Coach, Champion, Legend, Professor: Meet Duke Fuqua’s New Faculty Member, Mike Krzyzewski

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University made several promising additions to its faculty this year. But one name stood out. Though most of his professional experience has been within academia, this new professor’s background is unmatched in two areas: achieving long-term goals with diverse teams, and training future leaders.

Meet Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest men’s basketball coach in NCAA Division I history — a living legend who coached five national champion Duke Blue Devil teams across four decades. Krzyzewski, who retired earlier this year at the close of his 42nd season at Duke, has officially joined the Fuqua School as a “professor of the practice of leadership,” even as he continues his long-running work with the B-school through the Fuqua/Coach K Center On Leadership and Ethics.

“Now that I’ve retired from coaching, I’m staying on as an ambassador for the school to be a professor in the teaching of leadership,” Krzyzewski tells Poets&Quants. “I’ve met with some groups and some of the MBA students, and will meet with more of them soon.

“I’ve been part of the Fuqua team for a long time. They think I’ve got this professor thing down. It’s an honor.”

A NAME SYNONYMOUS WITH SUCCESS

If you’re unfamiliar with the world of college athletics in the U.S., you may have an excuse for not knowing Krzyzewski’s name (or how to pronounce it: Shuh-CHEF-ski). For everyone else, Duke alumni and others alike, he is “Coach K” (he even introduces himself that way), the legendary coach who guided Duke’s Blue Devils to five national titles, 13 Final Fours, and more than 1,100 wins over 42 seasons. Internationally, he coached three Olympic gold medal-winning teams, and was assistant coach for the iconic U.S. “Dream Team” in 1992.

The co-author of five books including New York Times best-seller “Leading with the Heart,” Krzyzewski’s name is synonymous with success, which makes the Fuqua School’s interest in him contributing to the MBA and other programs self-evident. For his part, Coach K says he does not expect to teach a course, since he spends so much time on the road speaking to groups from Austin to Orlando to Boston — but he is looking forward to connecting with students, not only through regular events and conferences (including COLE’s semiannual fall and spring summits), but in the occasional MBA class, as well.

“My goal is not to do a class. My goal is to study leadership and talk about it, not to just a specific class,” Krzyzewski says. “If you have a class, you need to be there, and it would inhibit my travel. We have a great arrangement, and (Fuqua Dean) Bill Boulding I think is very happy about it. I’m happy about it. The conferences are really good things, the COLE summit for two days, we had it in August and that worked out really well.”

Coach K is impressed by the newest cohort of Fuqua MBAs.

“All those men and women, those young men and women, are motivated,” he says. They’ve got great ideas. We have a great school because they don’t only take courses. We have a great school where students not only learn in classrooms, they learn outside the classroom from one another, and hopefully they develop relationships, learn best practices on how to prepare for things, and those lessons and the friendships and relationships they have will become even deeper after they leave here and they find friends that they can count on and friends that really traveled the same road they did. They’re very, very talented and upbeat.”

Q&A WITH DUKE’S MIKE KRZYZEWSKI

Poets&Quants: As you’re probably aware, we cover business schools and we cover the Fuqua School, and so it was of great interest to us when we saw your name appear on the list of new professors this fall. What can you tell us about what your role’s going to be this year? Is it going to be any different from previous years?

Coach K: Well, really I’ve had an association with Fuqua for more than two decades, and we’ve had Fuqua Coach K leadership conferences, summits, every year. I’ve spoken to the students about lots of things. Really I’ve been like an executive in residence here, and worked with the COLE, the Center on Leadership and Ethics, for years. Now that I’ve retired from coaching, I’m staying on as an ambassador for the school to be a professor in the teaching of leadership. I’ve met with some groups and some of the MBA students, and will meet with more of them soon.

I’ve been part of the Fuqua team for a long time. They think I’ve got this professor thing down. It’s an honor.

See the next page for the rest of P&Q‘s interview with Duke’s Coach K, including his thoughts on leadership and more.