Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski discusses how faith and ethics have shaped his life and career as a leader in college, national, and international athletics in this public conversation in Duke University Chapel. Titled “Faith, Sports, and Leadership,” the event is Duke Chapel’s fourth annual William Preston Few Lecture. Chapel Dean Luke Powery moderates the discussion.
Krzyzewski, best known as “Coach K,” is the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history with 1,202 career victories. He led Duke to five National Championships, earning records for most Final Four appearances, NCAA Tournament victories, and games ranked number one in the country, among many other milestones. He served as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team from 2005 to 2016, winning Olympic gold medals in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Games.
Off the court, Krzyzewski is a professor of the practice of leadership at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. He is a co-founder of the Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, which has contributed to the leadership development of more than 7,500 MBA students and executives since 2004. He is also the founder and board chair of the Emily Krzyzewski Center on the campus of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Durham, which has served thousands of students since its inception in 2006. He has been on the board of directors at the V Foundation since its creation in 1993, helping to raise tens of millions of dollars for cancer research.
Raised in a working-class, Polish-immigrant family in Chicago, Krzyzewski attended St. Helen Catholic School and then the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he played under renowned coach Bob Knight, becoming team captain his senior year. After serving in the U.S. Army, he was an assistant coach with Knight at the University of Indiana before returning to West Point as head coach of Army in 1975. He led the Duke team from 1980 to 2022, accruing numerous awards, including National Coach of the Year (twelve times) and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.
The Chapel’s annual Few Lecture takes its name from Duke’s first president who articulated a vision of education promoting the courage to seek the truth and the conviction to live it. The series is funded by the William Preston Few Endowment for Duke Chapel, which was established in 1986 by Kendrick S. Few '39 as a memorial to his father, William Preston Few, the first president of Duke University.
Campus co-sponsors of the event include Duke Athletics, the Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, Duke Divinity School, Duke Catholic Center, and Fons Vitae.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski discusses how faith and ethics have shaped his life and career as a leader in college, national, and international athletics in this public conversation in Duke University Chapel. Titled “Faith, Sports, and Leadership,” the event is Duke Chapel’s fourth annual William Preston Few Lecture. Chapel Dean Luke Powery moderates the discussion.
Krzyzewski, best known as “Coach K,” is the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history with 1,202 career victories. He led Duke to five National Championships, earning records for most Final Four appearances, NCAA Tournament victories, and games ranked number one in the country, among many other milestones. He served as head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team from 2005 to 2016, winning Olympic gold medals in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Games.
Off the court, Krzyzewski is a professor of the practice of leadership at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. He is a co-founder of the Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, which has contributed to the leadership development of more than 7,500 MBA students and executives since 2004. He is also the founder and board chair of the Emily Krzyzewski Center on the campus of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Durham, which has served thousands of students since its inception in 2006. He has been on the board of directors at the V Foundation since its creation in 1993, helping to raise tens of millions of dollars for cancer research.
Raised in a working-class, Polish-immigrant family in Chicago, Krzyzewski attended St. Helen Catholic School and then the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he played under renowned coach Bob Knight, becoming team captain his senior year. After serving in the U.S. Army, he was an assistant coach with Knight at the University of Indiana before returning to West Point as head coach of Army in 1975. He led the Duke team from 1980 to 2022, accruing numerous awards, including National Coach of the Year (twelve times) and Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.
The Chapel’s annual Few Lecture takes its name from Duke’s first president who articulated a vision of education promoting the courage to seek the truth and the conviction to live it. The series is funded by the William Preston Few Endowment for Duke Chapel, which was established in 1986 by Kendrick S. Few '39 as a memorial to his father, William Preston Few, the first president of Duke University.
Campus co-sponsors of the event include Duke Athletics, the Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, Duke Divinity School, Duke Catholic Center, and Fons Vitae.
