Along with guiding his No. 2 seeded Blue Devils into the NCAA Tournament, which starts today, the guy has been moonlighting as the U.S. senior men's national team coach.

He's living a jam-packed double life and loving every spoonful.

"It's been unbelievable and incredibly interesting and gotten me even more excited about basketball," Krzyzewski said. "The whole thing has helped make me better."

Krzyzewski, 61, has been blazing a new trail for USA Basketball as the first senior men's national team coach.

In prior years, coaches and players were recruited for one event -- a world championship, an Olympics, a qualifying tournament. This time around, players and coaches had to commit not several months but three years to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

For a man who has run one of the most successful college basketball programs for 28 seasons, and who took a sabbatical in 1995 because he pushed himself too hard physically, adding another job for a three-year period might seem ill-advised.

Krzyzewski views it as serving his country, just as he did as a West Point cadet and Army captain.

He also sees it as another chance to learn.

"The thing about sports and leadership is that no one knows everything," he said. "If you stop learning, you stop living. It's not about a system; it's about learning what parts of the game work for the team you have.

"We're trying to do that well with both of our teams."

In the summer of 2005, Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of the senior men's national team, asked Krzyzewski if he wanted to coach the national team en route to Beijing.

Krzyzewski thought only of the honor and said yes to Colangelo, former owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I didn't know what it would entail, but I knew there would be sacrifices," Krzyzewski said.

Krzyzewski did have to convince his family it was a good idea. His wife, Mickie, and three daughters were concerned it would take time away from a family that includes three sons-in-law and five grandchildren.

Daughters Debbie Savarino, Lindy Frasher and Jamie Spatola balked at giving up the annual family vacation.

"When I talked to Mike, I said to him, 'When you tell me this thing is an honor for you to be selected, I'm telling you a bigger honor is that your daughters are not willing to give up the family vacation for it,' " Mickie Krzyzewski said.

But she said the U.S. team job has not cut out family time. The family has spent more time relaxing together the past two years, adding a long family weekend in October before Duke practice begins. In June, they vacationed on Figure Eight Island off the North Carolina coast.

Still, Krzyzewski has had to make sacrifices. As a special assistant to Duke's president, Richard Brodhead, he had to cut back on last-minute meetings with visitors and other special duties he performs. Krzyzewski discussed the job with Brodhead and athletic director Joe Alleva, and both supported the move.

Krzyzewski also has cut back on his speaking engagements, though the requests have only increased during his U.S. tenure.

"Financially, that knocks off a chunk," he said, "but timewise I had to do that."

Mickie Krzyzewski said her husband also has vigilantly cut back on salt in his diet, exercised daily and turned off game tapes at a reasonable hour to get a regular amount of sleep in order to physically handle the two jobs.

"He has said 'no' more often but, moreso than safeguarding the family time, our biggest priority is protecting him," she said.

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