The Greatest of All-time

Tonight, Duke beat Mighigan State 74-69 and gave the great Mike Krzyzewski his 903rd win as a head coach. The win gets him past Bob Knight for the most wins all-time as a head coach in Division 1 college basketball. I know everyone out there loves to hate Duke, but you have appreciate the greatness of Coach K. Now that he has the total wins record, he might just be the greatest coach of all-time.

Many might say that UCLA coach John Wooden is the best coach of all-time, but he coached in a much different era. Like every sport, winning titles in the 1960s-70s was a much easier task than it is today. College basketball is much deeper than it was back then; for Coach K to be this consistent shows his true greatness. Wooden also was helped out by two of the best college players of all-time: Lew Alcindor (Kareem) and Bill Walton. Coach K has never had the pleasure of coaching any of the truly great basketball players.

Since Coach K came to Duke 30 years ago, no coach has been able to come even close to his success. During the last 13 years in the ACC, Duke has won 10 ACC titles. Considering that the ACC might be the best conference, his current run has been truly amazing. Coach K has put up many other great numbers over the years:

4 National Championships (tied for 2nd most all-time)
11 Final Fours (2nd all-time, 1 behind John Wooden)
79-23 NCAA tournament record (most tournament wins all-time)
13 ACC Titles (tied for most all-time)

Coach K’s greatest accomplishments came in the early 90s when he was able to beat two of the greatest teams of all-time. After getting blown out by UNLV in the 1990 championship game, Duke got another crack at them in the 1991 Final Four. UNLV came in on a 45 game winning streak and was looking to be the first undefeated team since Indiana in 1976. Coach K slowed down the high powered UNLV team and pulled off the upset. Duke went on to win their next game and get Coach K his first National Championship.

The next year, Duke went up against the Fab 5 of Michigan in the National Championship game. While Michigan was only a 6 seed that year, they started 5 freshman and really came together to make a run in the NCAA tournament. Coach K’s team completely shut down the Fab 5, leading to a 71-51 victory. This gave Coach K back to back National Championships.

Coach K also has been a coach on Team USA several times. His most notable appearance on team USA was when he was the head coach in 2008. For the 1st time since the U.S. started using NBA players, Team USA was not the defending gold medalists. Coach K was up to the task of getting the US back to glory and was able to lead “The Redeem Team” to the gold medal.

While Coach K’s numbers are already very impressive, remember that he is only 64 and could still coach for many years to come. Many coaches have coached into their late 60s and early 70s, and it wouldn’t shock me if Coach K had 5+ years left. He should be able to be the 1st coach with over 1,000 wins. He also has an outside shot at getting to 1,100 wins. He could put the coaching wins record completely out of reach for a very long time, he should set the record for most ACC tournament titles, and he could also set the record for most Final Four appearances. He will most likely retire with most major records and is the best basketball coach I will ever see.