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74
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
80/100Critics
67/100Scholars
Author:
Ian O'Connor
Publisher:
Mariner Books
Date:
February 22, 2022
A biography of college basketball's all-time winningest coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
What The Reviewers Say
O’Connor dives deep, digging through extant sources as well as conducting his own interviews with scores upon scores of people with close connections to Coach K. The result is a fascinating portrait of sporting greatness, a long look at a man who ascended to the heights of his profession.
O’Connor’s is a deeply researched account of Krzyzewski’s childhood in gritty Polish neighborhoods in Chicago, his four years as a West Point cadet, and the way he turned Duke into a basketball dynasty.
O’Connor effectively leverages a broad cast of characters to chronicle Coach K’s rocky start at Duke (Butters never wavered in his support); the critical role of his family, especially wife Mickie, in his life and his program; his rise to the apex of college basketball; his stint coaching USA men’s basketball to three consecutive Olympic gold medals; and his fraught relationship with combustible mentor Knight. The author doesn’t shy away from Krzyzewski’s shortcomings.
... a standout definitive biography.
