Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 7, 1990 TAG: 9006070027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Brill executive sports editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He was headed for a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Red Auerbach, the man who turned the Celtics into a dynasty and the flagship franchise of the ultra-successful NBA. Even while the Celtics struggled in 1988-89, they were the champions at the box office with a profit of $12 million.
The meeting with Auerbach - and perhaps superstar Larry Bird - was another in a rapid sequence of events that has seen the Celtics and new boss Dave Gavitt seek to make Krzyzewski the first college coach with no pro experience to enter the NBA since John MacLeod left Oklahoma for the Phoenix Suns in 1974.
The creator, developer and guiding force behind the Big East Conference, Gavitt was college basketball's top executive during the '80s. Just as surely, Krzyzewski, who has taken four teams to the Final Four in the past five years, was the top coach.
Gavitt left the Big East to join the Celtics in May. He is the director of basketball, and, contractually, doesn't have to answer to Auerbach. Auerbach, though, still is the Celtics, and there is no chance Krzyzewski will become the Boston coach if he isn't wanted by Auerbach.
Gavitt and Krzyzewski are friends. The commissioner is the president of USA Basketball and will keep that job until after the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Theoretically, Krzyzewski already is working for Gavitt as the coach of the U.S. team in the Goodwill Games and the world championships.
Gavitt and Krzyzewski met for five hours Monday at the coach's home in Durham, N.C. The day was the 21st wedding anniversary for Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski, a basketball family if there ever was one.
"The Celtics have a big interest, and Mike's smart to have an interest," Mickie Krzyzewski said. "They talked and he listened. The more Dave talked, the more interested, the more appealing, they [Celtics] became.
"There really is a mystique about the Celtics. They are different from other NBA franchises. That's the type of thing that appeals to Mike and me."
Gavitt and Krzyzewski have a common bond. The former was the coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that never got to play in the Moscow Games. The latter desperately wants to coach the Americans in 1992.
Like Gavitt, Krzyzewski is unlikely to get his chance. With NBA players almost certain to be on the roster for the first time, the U.S. coach figures to come from the pro ranks. That, insiders say, is a bitter pill for Krzyzewski.
"Mike would rather coach the Olympic team than Duke or the Celtics," said a close associate.
Krzyzewski, a rigidly disciplined graduate of West Point and a former Army captain, views working with the national team as a symbol of patriotism.
Despite his enormous success in recent seasons, it is not that surprising Krzyzewski would consider leaving Duke for the Celtics. He has discussed job offers with NBA teams in the past.
There are similarities between the two jobs, including the places where they play - ancient, but refurbished, Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the Boston Garden, with no air-conditioning but the famous parquet floor.
Krzyzewski is considered an idealist and a traditionalist. Extraordinarily strong-willed, he likes the image of the Celtics.
And, said an acquaintance, "There's nothing more Duke can do for Mike. [Athletic director] Tom Butters and [university president] Keith Brodie have done all they can do. They've done everything possible."
But, if Krzyzewski is happy with his employers, he is not so happy with his subordinates.
Success, said a source, has changed them. "The expectations have become ridiculously high; the gratification has become ridiculously low," the source said.
Krzyzewski knows that if he remains at Duke and merely wins 20 games a year, that will be considered a disappointment.
Duke surprised most experts by reaching the NCAA Final before suffering a record 30-point loss to Nevada Las-Vegas. The Blue Devils' 29 victories were the second-most in Krzyzewski's 10-year career in Durham.
In many respects, though, it was - to him - most disappointing.
There was the incident with the student paper, The Chronicle. Unhappy with what he deemed unjust criticism of an overachieving squad, the coach verbally blasted the student writers in front of the team.
One of the students had a hidden tape recorder and delivered the Krzyzewski diatribe, expletives not deleted, to the Durham newspaper.
Krzyzewski was widely criticized by the media for his actions, perceived as an attempt to control the press.
Rightly or not, Krzyzewski felt betrayed by the student paper, and people in the Duke athletic department say he remains upset.
Seniors Alaa Abdelnaby, Robert Brickey and Phil Henderson were unexpectedly efficient on-court, but they represented failure in Krzyzewski's mind because none graduated in May.
Until this year, every Duke basketball player since 1975 had a degree, and the 100 percent graduation rate is mentioned in the first paragraph of educator Krzyzewski's biography in the Duke brochure.
Abdelnaby and Brickey, each one course short, will graduate in the first term of summer school. Henderson, who dropped out last spring before returning to the team in the fall after transfer plans failed, has a ways to go.
And, even more galling, reserve guard Joe Cook flunked out.
Most coaches would accept such failures as a way of life. Not Krzyzewski, who commits himself academically to every recruit. Said one Duke source, "For the first time, basketball was more successful than the relationship. It was not a successful year."
If Krzyzewski leaves Duke, it won't be for money, although the Celtics' offer is expected to surpass $500,000 annually.
Krzyzewski is believed to have a $130,000 contract with Duke, but his shoe sponsor, adidas, increased its total package to a reported $280,000, probably the largest such fee in the college ranks.
To accept Boston's offer, Krzyzewski will have to satisfy himself that Auerbach and Gavitt want him, and that his family will be happy, his wife said.
At Duke, the coach's wife runs his summer camp, his TV show and the senior banquet. She is as big a part of the basketball family as her husband. In Boston, Mike Krzyzewski would be only the coach, and Mickie, nicknamed after baseball great Mickey Mantle, would not be involved with the team.
How sudden was this consideration to leave Duke? "We're building an addition onto our house," Mickie Krzyzewski said.
It includes a parquet floor.
by CNB