Jim Boeheim issues statement on Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s announced retirement

Following Wednesday’s news that revealed Mike Krzyzewski will coach his final season with the Duke Blue Devils in the upcoming season, Syracuse Orange men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim issued a statement on his established friend and ACC rival.

Boeheim coached as an assistant on USA Basketball alongside Krzyzewski for three Olympic gold medal teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

“Mike’s impact on basketball goes so far beyond the wins his teams have accumulated,” Boeheim said. “He has been a unifying leader for the sport at every level, including college, professional and international. It’s impossible to overstate the positive impact he has had for decades.

“He did a remarkable job building successful programs at Army and Duke. It is extremely difficult to create that level of achievement and then sustain it for the long period of time the way Mike managed to produce it.”

Krzyzewski began his head coaching career at Army in 1975 before taking the Duke job in 1980. Boeheim became head coach of Syracuse in 1976. In that time, Krzyzewski has led Duke to five national titles, 12 Final Fours and 97 NCAA Tournament wins. He’s been named Naismith Coach of the Year on three occasions, won ACC Coach of the Year honors five times and has led Team USA to three Olympic golds.

“Mike joined with Jerry Colangelo to generate the same type of maintainable organization with USA Basketball,” Boeheim said. “I’m forever grateful for the opportunity he gave me to sit alongside him during that amazing run that lead to three gold medals for our country.

“I’ve enjoyed the challenge of coaching Syracuse against his Duke teams over the years – no coach prepares his players for big games better than Mike. I’ll look forward to a few more opportunities to do that next season.”

Syracuse is scheduled to play Duke twice this upcoming season. Since Syracuse joined the ACC in 2013, the Carrier Dome has broken multiple on-campus attendance records when Krzyzewski’s Duke teams compete against SU.

In Division I men’s college basketball, Boeheim trails only Krzyzewski in all-time wins. Krzyzewski has won 1,170 games while Boeheim has handed his opponents 1,083 losses. Boeheim owns a 5-10 record against Krzyzewski.