As Coach K exits quarantine, his daughter and granddaughter are still sick with COVID-19
Though Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski exited his coronavirus quarantine in good health and led the Blue Devils to a win Saturday, the pandemic continues to impact his family.
Krzyzewski said two of his family members remain ill with COVID-19.
“My daughter, Debbie, and granddaughter, Emmie, are still fighting the virus,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s not going away. They are doing OK but not great. My heart goes out to everyone out there who has a family member or they are fighting this. It’s serious.”
Debbie Savarino, Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski’s oldest daughter, is an assistant athletic director at Duke. Emmie Savarino is her 17-year-old daughter.
Duke announced on Jan. 1 that Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski had begun a quarantine due to contact with a family member who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
The quarantine caused Mike Krzyzewski, 73, to coach his team virtually, using Zoom to hold meetings and watch practice. He was not on the bench or able to communicate with the team during Wednesday night’s 83-82 win over Boston College at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Associate head coach Jon Scheyer was the team’s interim head coach.
Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski were tested daily during their quarantine and all results were negative. They stayed apart in separate areas of their Durham home.
Staff from Mako Medical, Duke’s testing partner during the pandemic, arrived at his house at 5:45 a.m. Saturday to collect a testing sample. Once the result came back negative around 8:30 a.m., Krzyzewski said he was allowed to exit quarantine and join his team for its pregame walk through around 9:15 a.m.
“That helped,” he said. “Instead of me just coming in and saying `Surprise!’ just before the game, I was able to establish a little more contact with them.”
Duke freshman guard DJ Steward, who scored 21 points in the Blue Devils 79-68 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, said Krzyzewski immediately gave the team a mental boost.
“It was exciting,” Steward said. “He came in and the first thing he said was ‘Let’s gooooooooo!’ And he told us to yell that out. He just brought that energy and we needed that energy. So just going forward it’s going to be good having him back.”
Debbie Savarino’s health history
Debbie Savarino, a 1993 Duke graduate, works as director of Duke’s Legacy Fund, which has raised $115 million for the Duke basketball program. The funds have helped fully endow the team’s NCAA-mandated 13 scholarships as well as salaries for the entire coaching staff. The fund also helped pay for the construction and maintenance of the team’s facilities.
Back in December 2010, Debbie Savarino suffered a mild stroke as a result of a vertebral artery dissection. She recovered well at Duke University Hospital and was back at work by late January 2011, but patients with underlying health conditions are at a higher risk for severe illness when contracting COVID-19.
The pandemic has caused a surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths not only in North Carolina, but around the country over the last four weeks.
It continues to impact Krzyzewski and his family.
“We had 16,000 people die in the last four days,” Krzyzewski said, referencing nationwide totals. “I’m just thankful we have such a good medical center and good medical people who will take care of us.”
Debbie Savarino’s son, Michael, is a sophomore walk-on player on the Duke basketball team. When the quarantine began on Jan. 1 and Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski were not allowed to travel with the team to Tallahassee, Florida, that day for a scheduled game with Florida State on Jan. 2, Michael Savarino did travel as a quarantine was not necessary for him under Duke’s COVID-19 protocols.
The Blue Devils players are tested daily and have not produced a positive result. While Duke had ACC games with Pittsburgh and Florida State postponed due to COVID-19 issues in those programs, the Blue Devils have not had to pause practices or miss a game due to any of their own personnel testing positive.
On Saturday morning, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported 11,581 new coronavirus cases in North Carolina, 3,781 people currently hospitalized and 7,425 deaths since the pandemic was first reported in the state in March.
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 4:37 PM.