Duke’s Coach K, UNC’s Roy Williams honor coaches, offer advice in ACC Network special
Wes Durham sat inside Greensboro Coliseum in July 2023 and led the first joint interview between former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and former UNC coach Roy Williams.
After brief introductions, Durham got the ball rolling with a question that goes back to the beginning for the two Hall of Fame coaches.
“When did you decide that you wanted to be a basketball coach?”
Krzyzewski, who got the itch to coach as a 16-year-old youngster in Chicago, gave a nod to his high school coach, Al Ostrowski.
“He coached me the hardest and, as a result of that, I’ve always coached my best player the hardest,” Krzyzewski said.
“I didn’t know that people could have that impact on somebody, so I wanted to be a high school teacher and coach since I was 16, so that I could have the impact that all of you (coaches) have. Hopefully, the parents of the kids give you an opportunity to have that impact.”
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Williams echoed that sentiment, heaping praise on Buddy Baldwin, who coached Williams at T.C. Roberson High School in Asheville.
“My high school coach was the first person to really brag and say really positive things about me to some of my older buddies,” Williams said.
“. … It was the first person to give me confidence and the first person to make me feel like I could do something. … I still get cold chills thinking about the confidence he gave me to try some different things.”
The hour-long special – dubbed “Coach K & Roy Williams: Rivals Reunited” – aired Wednesday night on ACC Network and is available on ESPN Plus. It was filmed during the NC Coaches Association’s annual clinic last year.
“Organizations that are value driven usually stand the test of time,” Krzyzewski said. “North Carolina has theirs and we have ours. When we go against one another, it’s pretty damn good. It’s really good.”
In addition to stories about their time at Duke and UNC, Krzyzewski and Williams offered advice for coaches. Here are the main nuggets of wisdom from the interview.
Practice habits with Coach K, Roy Williams
Krzyzewski likens practice to a classroom.
“But you don’t only learn how to put a play in, you learn how to be together,” he said. “So that was, to me, the most important thing in practices.”
For Krzyzewski, building that togetherness starts with work ethic.
“I think Michael Jordan said this a long time ago, but work is a talent,” Krzyzewski said. “You have to learn how to work and then if you add another word there, can you work together? We tell our guys every practice, ‘Make somebody better in practice.’ And then to communicate and be coachable.”
Seeing those habits translate in games, Williams said, is the main theme of the message.
“The work ethic of doing it the best you can at the highest level of energy, if you do that in practice, you don’t have to change for a game,” Williams said.
“The speed with which we do it, we want it to be game speed. … It’s fun if you’re working your butt off in practice every day. You’re investing. … In basketball, you don’t get success unless you invest and try to do that to the absolute best of your ability.”
Advice from Coach K, Roy Williams on being a coach
In their parting messages to the high school coaches at the clinic, Krzyzewski and Williams offered their thanks and a final piece of advice.
“My high school years were the most important years of my entire life,” Williams said.
“What you have is the greatest thing in the world: You have the influence to change somebody. You have the power, you have the benefit of being a tremendous influence on some young people who are going to change things for the rest of their lives.”
Krzyzewski added he and Williams “would’ve been happy and very satisfied to be high school coaches and teachers” in their careers.
“To me, as a coach, it’s the one classroom where every kid that you teach in that classroom wants to be there. When you have the opportunity to have them in your class, teach good stuff,” Krzyzewski said.
“Teach the values I’m not sure they're being taught everywhere. You have a great responsibility. Your wins, they’ll keep track of ‘em, but really your wins will be how you develop those young men and women that you have an honor to coach. You just keep getting better and know that you are appreciated.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke’s Coach K, UNC’s Roy Williams honor coaches, offer advice
