Mike Krzyzewski who? How Coach K's legendary career began at Duke in the 1980-81 season

Duke named Mike Krzyzewski its new men's basketball head coach on March 18, 1980. Coach K's first Blue Devils team posted a 17-13 mark in 1980-81 and lost in the NIT to Purdue. It was the first of what would prove to be three consecutive seasons in which Duke finished sixth or worse in the ACC and did not reach the NCAA tournament.

Coach K's early struggles have long since become a familiar part of his legend. Then, in the 1982 recruiting class, Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Dave Henderson and Jay Bilas arrived, and the rest is history. So the story goes.

But those who were connected with that first team in 1980-81, from players to reporters to Duke Athletics staff, say there was a little more to it than that. They knew Coach K when he was new, 34 years old and learning the ropes in the ACC.

As Coach K prepares to retire after the 2021-22 season as the winningest coach in men's college basketball history, that first season in Durham merits another look. Today, when members of that 1980-81 team are asked if they ever imagined back then that their new coach would go on to win five national titles, they typically respond with a shake of the head. No one could envision any coach having that degree of success.

"We all thought it was going to be Tom Davis"

KENNY DENNARD (senior forward in 1980-81; played three seasons in the NBA for the Kansas City Kings and Denver Nuggets; CEO of investor relations firm Dennard Lascar): I saw Coach at his K Academy this past summer. He had his people there, of course, and he got me and Gene [Banks] to come over. He pointed at us and he said, "I wish I could have had these guys when I was in my 40s, because, when I had them, I didn't know how to coach elite players."

And he's telling this to his crew, and I'm standing there thinking, "That's the nicest thing you've ever said. I'm getting a little misty."

VINCE TAYLOR (junior forward in 1980-81; played one season in the NBA for the New York Knicks; most recently assistant coach at UCF): When Coach K came to Duke, he was in his 30s, man, with a team that just went to the Elite Eight. You're coming into the ACC, where Dean Smith owns the league. And you're coming from Army. That's tough.

DENNARD: The thing you have to understand is that, when Coach K arrived, we were used to winning. Gene Banks and I went to the national championship game as freshmen on the team that had Jim Spanarkel and Mike Gminski and those guys. Coach [Bill] Foster had us rolling after some lean years for Duke.

You know how Foster got Gene, right? No. 1 player in the country, coming out of Philadelphia, Digger [Phelps] is all over him, everyone's all over him and instead Gene comes to this little bitty school called Duke that finished last in the ACC four straight years.

GENE BANKS (senior forward in 1980-81; played six seasons in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls; Gaston College athletic director): Bill Foster saw me at a summer league game in the suburbs, and I had 30-plus points. Top-rated coaches were there and some spoke to me, but Foster walked right by me and said nothing. If I remember correctly, I think I called Duke and asked why he didn't say anything. Coach Foster got on the phone and straight up said, "Didn't think you were good enough to play for us." And then he hangs up.

I'm standing there, and I say, "Mom, Duke says they're not going to recruit me." Then the assistant coach called back in hysterics, telling me about Bill's whimsical manner. I thought it was cool after it was explained to me.

JOHNNY MOORE (assistant sports information director in 1980-81): No question in my mind, the three most important recruits in Duke history: Art Heyman, Gene Banks and Johnny Dawkins. Duke was struggling when they got all those guys, but they all reached the Final Four. They changed the program.

TAYLOR: Why did I go to Duke? Gene was like the No. 1 player coming out of high school. And I said, man, this guy can go anywhere and he chose Duke. I thought this was the place for me, especially because it was a great academic school.

DENNARD: We actually won the 1980 ACC tournament as the No. 6 seed. Then Coach Foster announced he was leaving [to become head coach at South Carolina], and I agreed to do an interview before the NCAA tournament. Foster's gone, right? We don't know who the new coach is, and this won't come out until the season's over.

This guy had called me from "Tobacco Road," an 11x17 newspaper that's folded in half. He says they have some really, really thoughtful pieces, important student-activist-type stuff. So he comes over with a six-pack of Heineken, and we decide it would be a good idea to do a nude photo with a basketball in front of me.

Then we go to the NCAA tournament, make it all the way to the regional final and lose to Purdue. I'm not blaming the coaching staff. Well, I am blaming the coaching staff. We were in zone, and [Purdue] just held the ball. We lost four or five minutes that way.

After that game, I was trying to figure out who the new coach would be. We all thought it was going to be Tom Davis from Boston College.

"Who?"

Krzyzewski played for Bob Knight at Army from 1966 to 1969, and served as an assistant under him at Indiana in 1974-75. He was then head coach for five seasons at Army, where he compiled a 73-59 overall record. When Krzyzewski was hired at Duke in March 1980, an Associated Press story on the news began: "Duke basketball fans who struggled with 'Gminski' the past four years have a new tongue-twister to contend with ..."

MOORE: I picked up Mike Krzyzewski at the airport and dropped him off at [Duke athletic director] Tom Butters' house for the interview.

