THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 22, 1995 TAG: 9511220683
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Back when Duke was making regular visits to the Final Four and winning back-to-back championships in 1991 and '92, coach Mike Krzyzewski knew he was making it tough for the man who followed such an act.
He just didn't know he would be the one facing such an awesome challenge.
That is the case this season as Krzyzewski is back on the Duke sidelines, after a health-related absence, looking to lay the foundation for a new era of Final Four visits. The first step comes Friday morning against Old Dominion in the Great Alaska Shootout (12:30 a.m., ESPN).
Krzyzewski missed most of last season while recovering from back surgery and a burnout that resulted from taking seven teams to the Final Four in a decade.
While he was away, the once-mighty Blue Devils crashed and burned. They tumbled from the top of the college basketball world to last place in the ACC.
``It was such a chaotic situation you can't really analyze what happened,'' senior Tony Moore says. ``When we lost our main guy - and that is what Coach K is - people tried doing more to make up for it, and we got away from what our roles should have been.''
Duke finished 13-18 overall, 2-14 in the ACC, and failed to get to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1983, Krzyzewski's third year in Durham.
The question now is whether the Blue Devils can pick up where they left off before Krzyzewski's abrupt departure last winter, or whether they must start anew.
Krzyzewski feels in some ways that he is starting over with this year's team. During the offseason he lost longtime assistants Mike Brey, now head coach at Delaware, and Pete Gaudet, who retired. And for the first time in more than a decade, Duke does not have a superstar returning.
``There is a lot of newness in the program, and you have to include me in that, too,'' Krzyzewski says. ``I didn't coach the team for the final 2 1/2 months of last season, so the knowledge I would have about the team or the individuals on the team to bring forward I do not have.
``There are new players in the league I didn't coach against last year. In a sense, it is like going to a new league and having to learn the people you have to coach against, and what is going to be needed.''
Duke was 9-3, including an early win over Michigan, when Krzyzewski left the team in early January, but cracks in what many saw as college basketball's most admirable program already had begun surfacing.
A year earlier, Krzyzewski had admitted to his seniors he was suffering from burnout and promised to rededicate himself to his team. That team, with Grant Hill as the senior leader, made it to the '93 championship game before losing to Arkansas in the final minute.
Then followed a series of embarrassing and controversial incidents.
Krzyzewski had to cancel a team tour to Australia because some players were close to flunking out of school.
At the same time, he became involved in what was described as a power struggle with second-year Duke president Nannerl Keohane and he seriously considered leaving Duke for the pros.
In early October, as Krzyzewski was preparing for the season, he underwent back surgery for a ruptured disc.
``The surgery was great, but the patient thought he could come back in one week instead of six to eight,'' Krzyzewski says. ``It was a stupid mistake and I paid dearly for it.''
Krzyzewski returned to the practice floor, coaching from a reclined position, only days after the surgery. He attempted to keep up the hectic pace of his other duties, too, and became frustrated and depressed when he couldn't do so.
Finally, under an ultimatum from wife Mickie, Krzyzewski turned the team over to Gaudet after a shocking loss at home to Clemson in the league opener.
When Krzyzewski did not come to games and was not available to the media or well-wishers, rumors circulated around Durham.
Some claimed he was suffering from mental exhaustion and his marriage was on the rocks. There were whispers he was dying of AIDS or cancer.
``All of those horrible stories were wrong,'' Krzyzewski says, ``but I was depressed - depressed that I had a horrible back and a dumb mind about trying to come back so fast.''
The rumor that most affected the team had Krzyzewski leaving to coach in the pros.
``I was never concerned about his health, because he had been upfront with us on that,'' guard Jeff Capel says. ``But the stuff about him leaving was eating away at us.''
Capel and others talked about transferring if Krzyzewski left. It was a major distraction for a team struggling to stay afloat.
``I didn't come to Durham to play for Duke,'' says Californian Ricky Price. ``I came to play for Coach K, and if he weren't going to be here, I wasn't going to stay here.''
Krzyzewski says he never thought about not coming back as Duke's coach, but admitted that coaching no longer was fun to him, that the joy of getting teams to the Final Four had become more of a burden than a joy.
``Anyone who has not won back-to-back championships might not understand, but it got kinda old,'' Krzyzewski says. ``The demands being placed on me were not what I wanted to do as a coach.
``I wanted to be on the practice floor. I wanted to be with the kids and have an influence on their lives. That is how we had achieved success.''
Krzyzewski had no one to turn to for advice because he felt no one else had ever been in his situation.
``The success we had the last decade mirrored the explosion of college basketball,'' he says.
No other coach had been to the Final Four so often, or had teams win back-to-back titles since UCLA's glory days that ended in the '70s, before the tournament became college athletics' premier event.
But, as Krzyzewski's health returned, so did his desire to return as the Duke coach and he promised himself to keep his priorities in order.
That was good news to Capel and other returning players.
``I love Coach K, but I got mad at him at times because he gave so much to so many people that I felt he was neglecting his team,'' Capel said. ``I was glad he was coming back, but I hoped he had learned that you can't be everything to everybody. I feel he does realize that now, too.''
Krzyzewski's concentration has been on the team since making a slow return to his coaching duties last spring. But, while some think the Blue Devils will rise as quickly as they fell now that Krzyzewski is back, he is not expecting miracles.
He says there is ``unproven talent'' on the team, but the quality is down from where it was during the Final Four years.
``I think looking at the big picture, the key factor for me is not trying to get our players to take care of my ego stuff, like getting me back to the Final Four,'' Krzyzewski says.
``I can't put that on this team, but hopefully if we can be as good as this team possibly can be, then we can set another foundation for what the program can be like in the future.''
Seniors Moore and Chris Collins realize the future is now for them, and they want the same success they had their first two years.
``We've worked harder than ever on the practice court, and I've never seen Coach K more excited or more intense,'' Moore says. ``It's great having our main man back again.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by PAUL AIKEN, The Virginian-Pilot file
After a turbulent year for Mike Krzyzewski, in which his team fell
to the bottom of the ACC without him while he recovered from a back
injury, the Blue Devils coach is looking forward to his return.
by CNB