Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty: The Story of Mike Krzyzewski and the Winning Tradition at Duke University [Paperback]

Gregg Doyel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

He has the name you can't spell and the basketball team you can't beat, and neither figures to change any time soon. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has turned Duke into the biggest, baddest basketball powerhouse in a quarter century. In 1999 he made Duke the first five-time NCAA Finalist in a single decade since John Wooden's UCLA dynasty of the 1960s. Calling the shots from hauntingly beautiful Cameron Indoor Stadium, Krzyzewski has emerged from the cavernous shadow of the legend nine miles up the road, longtime North Carolina coach Dean Smith, to do things even Smith has never done. Along the way, Krzyzewski has ruffled Smith's considerable plumage, bucked heads with former mentor Bobby Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers and offered no apologies to anyone. The son of a Chicago elevator operator and a product of West Point, Krzyzewski ate his way up the coaching chain, going from Knight's assistant to running his own show at Army to creating a juggernaut at Duke. Along the way he has lost his mother, his father, and a rival who became a dear friend, Jim Valvano, as well as crashing from exhaustion in 1995 and seeing his program evaporate in his absence. From those ashes he has rebuilt himself and his basketball team, each one better than before.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mike is the coach of this generation. He has the ideal program. (Jim Calhoun, Connecticut Coach )

About the Author

Gregg Doyel has covered ACC basketball forThe Charlotte Observer since November, 1997. Before that he was atThe Miami Herald where he covered the Florida Marlins from 1995-1997. He has gone from writing about game seven of the World Series, which the Marlins won in eleven innings, to writing about an ACC basketball season that had Duke ranked No. 1 and North Carolina ranked No. 2. Since then, he has followed the Duke team for two seasons, including its 37-2 team that made it all the way to the 1999 championship game. Doyel is a graduate of the University of Florida and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association. He currently resides in Apex, North Carolina with his wife, Meloday, and their two sons, Macon and Jackson.

Gregg Doyel has covered ACC basketball forThe Charlotte Observer since November, 1997. Before that he was atThe Miami Herald where he covered the Florida Marlins from 1995-1997. He has gone from writing about game seven of the World Series, which the Marlins won in eleven innings, to writing about an ACC basketball season that had Duke ranked No. 1 and North Carolina ranked No. 2. Since then, he has followed the Duke team for two seasons, including its 37-2 team that made it all the way to the 1999 championship game.

Doyel is a graduate of the University of Florida and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association. He currently resides in Apex, North Carolina with his wife, Meloday, and their two sons, Macon and Jackson.

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886110867
• ISBN-13: 978-1886110861
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #765,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Basketball > College & University

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doyel leads with the heart..., November 3, 2005

By 

booty poppin "password" (north carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty: The Story of Mike Krzyzewski and the Winning Tradition at Duke University (Paperback)

Gregg Doyel represents what all college hoops beat writers should aspire to. He name drops(ok, anonymous source drops), insinuates and unleashes tawdry details, often authenticated or handed to him by "reliable sources who shall remain unnamed." He participates in mud-slinging and name calling as often as possible, often opening the door to the rational, intelligent discussion of college hoops. He doesn't let facts get in his way, and allows for his unbiased theories and fantasies about the world of college hoops to open the eyes of ignorant fans. You might wonder why Gregg (two Gs dude) rarely interviews coaches especially when he may be writing about them. Let's face it, Gregg possesses a well of knowledge that is deeper (and sexier) than that of Coach K, John Wooden, Red Auerbach, Einstein, and Jesus combined.
Ok, all hyperbole aside this book is terrible. I would have loved to hear some original content about what Coach had to say in regards to building the prototypical powerhouse program. Unfortunately, Doyel probably did not get off his pockmarked ass in the process of writing this book, ripping off all the information contained within from sources like DBR, or from gleaning information from Coach K's book (which, by the way, is everything this book is not.) This book will not reveal anything new to even the most casual duke fan.
Sadly, Doyel is dismissed by all members of the college hoops community, from the casual fan to a coaching legend such as Coach K. He has routinely shown himself to be unreliable in reporting the FACTS involved in a story, and far too often limbos below the level of those who make personal attacks against him. He is a hypocrite, lambasting someone's actions one minute, and then praising them the next. He rarely owns up to his inaccuracies (notice that he never apologized for his crap article on the myron piggie BS) and pretends as though no ineptitude ever took place. He is the college basketball equivalent of a Rush Limbaugh, relying on inflammatory remarks to bring attention to his articles and giving hits to his website. Hopefully people will learn to ignore him and he too will enter rehab for his chronic abuse of oxycontin/bestiality.
In summary, boring book, poorly written by a man who is more of a blogger than a journalist. Do not read this book or your face might melt like all those dudes in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doyel is the 100% cure for insomnia, November 5, 2002

By 

"35164654684" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty: The Story of Mike Krzyzewski and the Winning Tradition at Duke University (Paperback)

This book was nothing more than a carbon copy of the expanded Duke Basketball media guide. Its like Doyel simply copied numerical factoids out of the ACC statistics books. If I wanted to read a book on numbers I'd dust off my college calculus book. Don't waste your money.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time to read it, or the money to buy it, November 3, 2005

By 

David K. Semrow "Floater" (San Diego CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty: The Story of Mike Krzyzewski and the Winning Tradition at Duke University (Paperback)

Poorly written and without a shred of any real insight, this "book" has no real redeeming qualities. Doyel needs to stick to his online gig in the daily online tabloids if this is the best quality he can summon in prose form.

Save your money.