Coach K didn’t have COVID. But ‘something hit me,’ the Duke basketball coach says
The tests say it wasn’t COVID-19 that kept Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski away from the Blue Devils for a couple of days this week, but you’d have a hard time convincing him.
“Something hit me,” Krzyzewski said Saturday, after coaching the No. 8 Blue Devils to an 88-73 win over N.C. State at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “And I thought I had COVID. Even though I’ve been boosted and everything. And I had so many of those symptoms, and I, really, almost had no energy at all, and just fatigue and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”
Daily testing, both rapid and more accurate PCR tests, never showed the 74-year-old Krzyzewski positive for COVID-19. That included tests conducted on Saturday.
The virus ran through the team around the holidays last month, with positive tests among players and staff causing two games to be postponed and keeping the team from practicing for more than a week.
The virus that slowed Krzyzewski began late Monday night as the Blue Devils were working through the kinks in their game after losing 76-74 to Miami at Cameron on Jan. 8. He attempted to come to work Tuesday but was too fatigued.
“I said something was wrong so they sent me home,” Krzyzewski said.
On Wednesday, when the team was heading to Winston-Salem for that night’s game at Wake Forest, Krzyzewski attempted to join them. But he got some frank words from the medical staff.
“The doc said, ‘No, you’re an idiot,’” Krzyzewski said. “...I appreciated their candor. And a lot of times in my position people don’t tell me what to do when I should be told what to do.”
So he stayed in Durham to convalesce. Associate head coach Jon Scheyer, who will take over as Duke’s head coach when Krzyzewski retires following this season, was the acting head coach as the Blue Devils beat Wake Forest, 76-64, at the Joel Coliseum Wednesday night.
“He would have done a really good job on that one,” Krzyzewski said of Scheyer. “But really, he’s been kind of a head coach with me the whole year. So I I thought my staff was magnificent at Wake.”
Krzyzewski said he still felt fatigued on Saturday but he’s clearly getting over the illness. He returned to work and put the team through its practices and preparation for the N.C. State game.
This story was originally published January 15, 2022 at 5:29 PM.