Coach K

The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski

De: Ian O'Connor

Narrado por: Kiff Vandenheuvel

The definitive biography of college basketball’s all-time winningest coach, Mike Krzyzewski

Mike Krzyzewski, known worldwide as “Coach K,” is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA's all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski’s best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great, but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career.

Krzyzewski built a staggering basketball empire that has endured for more than four decades, placing him among the all-time titans of American sport, and yet there has never been a defining portrait of the coach and his program. Until now. O’Connor uses scores of interviews with those who know Krzyzewski best to deliver previously untold stories about the relationships that define the venerable Coach K, including the one with his volcanic mentor, Bob Knight, that died a premature death. Krzyzewski was always driven by an inner rage fueled by his tough Chicago upbringing, and by the blue-collar Polish-American parents who raised him to fight for a better life. As the retiring Coach K makes his final stand, vying for one more ring during the 2021-2022 season before saying goodbye at age 75, O’Connor shows you sides of the man and his methods that will surprise even the most dedicated Duke fan.

©2022 Ian O'Connor (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Great book!

Whether you’re a Duke fan of just a sports fan in general, this book will bring back memories. Listened to it in one day and left me wanting to hear more. Only criticism would be that in a book about basketball, the narrator should pronounce names correct. Jim Boeheim is a well known enough name but I was left trying to figure out who he was talking about at first. Bo-heme??? Amika Okafur, Amare Stoudemire, they’re all common enough basketball names that they shouldn’t be mispronounced. Other than that, it was fantastic.

The Good and Bad of Coach K

A very good historical detail behind the Coach K career. The detail gives the good and bad of Coach K, which is welcomed. This a great listen for any ACC, College Basketball, and/or obviously Duke fans.

Overall good with one exception

Wonderful and balanced overview of Mike Krzyzewski’s career. Unfortunately the reader only got Coach K name right while mispronouncing most of the other names cited.

Coach K, The good,bad and ugly

No one is perfect and the book shines a light on coach K’s imperfections as well as is exemplary life off the court. However the detailed behind the scenes game,practice and basketball stories made it a ten.

Audible listeners: Be prepared to hear the Syracuse coach and the Duke coach in waiting have their names butchered as well as Oregon

Incredible detail, awesome chronology for basketball junkies, one of the best

Only issue was the narrator mis pronounced several names, but that can easily be overlooked

Narrator Falls Short

Dude misprounces at least a dozen names. just a little research to get those names right would have made this book much more enjoyable.

Excellent Book,Phenomenal Narrator MINUS one thing

The book is incredible, well researched, very entertaining.

The narrator is just as good. Great voice, flow, etc. Would love for him to narrate every book on audible BUT the one exception is the numerous missed pronunciation of countless names. At first I laughed but it kept happening, over and over and for some reason it seemed like the flubs were on names he said the most.

Dennard
Boeheim
Scheyer
Tyus

Etc etc.

Someone absolutely should’ve caught these errors. If fixed it would be a flawless performance.

Not a Duke or K fan but good story:

I’m not a Duke fan or coach K fan, but I am a basketball fan. I enjoyed the story, but I wish these narrators would learn the correct pronunciation of names before narrating books, it’s frustrating to listen over and over to the mispronounced names of people and places.

Great Book but….

Terrific book. Thorough, well-researched, and objective. An extremely full picture of Coach K and his career. As a Duke grad, I’ve long-respected Krzyzewski, largely because his players love him so much and he appears to return that love in kind…a big deal to me. As a former player, coach and urban teacher, high school principal and superintendent, I’m far less enamored by the way Coach K frequently demeaned his players in front of one another and in front of the public, using language and behavior that any public school employee would be fired for on the spot. Maybe a small thing in the larger scheme, but a very big deal to me as I worked to build the esteem and confidence of countless highly-challenged, urban kids. One more note: buyer beware. The narrator has a terrific voice and style, but you will continually cringe while he inexplicably and inexcusably butchers countless names of players and coaches alike. Buy the book in any case. You won’t regret it.

Mispronunciation of names

It is maddening in audio books which are about basketball that you can't pronounce the names of extremely famous basketball coaches correctly. Take the time to know the names. It is Jim Boeheim pronounced (Bay Heim) not Bow Heim. It is an attention to detail which takes away from the book.