Sitting down in the Washington Duke Inn, surrounded by members of the media, an upbeat Mike Krzyzewski bent forward in his chair and demonstrated how he could now tie his shoes without pain.
Although not the greatest of feats, he was proud nonetheless.
"I can actually tie my shoes," Krzyzewski said. "I haven't been able to do that for a couple of years and just get down. Some guys dunk and Payne Stewart hits big putts; I'm tying my shoes to show off."
The informal press gathering Monday afternoon was the coach's first meeting with the media since undergoing hip-replacement surgery immediately following the end of the basketball season. Krzyzewski, whose only prior public appearance since the surgery was at April's Duke Basketball Celebration, said his rehabilitation is ahead of schedule and that he's feeling good.
"I'm doing great," Krzyzewski said. "I feel better than I have in at least five years since my back and maybe better than a few years before that.... I've got a great attitude. I could not be any better and I only see it getting stronger."
And while Krzyzewski's health seems stable, the same is not so true of his team. Krzyzewski finally spoke publicly about the Blue Devils' active off-season which saw Quin Snyder take a head coaching job at Missouri, Chris Burgess transfer to Utah and Elton Brand, Will Avery and Corey Maggette declare early for the NBA.
"Overall, I feel realistic about everything," Krzyzewski said. "I'm never been shocked about anything that's happened in sports, especially in our program. I think to be shocked about anything is unrealistic. Things happen. Pretty much everything that happened for all of the individuals involved I think will turn out will be pretty good. Now whether it's the best of how it could turn out, who knows? No one will ever know that."
But if the veteran coach wasn't shocked, the events of this spring certainly weren't expected. Although Krzyzewski indicated he was expecting Brand's decision, the ensuing exodus was not at all predicted.
"The other three kids, there's no way that I could have forecasted that," Krzyzewski said. "We were actually very fortunate that we recruited a big class.... There's no way I would have predicted those other things to happen."
Krzyzewski said that he was hurt that relationships with departing players ended prematurely, but stressed that he was not upset with any of his players, even though Avery and Maggette left school against their coach's advice to stay.
"Me not supporting a decision does not mean that I don't support a kid," Krzyzewski said. "In no way did I ever say I don't support a kid. I will help William Avery and Corey Maggette in any way I can. They made a commitment to me. They went to their profession, the thing they feel is going to be their main profession. We're still very supportive of them.
"We don't hate them or feel like they betrayed us. They made a different decision than what we would make. That doesn't mean there was a conflict."
But although there was no conflict between him and his departing players, Krzyzewski openly wondered if those relationships can ever compare to the bonds he's had with former players.
"The longer you're dependent on one another, which is what we try to do in our program is have a relationship where I'm depending on you and you're depending on me. The longer you're involved in that, the better it is," Krzyzewski said. "It doesn't mean we're not supportive of those kids.... Will [the relationship] be as deep? How could it be? It just can't be as opposed to the bond that you have like with Trajan Langdon. That's something that I'll have to adjust to."
Krzyzewski blames the mass exodus on the national exposure his players received over the past two seasons. Although he said there is no replacement for an education, he certainly understood his players' desire to take advantage of that fame.
"Those kids were exposed to extremes," Krzyzewski said. "Over the last two years, those kids have won almost as much as any program in basketball. They've been exposed to extreme notoriety and success. We have to be able, as a school, to adjust to that a little but and help them out."
A lot has changed for Krzyzewski since March. He lost a national championship game, got a new hip, lost an associate head coach and watched four players leave his program early.
Now he just wants to forget about the past, get back on the court and coach the way he used to.
"I'm very excited about this," he said. "I've been very hands on. Last year was the first year in a practice where I used a whistle. I never used a whistle because I'm always moving around the court. My staff did a great job, but there's something a little bit different. It's not you going right up to somebody either grabbing them and saying 'you better do this' or 'hey that was great' or patting them on the back. When someone else is doing that for you or you're doing it from a distance, it's contrary to what I've been doing for over 20 years in coaching."
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