Tag Archives: Olympics

Coach K a finalist for USOC Coach of the Year

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Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski led Team USA to a second consecutive gold medal under his leadership at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski in his Olympic gear back at Duke. (File Photo).

Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski in his Olympic gear back at Duke. (File Photo).

Now Coach K has been named one of four finalists for the Olympic Coach of the Year as named by the United States Olympic Committee. The USOC also named Adam Krikorian (water polo), Adam Soldati (diving) and Chip White (skiing) finalists.

The winner will be announced June 21.

Coach K led a team of NBA stars to an 8-0 record at the 2012 Olympics, improving his record in international competition to 62-1. He is the second coach to lead USA to back-to-back golds in basketball.

He came back to lead the Blue Devils to a 30-6 campaign this year, advancing to the Elite Eight before losing to Louisville in the Midwest regional final.

Video: Krzyzewski’s golden leap

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With under a minute remaning in the gold-medal game for men’s basketball in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Chris Paul hit a layup to put Team USA up 104-93 against Spain.

Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who coaches the American national team and led them to a second Olympic gold in as many tries as head coach, was quite happy with the shot that sealed the victory for Team USA.

So happy, in fact, that he excitedly jumped for joy three times on the sidelines, pumping his fists. And, one humorous YouTube video, uploaded by uniqueone006, captures that exuberance.

Check it out:

The voice in the video says, “Watch Coach K–like a schoolgirl. This dude’s lost it.”

In his press conference at Raleigh/Durham International Airport on Monday, returning to the United States, Krzyzewski alluded to his excitement on the sidelines when a reporter asked him if he were more excited or relieved to have won because of the high expectations for Team USA.

“It’s more excitement, in the last couple minutes, I don’t think my reactions on the sidelines were out of relief. It was like, ‘Whoa, this is unbelievable,’” Krzyzewski said.

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Duke’s Johnston and McCrory qualify for 2012 Olympics

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Abby Johnston and Nick McCrory have qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, becoming the first Duke divers to ever earn a spot on the United States Olympic team.

Johnston and her diving partner, Kelci Bryant, earned their Olympic bid by placing first in the synchronized 3-meter springboard at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Federal Way, Wash. The duo, needing to finish first to qualify, narrowly bested the second-place team of Kassidy Cook and Christina Loukas by an unofficial margin of 0.42 points to earn a trip to London. Holding a slim 6.51-point margin entering the final round, Johnston and Bryant watched as Cook and Loukas matched them dive-for-dive throughout the evening but never were able to seize the lead.

Bryant earned her second trip to the Olympic Games after competing in the 2008 Games in Beijing, where she finished fourth in the synchronized 3-meter springboard.

McCrory and David Boudia took a convincing victory in the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform, scoring 1387.86 points and holding a 180.78-point margin over second place. This will be Boudia’s second Olympic Games as well.

Johnston will also compete in the finals of the individual 3-meter springboard Saturday. McCrory will compete in the finals of the individual 10-meter platform Saturday as well.

UPDATE (1:16 a.m.): Johnston will not compete in Saturday’s final due to shoulder inflammation, according to The Herald-Sun’s Stephen Wiseman.

Follow @stevewisemanNC and @DanielHCarp on Twitter.

Krzyzewski To Coach Team USA In 2012 Olympics

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It’s official: Mike Krzyzewski is going for gold again.

As was reported two weeks ago, Krzyzewski  has agreed to try to lead Team USA to another gold medal at the 2010 World Championships in Turkey and the 2012 Olympics in London. He guided the United States to a gold in Beijing, and after Managing Director Jerry Colangelo offered him the chance to stay on for four more years, Krzyzewski announced he would accept today at a press conference in Las Vegas.

“It was a huge honor to be selected as the USA National Team coach the first time. It is still a huge honor,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “The experience of being the head coach of the USA National Team for three summers was the best experience I’ve ever had in coaching. The upcoming three years will be a new experience and hopefully, it will be as rewarding.”

The rest of Krzyzewski’s coaching staff from the last Olympic cycle–Jim Boeheim, Mike D’Antoni and Nate McMillian–will join him on the sidelines again, while the process of selecting the Olympic team begins tomorrow.

Krzyzewski, about to begin his 30th year at Duke, brought his Duke assistants and some staff members with him to Beijing. Associate head coaches Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski served as scouting directors, while video coordinator Kevin Cullen assumed the same role with USA Basketball. Krzyzewski said he hasn’t made any decisions yet, but he expects them to retain similar positions.

“If they’re at Duke, they probably will be involved,” he said. “In other words, if Wojo or Chris got head coaching jobs some place, then that would be difficult. Like, Johnny Dawkins would not be able to continue with us because he’s just taken over his program at Stanford. But those decisions will be made on a year-to-year-basis.”

Please check back with The Chronicle to follow this developing story, and keep reading after the jump to read some of the 2008 players’ testimonials about Krzyzewski.

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Reports: Mike Krzyzewski To Coach 2012 Olympic Team

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Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who led Team USA to a gold medal in Beijing last summer, will try to do the same in London in 2012, multiple media outlets are reporting.

Multiple unnamed sources told The Boston Globe and ESPN that USA Basketball will make the official announcement at a mini-camp later this month, and on Tuesday, Team USA Managing Director Jerry Colangelo said Tuesday that “all leads point to Coach K coming back.”

Krzyzewski, who will reportedly retain his coaching staff from the 2008 squad, will coach the team at the 2010 World Championships before returning to the Olympics in 2012.

Check back with The Chronicle and The Sports Blog for more updates on Krzyzewski’s choice to lead the Olympic team in London.

Coach K On Coaching Differently

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On Wednesday, The Chronicle received its advance copy of “The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team,” Mike Krzyzewski’s forthcoming memoir about coaching Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. We’ll have a full review up in a few days, but before then, we’ll try to post a few pertinent excerpts.

This paragraph, from the book’s introduction, seemed particularly appropriate, especially after Krzyzewski shuffled up his starting lineup multiple times this season:

“Many have said that I coached the Olympic team differently than I coach my Duke teams. Of course I did. If I’m doing my job right, I also coach my Duke teams differently each season. Your teambuilding plan must be personalized and specific to your personnel, your competition, your goal, and your leadership style. I can’t just give you a formula. But what I can offer you are my thoughts on how to best utilize your time in bringing a team together. What you have to be willing to do is invest the time in preparation, to figure it out and to personalize it. And that’s what makes it interesting.”