOUSLY intense and proud. The idea of the "Duke way" and the "Duke family" is clearly important to him. He has definately pulled away from the media a bit since he went out with exhaustion/injury some 10, 15 years ago, which has possibly hurt the public face of Duke a bit, but it has also apparently given him new energy. Players often speak of his intensity, but also speak of his humor; he is pretty generous with the four letter words and the off-color humor, and well known for being rather funny and self-effacing. Finally, and like many of the top coaches, he is a very charitable man, including getting involved in military charities (usually requesting it remain quiet) and of course with the V Foundation and a host of Durham-based charities.
Very into the idea of education and all of that. He takes his position as a guardian of young men (again, think former captain at Army and military officer) and teacher at Duke seriously, and works rather extensively with the business school and with the school administration to further the educational aims of Duke.
Generally seems to be a good guy. Some ego, like ANY hugely successful person, but generally seems to do things the right way in an increasingly intense world. It is about hard work and hard nosed play... the excellent defensive play is more important than the flashy offensive play. An excellent representative of an excellent university, and a nice throwback to an era of personal responsibility, team, and blue collar work ethic in a day these things are sometimes not common.
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NelsonK
- Ballboy
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Kobe Bryant on Coach K
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-alR0hg70
Lebron James on Coach K
http://dukeblueplanet.com/blog.asp?bid=17&pid=174
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-alR0hg70
Lebron James on Coach K
http://dukeblueplanet.com/blog.asp?bid=17&pid=174
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NBAPhoJ
- Retired Mod
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This short clip gives you Coach K in a nutshell:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CWl5qC0FBzo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CWl5qC0FBzo
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Lord Ashram
- Sophomore
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- Joined: Jan 21, 2007