When Bob Knight gave Coach K his flowers for milestone-filled coaching career: "Mike did it the way it should be done"

Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, aka Coach K, is renowned for his stellar tenure with the Blue Devils during which he won five national championships. The legendary coach learned his craft at the feet of college basketball great and former Indiana Hoosiers coach Bob Knight, who died in 2023.

Krzyzewski played for the Army Black Knights under Knight between 1966 and 1969 and was even his assistant in Indiana before he branched off on his own. In Feb. 2011, during a segment of "SportsCenter," Knight praised Krzyzewski.

"I think it's easy to look at from your standpoint, the media like number of wins," Knight said (2:05). "But there are other things that are more important than that. Quality is important, how many times did you go to the NCAA. The thing from Mike's standpoint and I'm gonna mention this, that Mike did it the way it should be done.

"There aren't any recruiting violations, there aren't any things that were done with kids that shouldn't be done and that maybe first and foremost what anybody does because cheating is rampant in college basketball. That's why I think Mike can have tremendous pride in what he and his kids have done."

Coach K and Bob Knight's relationship deteriorated

In Ian Connor's book "Coach K," the author revealed that Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight's relationship took a turn when the latter was the coach of the Duke Blue Devils. He revealed that the pivotal moment happened after the Blue Devils beat the Indiana Hoosiers 81-78 in the 1992 Final Four and the polarizing Knight gave Krzyzewski a cold handshake at the end of the game.

Before tip-off, Knight handed Blue Devils' special assistant Colonel Tom Rogers an envelope addressed to his former protege with a stunning message.

“Knight wrote that if Krzyzewski wanted to sever their relationship, that would be easily arranged,” O’Connor wrote. “‘He wrote that you should remember how you (expletive) got your job,’ said one prominent friend of both men.”

According to O'Connor, the rift between Coach K and Bob Knight only widened when the latter offered to help the former scout international opponents for Team USA but was ignored before the 2008 Olympics.

“Knight said, 'You know what, Mike, if you want, I’ll go over there with you,'" O'Connor wrote. "I’ll scout the other teams. I’ll do this, do that, and we can talk about the other team before the games.’ And he never got back to him, which was literally the worst thing he could’ve done. ... Coach said he did more (expletive) for (Krzyzewski) than he did for his own kids, or as much.”

Knight further slighted Coach K when the latter attended a party in his honor in 2015 by not even acknowledging him, which led to the former Duke Blue Devils coach severing the relationship for good.