Coach K Doesn’t Worry About Critics

The spotlight always finds Mike Krzyzewski -- hoisting a championship trophy, starring in a TV commercial, turning down an offer to coach the Lakers.

This time, the Duke coach simply stepped aside.

At the opening of a recreation center that bears his mother’s name, Krzyzewski closed his remarks by praising his older brother, Bill, as his hero and the family leader. His voice faltered a bit as he handed him the scissors for the ribbon-cutting.

Coach K then thanked each of his players for coming, and a couple wiped tears from their eyes.

“If he does stuff like this, and raises the money to build this center, then he’s a pretty good guy,” said one of Krzyzewski’s three daughters, Jamie Spatola. “If somebody has something negative to say about him, I think we’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring it.”

Such is the life led by the Hall of Fame coach. On one hand, he’s an agitator of referees, someone known as much for his sideline scowls and profanities as he is for leading the winningest program of this century.

The Blue Devils are 205-33 since 2000 entering the weekend, the only team with more than 200 victories. Illinois is next with 185.

But there’s another side to Krzyzewski, the one Spatola, her sisters and the rest of their family get to see. It’s the one in which he devotes time to a myriad of charities, including the Duke Children’s Hospital and the V Foundation, named after the late North Carolina State coach, Jim Valvano.

The Emily Krzyzewski Family Life Center now can be added to the list.

“I think a public figure, in coaching, you’re always going to get some criticism,” Coach K said. “Being involved in things like this make that worthwhile. It gives it substance, so it’s not just about winning games and scoring more points than another team. It gives a soul to what you do.”

More than ever, that includes more than simply worrying about No. 1 Duke (26-1). Krzyzewski was appointed coach for USA Basketball’s first men’s senior national team in October, and he will be in charge of the U.S. national program for the next three years.

That span includes the world championships in Japan in 2006 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He is the first college coach to lead a U.S. team in a major international competition since NBA players started playing in the Olympics in 1992.

Then there’s the commercials. Krzyzewski is one of a handful of people used by American Express in its “My Life, My Card” spots, and his involvement alongside celebrities such as Tiger Woods and Robert De Niro immediately drew some questions around college basketball.

Surely, the spots that show him walking through Cameron Indoor Stadium -- where the three national championship banners he has won are featured prominently -- violated some recruiting rule.

Not so, according to the NCAA. While not specifically mentioning Krzyzewski, the organization released a statement to show it had no rules against endorsements for coaches. The issue might be revisited at some point, but for now there’s nothing to stop him or anyone else from doing it.

And Coach K wonders if it helps at all.

“I don’t think we need that,” he said. “In some ways, people use that against you. Whatever edges we have here at Duke come as a result of having a great school and a great program, not any other things. I don’t believe that.”

This isn’t the only perceived advantage that rankles Krzyzewski. Through 27 games this season, the Blue Devils have made 526 free throws, while their opponents have shot a total of 436.

The discrepancy was particularly glaring in back-to-back victories over Boston College and Florida State. In those games, Duke was 60 of 80, while the Eagles and the Seminoles combined were 20 for 24.

Krzyzewski points to the style of play used by his Blue Devils, as well an emphasis on getting the other team in foul trouble. Guard J.J. Redick, the second-leading scorer in Division I, does this better than perhaps anyone.

“Whenever anybody ever asks me about free throws or favoritism, my first question is, ‘Do you think the game is fixed? Are you asking if the officials don’t have integrity?’ ” Coach K said. “That’s a hell of a statement. Be careful of what you say.”

A week later, Boston College shot 50 free throws while winning at Wake Forest, and the Demon Deacons attempted only 14.

“Did anybody say anything about that?” Krzyzewski mused. “Of course not, because it wasn’t Duke.”

For Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford, the complaints are nothing new. He heard them all in his previous job as the athletic director at North Carolina, where his basketball coach was Dean Smith.

“You win a lot, you’re in the spotlight almost constantly,” Swofford said. “I think anybody that has long-term success in a world as competitive as major college athletics is going to have some criticism.”

None of that mattered that day at the Emily K Center, where Coach K’s ties to Duke are impossible to miss.

Conference rooms on the lower level were endowed by former players Tommy Amaker and Billy King, who named them in honor of their mothers. In the gym, the basketball court is the actual surface used at the 2001 Final Four, the site of Krzyzewski’s most recent NCAA title.