BARRY JACOBS (author, longtime journalist who has covered the ACC since the late 1970s): The day that Duke hired Mike was the first time I heard his name. NC State hired Jim Valvano at the same time. Frankly, there was some talk to the effect of, "Why didn't we get Valvano? He's just as young. Why not at least get the young guy whose name you can spell?"

TAYLOR: I'll never forget, I was in my apartment and some reporter called me. Normally, the school would let you know if somebody's going to call. I don't know how they got my number. And this reporter says, you know, "The new coach at Duke is going to be Mike Krzyzewski." And I just go, "Who?"

Literally, I didn't know him, and I had never heard his name. So my quote was in the paper the next day. They set me up pretty good. The headline just said, "Who?" Then the article said I couldn't pronounce his name, which was true. But it was also true of probably 98% of people at that time. Coach K even joked about that.

MOORE: People were thinking, "We've reached No. 1 each of the last two years, and we're hiring the 9-17 guy from Army? What the hell is going on?" Well, Tom Butters was basically John Wayne as an athletic director. He made his own decisions whether they went against the norm or not. Butters talked to Bob Knight, and Knight sold him. Butters thought Mike fit the mold to go out and recruit for Duke.

Though classes were in session at Duke, the new coach arrived on campus before all of his players did. After playing straight through the school's spring break, and then exiting the tournament in the Elite Eight, Dennard fled campus in search of sun and sand.

DENNARD: I'm at this bar in Key West. The guy on the local news on the 19-inch TV says, "Duke University has announced today that Mike ..." and it sounded like "Kadger-OO-skee ... is going to become the next head basketball coach." I thought, "Oh, man, I remember him. He recruited me at Army." Then I thought, "If they've announced him, that probably means he's on campus and I should be there."

MIKE TISSAW (sophomore forward in 1980-81; professor of psychology at SUNY Potsdam): The first time I met Coach K was in Tom Butters' office. I think all the players that were going to return the next year were there. I unfortunately went to the meeting with my goatee and mustache and my hair down to my shoulders, wearing a tie-dye T-shirt. No sleeves. I walked up to Coach K and shook his hand. He was smiling, and he was kind of looking me over. Finally, he said, "I hope this is temporary."

Later that day, I'm thinking, "Wait, does he mean my appearance? Or me being on the team?"

JIM SUDDATH (senior forward in 1980-81; Hardwick Caldwell Chair of Christian Ethics at the McCallie School in Chattanooga): We had your typical "We're the seniors, here's the new coach, shake hands" conversation.

CHIP ENGELLAND (sophomore guard in 1980-81; longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant coach since 2005): I always think of Coach K introducing Mickie [Krzyzewski, his wife] to the team. They were fired up. That's the energy you need to bring.

BANKS: I was trying to figure [Krzyzewski] out. He was young looking. He talked to me along with Kenny. He said, "There's a line between men being men and boys being boys. I found out you two guys didn't just cross that line, you threw up all over it." And he was kind of joking and he said it with a smile, but we knew he was making a point. That broke the tension, and it was cool.

DENNARD: I got back from Key West, and it was parents weekend at Duke. "Tobacco Road" had just come out. It had this foldout picture of me and the basketball. Anyway, five thousand copies drop on campus. It's everywhere. It got a mention on "The CBS Evening News," and I received a two-page letter from the Duke Divinity School criticizing me. But Coach K didn't say one word about it to me. Now, he'll tell you to this day he knew he had his hands full.

BANKS: I toned things down a little bit with Coach K. It was team first.

JACOBS: You know how the officials will come over and chat with you on press row during timeouts? Well, Kenny would talk to me during breaks in the action. I don't think I remember any other player doing that before or since.

Dennard and Banks were almost adults, they had played for a coach who kept a loose rein, they were big men on campus and they were good. Kenny was one of the few players from the state of North Carolina that Dean Smith wanted and didn't get.

TAYLOR: I knew that a new coach coming in, let me put it like this, he would have his hands full with Gene and Kenny. It's a good thing social media hadn't happened yet and, keep in mind, those are my guys. Kenny was a free spirit.

MOORE: I tried not to keep up with [Dennard and Banks] so I wouldn't have to fill out any affidavits. They were very, very free spirited.

SUDDATH: I roomed with Kenny on campus, and on road trips I was Gene's roommate. That was one absolute wild year in my life.

"Are you with me?"

Krzyzewski's first game as Duke head coach was a 67-49 win at home over Stetson. Throughout the early stages of the 1980-81 season, Coach K worked with his assistant coach Chuck Swenson to blend the principles he learned from Knight with his own observations of what worked best for his players against ACC competition.

TAYLOR: You have to realize that Coach K came in having coached under Bobby Knight. He was very direct. Coach K vowed that we were always going to play man-to-man like Knight. No zone. We ran motion just like Knight.

