Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight are two of the greatest head coaches in college basketball history. They were once teacher and pupil, with Coach K playing for Knight at Army, before becoming an assistant under him at Indiana.
The relationship is reportedly “done,” though.
According to a new book on Coach K by New York Post columnist Ian O’Connor, one incident led to the ending of their relationship.
Coach K was reportedly unhappy with a greeting during an event in North Carolina in 2015. Yahoo! Sports published an excerpt from the book:
“Mike came in and said, ‘How are you doing, Coach?’ ” recalled Jim Oxley, Krzyzewski’s close friend and old backcourt partner. “And [Knight] barely even hesitated and continued with his story, that kind of thing. That was the start of it.”
Oxley recalled that Krzyzewski had come in for the whole day. “It just didn’t turn out good, and it really wasn’t because Mike wasn’t being totally gracious, because he was,” Oxley said. “He wasn’t trying to steal the spotlight, he never does. He didn’t sit with Knight at his table because Knight was there with all his guys. . . .That was one of many straws that broke the camel’s back. I remember Mike walking out of there saying, ‘That’s it. I’ll never do this again.’ ”
Mikula’s version of the interaction went like this: “Knight was sitting in a corner table with [former Army coach] Tates Locke, and I think [former Army assistant] Don DeVoe was there, and Mike went over to him and got down on a knee just to see him eye to eye, and everyone else kind of continued their conversations. Mike got up, walked away, and went over and stood outside the room and said, ‘That’s the last f—— time. That’s it.’ ”
It’s safe to say that Bobby Knight probably won’t be in attendance for Coach K’s final home game on Saturday night.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. E.T. on ESPN.
The post Why Coach K, Bobby Knight Don’t Like Each Other Anymore appeared first on The Spun.