In a press conference this morning at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski accepted an invitation to return as the head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team through the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Here are some soundbites from the press conference, of Krzyzewski, USA Basketball's Jerry Colangelo and Duke's Richard Brodhead.
Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball Chairman
- "I couldn't be happier to have Coach K back. I'm kind of old fashioned. I never really accepted the fact that he wasn't coming back."
- "I just think it is a perfect fit for him. I think his legacy is very much tied to USA Basketball as it certainly is to Duke University."
- "I could not have picked a better guy to be in that foxhole with than Coach K."
Richard Brodhead, Duke University President
- "[Krzyzewski] has unique talents for motivating people, making them want to live up to the very fullest of their potential, and learning and understand how they can do things together that none of them can accomplish on their own."
- "Duke didn't lose any of Mike Krzyzewski by having [him] become the coach of the Olympics. I think that [he's] been more into coaching at Duke in [his] Olympic years than [he] ever [was] before."
Mike Krzyzewski, USA Men's Basketball Head Coach
- "It's the ultimate honor, really, to coach our country's team, and it's the ultimate honor of a player to play for his country's team."
- "When I said I wasn't going to do it, I felt that I wasn't going to do it. I felt it gave USA Basketball an opportunity to look at everything. I wanted to still become a part of USA Basketball. That started the discussions of staying involved."
- "We'll try to do these next four years the way we did the last seven, and that's to build it with the best players available, try to get as many of the best players as we can. They're the ones who make an amazing commitment."
- "I got better [as a coach from coaching the Olympics]."
- "It really doesn't take that much time away during recruitment. Most of this stuff is done during August, which is not a time you're allowed to be out."
- "I think [my involvement with the Olympics] has only helped our program."
- "I don't think anybody should coach the [Olympic] team unless their coaching [somewhere else]. In other words, you have to stay sharp, so I'm coaching in the best league against the best competition, the best players, that I can."
- "I don't see an end [to my coaching at Duke] and obviously I'm not going to end before the Olympics."
- "Our team next year for Duke is very athletic. It will mirror some of the things that were some of the things we've done for the Olympics, where you'd have guys with multiple positions. We're still trying to get a waiver for LeBron [James] and Kobe [Bryant] to come back and use their college eligibility."
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