MOORE: [Before Coach K] Every time we played Big Ten teams we were getting beat. They were so physical and they were playing man-to-man. We knew this was coming.

ENGELLAND: The motion offense was fun for me. Coach K was no-nonsense. Looks you in the face, tells you what's going to happen.

TISSAW: I thought he was a brilliant defensive coach. I was really into what Coach K was trying to do. He said the best play in basketball is drawing a charge. You get a stop, you force a turnover and the opponent picks up a foul.

Coach K introduced a drill at practice where you had to take a charge, and he would jump right in and do it with us. One time I had the ball when he was in the drill, and he was defending me. I'm thinking, "What do I do here? I don't want to knock over my coach. Will he still be doing this drill when he's 50?"

BANKS: We had a road game against NC State, and Coach completely changed the offense. He put me at the point and set up a new play called the pentagon. Three at the top, two at the free throw line. It looked like a stall but it wasn't. If I saw an opening, I could take it to the basket. He said, this guy is All-ACC, I want him to have the ball.

DENNARD: Coach K said, "We're starting fresh. Five passes, and then get the ball to Gene." I think I averaged six points the next three weeks.

TISSAW: There were games that season where we were outmatched inside. I do recall being concerned about having to guard [Virginia's] Ralph Sampson or [Maryland's] Buck Williams.

BANKS: For our home game against Maryland, Coach K was real fired up. Red in the face. He wanted warriors, he wanted soldiers. He yelled, he took off his coat. "Are you with me?"

"The North Carolina win was the pinnacle"

Duke reached the last game of the regular season with a 14-11 record. North Carolina was paying its first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium since Krzyzewski became head coach. The student section wore T-shirts reading: "Dennard and Banks, so long and THANKS!" With two seconds remaining, Sam Perkins went to the line for the Tar Heels and the score tied at 56.

DENNARD: Perkins made both free throws, and before I even had the chance to call timeout, Coach Smith called one. I was stunned. We got set up, advanced the ball to half court and Chip [Engelland] called our timeout.

SUDDATH: That was masterful coaching to get the ball up the floor with the timeout in two seconds at the end of regulation.

DENNARD: In the huddle, Coach K said, "Everyone thinks the ball is going to Gene." So he drew up the play for me to pass to Chip in the corner for the shot. Chip was a great shooter and it looked good on paper. But it wasn't going to happen.

MOORE: Chip took a last-second shot against Clemson as a freshman and missed. Kenny wasn't going to let that happen again.

ENGELLAND: With that final huddle in regulation, there's Kenny's version. I never thought that play was for me, but it sounds great if it was. As for that shot at Clemson the year before, that was from the hash mark. It wasn't like a clean look off a diagrammed play. The ball was batted, and I had to scoop it up at the hash mark and shoot it.

DENNARD: When we broke the huddle after the timeout, [Gene] and I looked at each other.

BANKS: Kenny and I didn't even talk about it. It was in the flow.

ENGELLAND: The right read if you're Kenny? Throw it to Gene Banks! He's the leading scorer in the ACC!

DENNARD: I gave a slight ball fake to Chip in the corner. Then Gene made the perfect catch and the perfect turn and launched the perfect rainbow jumper over the fingers of Perkins. It swished through the net and we went to overtime.

SUDDATH: For some reason I played most of the overtime. I got the rebound away from [North Carolina's] Al Wood in OT, and it went to Gene for the winning shot.

DENNARD: The fans went crazy!

TISSAW: What I remember is that I tried to take a charge on Jimmy Black and it didn't go well. I was on my back on the floor and someone came down on me. It just made mush of my ankle. There was a Springsteen concert in Greensboro that night, and I went to it on crutches.

MOORE: Great day in Duke basketball history. Dean Smith's 50th birthday. Springsteen was playing in Greensboro that night.

DENNARD: I found myself at the Springsteen concert in the 10th row.

TAYLOR: The North Carolina win was the pinnacle. When Coach K won that game, I think that gave him unbelievable confidence. He could look at Dean Smith and say, "I beat this guy."

ENGELLAND: It was the heyday of the ACC. We had what would be an NCAA tournament team now.

We went to the NIT. Gene broke his wrist. We won a couple games. Yeah, we lost to Purdue, but it was without Gene. I really liked this team. It had grit. It tried to adjust, and Coach K adjusted to us, too.

"Good thing there was no plus-minus stat"

Despite losing to Duke in the final game of the regular season, North Carolina would advance to the Final Four before losing the championship game to Indiana. Banks and Dennard graduated and entered the NBA after the 1980-81 season. The next year, North Carolina won the 1982 national championship on a game-winning shot by freshman Michael Jordan -- who would later play alongside Banks on the Chicago Bulls from 1985 to '87.

Then in 1983, NC State won the national title under Valvano, a coach who had been hired in Raleigh at the same time that Krzyzewski arrived in Durham.

As North Carolina and NC State won their titles in consecutive years, Duke, meanwhile, posted a 21-34 record in Coach K's second and third seasons.