There are two sure ways to tick off Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. Get him in a news conference, right before a big game, and ask whether he has called his old mentor, Bob Knight, for advice.
Or, find some other crisis situation-his team slumping or a key player hurt-and ask if he has called Knight for advice.
Krzyzewski will roll his eyes in astonishment. He will remind you that he is a big boy now, perfectly capable of making his own decisions.
It is not that Krzyzewski denies the role Knight played in getting him started in the coaching profession. It is that, at some point, he would like for people to deal with the possibility that Krzyzewski has survived on his own talents.
At 46, after 18 years as a head coach, after six Final Four appearances and a couple of national titles, Krzyzewski just might have a point.
If there is any coach who can relate to what Krzyzewski has had to endure, it is Roy Williams. For 10 years he assisted Dean Smith at North Carolina. Their names became inextricably linked.
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It does not matter that Williams, 42, is in his sixth season at Kansas. It does not matter that in five years, his teams won 132 games and that in the history of basketball, only one coach, North Carolina State’s Everett Case, won more in that amount of time. It doesn’t even matter that Williams started this season with the top winning percentage-.781-of all active coaches or that he has won three consecutive Big Eight titles and been to the Final Four twice in those three years.
All that matters is that he used to work for Dean Smith, the Kansas alum who got Williams the job and surely must be responsible for most of those victories.
So all Williams hears is Dean this and Dean that, blah, blah, blah. Carolina blue this and Carolina blue that. Well, he didn’t hear it Friday night in the Preseason NIT finals. North Carolina was out. The Jayhawks were in against UMass and took the title 86-75.
There is one significant difference between Krzyzewski and Williams. Though they both have faced the same fight for identity, one does not bother to fight at all.
“I don’t mind it, because it’s true,” Williams said. “If it was not for Coach Smith, I would not be coaching at Kansas. And I don’t mind people asking me if I call Coach Smith because I do. In my case, it’s true. It doesn’t bother me in the least.”
Williams works overtime to be modest, but the reality is that he has established himself as one of the top coaches in the land. This team will not be as good, as experienced or as deep as the one that lost to, yes, North Carolina, in the Final Four last spring. But it will be well-coached. It will take good shots and play tough defense.
True confession: Williams’ coaching style-sub after sub after sub-is not pleasing to the eye. In fact, it can be downright annoying. Basketball flow goes out the window.
But what is pleasing is that Williams’ teams play smart. The pros have noticed. More than one NBA team has sent feelers to Williams.
“I never thought about coaching in the pros until the last couple years when I got some calls,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about recruiting or alumni in the pros. But I love the college game, and I have a tendency to get a little bit crazy, which I think the college kids would better understand about me. And I’ve never wanted to own my own restaurant or car lot or airplane.”
He does not back away from the Carolina connection. Instead, Williams embraces it.
“I’m not the most intelligent guy in the world, but being there 10 years, you have to learn something. I’m not ashamed of the fact Dean Smith and the North Carolina philosophy is my background. I don’t mind telling anybody that’s who I’ve stolen as much as I could steal from.”
Friends says Williams’ self-deprecating act is not phony. He is not one who wants to proclaim himself a genius at every opportunity. He also does not appear to be a coach who wants to be defined only by the game.
Last July, Williams resigned as coach of the U.S team that participated in the 22-and-under world championships.
“I read that article in Sports Illustrated about Jimmy Valvano, and he said that one of his goals was to be one of the best grandfathers in the world,” Williams said then. “That was going to be his way of making up to his kids for all the time he was away. Now he wasn’t going to be able to do that.
“That’s what hit me because (Williams’ children) Scott is 16 and Kimberly’s 13. We’ve all heard of people saying on their deathbed they wished they’d spent more time with their kids. No one’s ever said they wished they’d spent more time in the office. But it was a huge commitment, and I decided for a guy who loves his family, who’s concerned about his family so much, all of a sudden they were being pushed further and further down the line.”
Williams said he is not proud of resigning, that when he makes a commitment, he likes to stick with it.
“But my family’s more important to me.”
It doesn’t hurt to have a resume that includes this item: Williams has beaten Knight three consecutive times, twice in the NCAA tournament. Dean Smith wasn’t on the bench for any of them.