5 Coach K records that will never be matched

Longtime Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, best known as "Coach K," announced Wednesday that he will retire following the upcoming 2021-22 season — his 42nd in Durham, North Carolina.

An icon of college basketball, the 74-year-old ushered in unparalleled success at Duke, where he led his team to 35 NCAA tournament appearances and won five NCAA titles, the second-most in history behind UCLA's John Wooden.

A man committed as much to greatness off the court as he is to excellence on the hardwood, Coach K has already amassed a laundry list of records throughout his 46-year tenure as a head coach.

In addition to his success at Duke, Coach K revitalized Army's basketball program during his first head coaching stint (1975-1980), which he acquired after a season as an assistant under legendary coach Bob Knight at Indiana. Knight also coached Krzyzewski while he played guard for Army.

In 2021, Coach K will get the chance to pad the record book with a top-five recruiting class headed to Duke for his final ride inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Before we witness the closing chapter in Coach K's incomparable career, let's look back at five of his most unbreakable records.

5. Most victories by a head coach at Duke

Krzyzewski is the only coach with at least 1,000 career victories and the only one to tally 1,000 with one school.

He celebrated his 1,000th career win on Jan. 25, 2015, when Duke defeated St. John's inside Madison Square Garden. His 1,000th win as Duke head coach came in 2017, in a 99-69 romp of Utah Valley.

The coach with the next most victories in Duke school history is Eddie Cameron, with 226.

Coach K's successor Jon Scheyer (age 33) will begin his head coaching tenure during the 2022-23 season, and will be around the same age as Coach K was when Krzyzewski started his journey at Duke. Matching Coach K's production will be a nearly insurmountable task.

Krzyzewski has averaged 27 wins per year at Duke, and set an NCAA record with 15 30-win seasons.

It'll be difficult enough for any coach to beat Coach K's all-time NCAA win total. The coach with the second most NCAA victories is Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (age 76), who has 188 fewer than Coach K.

Even if Boeheim coached until age 80, and averaged 31 victories in each of the next four seasons, he would still fall short of Coach K's mark — which Krzyzewski will add to in the coming season.

4. Most ACC Tournament titles

In Duke's conference, the ACC, no coach has been more dominant.

With 15 ACC tournament titles, Coach K has won two more than UNC legend Dean Smith.

Of the active coaches in the conference, Tony Bennett at Virginia has won the ACC tournament twice, while recently retired UNC coach Roy Williams won three times.

Coach K's 67 ACC Tournament victories are also the most in league history, as are his 517 ACC victories across the regular season and tournament. He passed Smith's record of 422 back in 2015 and has won an ACC record 192 conference road games.

3. Most wins in NCAA Tournament history

Not only is Coach K a force in his conference, but he is also a formidable presence in the NCAA tournament.

His 97 NCAA tournament victories are 17 more than second-place coach Williams, who retired from UNC at the end of last season.

Fellow UNC great Smith racked up the third-most tournament wins (65), ahead of Jim Boeheim (57) and Tom Izzo (52).

Considering a team can collect, at most, six victories (seven, if you include the First Four) in any one NCAA tournament, it will take quite a run by a coach to close the gap with Coach K.

That's unlikely to happen with the amount of parity in today's college basketball landscape.

2. Undefeated record as Olympic head coach

Coach K's leadership translated beyond the college game. Put in charge of a group of the world's top athletes, he convinced superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to set ego aside and compete as one cohesive unit to chase gold at the Olympic Games.

Coach K got his start as a special assistant to Knight on the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team that won the gold medal in Los Angeles. He also served as an assistant on the "Dream Team" — featuring Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley, among other star-studded names — who won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Krzyzewski became head coach of the national team in October 2005. Across the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2012 London Olympics, and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he went 24-0 as head coach and is 40-0 when you combine his record as an assistant.

He is the first coach – man or woman – to lead a country to three Olympic gold medals in basketball.

Undefeated is unbeatable, and Coach K's run in the Olympics is one we likely will not see again.

1. NBA draft success and player accolades

The mentorship Krzyzewski provided to his college athletes resulted in greater fortunes beyond their time at Duke.

Coach K has helped 67 of his former players get drafted in the NBA. Twenty-eight were lottery picks (an all-time record by a school and a coach), including Kyrie Irving, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum and the trio of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish in 2019.

Remarkably, Duke's coach has seen at least one player taken in 33 of the past 40 NBA drafts.

Part of the reason Coach K has been able to push talent to the next level is because of his ability to bring in quality players to Duke. 

He has signed at least one McDonald’s All-American in each season dating back to 1985, the longest streak in the nation by 25 years.

He has coached nine Duke players to a combined 11 National Player of the Year awards, a record for total NPOY honors by one coach. Six players under Coach K's guidance also combined for a record nine National Defensive Player of the Year awards, which is more than double the number of the next-closest team in college basketball.