Coach K honors John Chaney for ‘knocking down a lot of barriers’
Though his Duke Blue Devils posted an impressive, and much needed, win on Saturday, Mike Krzyzewski’s thoughts were elsewhere.
Before dissecting his team’s 79-53 win over Clemson, Krzyzewski spent two minutes during his postgame news conference remembering John Chaney, a fellow Hall of Fame coach who died Friday at age 89.
“Our sport has lost some huge people recently,” Krzyzewski said. “He was as big as any.”
When news of Chaney’s death began circulating on Friday, Duke sent out a statement from Krzyzewski where he praised Chaney for overcoming racial injustices to become among the nation’s most respected coaches. On Saturday, Krzyzewski went deeper to address what Chaney taught him in the years before Duke captured its first NCAA championship in 1991.
“He knocked down a lot of barriers,” Krzyzewski said. “In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, he, John Thompson, George Raveling ... those three guys were giants on conference calls during that period of time where they were fighting for the rights of African-American kids. We had some of the most emotional phone calls that lasted sometimes until 1 or 2 in the morning. You know how eloquent John and George were. When John Chaney spoke, it was almost like you could feel there were other people he was talking about. It sent chills through you. God bless him.”
John Chaney’s career
An outstanding player growing up in Philadelphia, Chaney played at Bethune-Cookman before starting a coaching career. He won a Division II national championship at Cheyney State, outside Philadelphia, before becoming Temple’s head coach in 1982. He won 516 games with the Owls, giving him 741 overall.
Temple never made the Final Four under Chaney, losing in the regional finals five times. Krzyzewski played a role in two of those games as Duke beat Temple in Elite Eight games in 1988 and 1999.
Since Chaney’s teams utilized a match-up zone defense which was tough to play against, N&O columnist Luke DeCock mentioned to Krzyzewski after the game he should have had the Blue Devils play that defense in tribute.
“That would be an insult to John,” Krzyzewski said with a smile, suggesting he could never teach it as well as Chaney. “But that’s a great comment. Thank you. He’s the originator -- the Temple zone.”
In 2001, Chaney and Krzyzewski were inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in the same class.
On Saturday, prior to Duke’s game with Clemson, a moment of silence was held at Cameron Indoor Stadium for Chaney.
“That’s the most important thing from today,” Krzyzewski said, “to remember him.”