Coach K On Coaching Differently

On Wednesday, The Chronicle received its advance copy of "The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team," Mike Krzyzewski's forthcoming memoir about coaching Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in Beijing. We'll have a full review up in a few days, but before then, we'll try to post a few pertinent excerpts.

This paragraph, from the book's introduction, seemed particularly appropriate, especially after Krzyzewski shuffled up his starting lineup multiple times this season:

"Many have said that I coached the Olympic team differently than I coach my Duke teams. Of course I did. If I'm doing my job right, I also coach my Duke teams differently each season. Your teambuilding plan must be personalized and specific to your personnel, your competition, your goal, and your leadership style. I can't just give you a formula. But what I can offer you are my thoughts on how to best utilize your time in bringing a team together. What you have to be willing to do is invest the time in preparation, to figure it out and to personalize it. And that's what makes it interesting."