Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: 7 reasons that North Carolina fans hate Duke

By Blake Cockrum

DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils talks to head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - MARCH 03: (L-R) Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils talks to head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels before their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – JANUARY 28: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the second half against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 28, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won 79-67. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Mike Krzyzewski

Mike Krzyzewski is one of the most decorated coaches in the history of sports, not just in the game of basketball. After a slow start at Duke in the early 1980s, Coach K quickly rose to prominence with a series of winning seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances.

In his sixth season with the Blue Devils, the 39-year-old Krzyzewski led Duke to 37 wins and a trip to the national championship game. The Blue Devils lost to the Louisville Cardinals, but would return to the title game five seasons later. It was then that Coach K secured his first NCAA Tournament championship, only to follow it up with another title the next season.

Krzyzewski has continued to build on to his impressive resume over the past three decades, becoming the winningest coach in NCAA history. Now, at age 73 and with 40 seasons under his belt at Duke, Krzyzewski has a record of 1,084-291 with the Blue Devils, and a career record of 1,157-350. He’s won five national titles, and been named Naismith Coach of the Year on three occasions. His teams have finished the ACC regular season in first-place 12 times, won the ACC Tournament 15 times, and made it to the Final Four a dozen times. He’s been inducted into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame (2001), and the College Basketball Hall-of-Fame (2006) and coached Team USA to three gold medals in the Olympic Games.

As if all of his success on the basketball court wasn’t enough for UNC fans, they really can’t stand him as a person, either. And while I’m not sure that any of them can really put a finger on what it is about Krzyzewski, it’s clear that to them, he’s public enemy No. 1. Maybe it’s the sort of elitist vibe that fans get from him and his program and their fans. Maybe it’s his smug-looking smirks, or the dirty players that he’s coached over the years. Maybe it’s his annoying brand of coach speak in postgame press conferences, or the fact that he doesn’t mind throwing his own players under the bus. And let’s not forget how he blasted his own loyal subjects during a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium last season.

Whatever it is about Krzyzewski that they don’t like, it’s clear that the hatred is deep, and unlikely to change any time soon. There certainly won’t be any love lost when he finally retires from the game of basketball; a future event that they, do doubt, can’t wait to see happen.

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