Duke Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski has been named the 2011 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. In the last three years, the legendary Coach K has returned the United States men's basketball team back to glory with an Olympic Gold in Beijing, won his fourth NCAA championship at Duke, and ushered his way into basketball lore by becoming the winningest college men's coach in history. Some are calling Kryzewski the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln. (Me, but still.)

In a dual honoring by SI, Tennessee Lady Volunteer head coach Pat Summitt, the eight-time national champion and all-time wins leader in women's basketball, was named the Sportswoman of the Year.

cool story, bro

You are a fake fan. Real Duke fans don't accept you as one of their own.

Did they simultaneously break into the 8 ESPN networks to share this news?

Also a LOL to Coach K leading the US team to Gold in Beijing. They won because the stars decided to play. It had nothing to do with K.

Sounds more like a lifetime achievement award than an 'of the year' award.

congrats, and well deserved......85-63 :thumbup:

What does all the other stuff have to do with this year? Just wondering if you put that down or if it actually was in the criteria.

Laley, I think that you'd have to say that SI definitely did take sort of a "lifetime achievement" angle with this year's selections, especially with the honoring of Summitt. (She broke the women's record years ago and has almost a million wins now.) Certainly in Krzyzewski's case, however, the award coming in 2011 makes sense, as he passed the iconic Bob Knight this year for a monumental record that, if Krzyzewski coaches another decade, may never be touched.

I personally thought Krzyzewski should have won the award last year, since that was the year he won his fourth title and the record he was chasing was already inevitable. But, similarly to Dean Smith, SI chose to wait for the year the record was broken.

ccrunner609;1003275 wrote:I think Pat Summit has man hands!

Or Coach K has girl hands.

Was part of the criteria not buggering young boys, or ignoring that your close friend and assistant coach was buggering young boys?

Any sportsman of the year award that is not Aaron Rodgers this year is fatally flawed.

queencitybuckeye;1003829 wrote:Any sportsman of the year award that is not Aaron Rodgers this year is fatally flawed.

I agree. The guy is on one of the greatest QB steaks of all time (not just wins, but performance too).

SI may have just done something positive. I haven't looked at one since they committed libel on Tressel.

ccrunner609;1003275 wrote:I think Pat Summit has man hands!

LOL at you coming on a Coach K (DOOK) thread and pointing that out.

queencitybuckeye;1003829 wrote:Any sportsman of the year award that is not Aaron Rodgers this year is fatally flawed.

Agreed. Hopefully he wins it next year because I think he will be playing pretty much like he has been this year.

But congrats to Coach K.

se-alum wrote:Also a LOL to Coach K leading the US team to Gold in Beijing. They won because the stars decided to play. It had nothing to do with K.

"No other coach has ever won the Olympics, the NCAAs and the Worlds -- and Coach K did so in a span of 26 months." -SI

"Coach K is a guy who could've been coaching in the pros many years ago. His resume speaks for itself, the players that he has gotten prepared for the NBA speaks for itself... I just want to be able to tell my kids one day that I played for Coach K, one of the greatest coaches of all-time." - Dwyane Wade

"Coach K just fits perfect for us. Like I said before, it doesn't matter if he's a collegiate coach or not, he fits perfect for what we need in a coach. He allows us to have freedom. He allows us to play the game of basketball and just go out there and have fun, but at the same time he wants us to be perfect. We should expect perfection and that is what he is about. We like that, we like that kind of challenge." -LeBron James

It is no coincidence that Team USA returned to glory with Mike Krzyzewski at the helm. The players certainly made the performances happen, but Krzyzewski helped change and remold the culture of a completely broken USA basketball program. He is a master motivator. He understands how to inspire individuals to believe in the FIST, as Coach K refers to the unit of five guys on a basketball court playing together for one common purpose, and achieve their best. And obviously, one of the great minds in the game, ever. Larry Brown had arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the game in Tim Duncan, as well as two of the world's best in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, in 2004, and finished third. Third.

It's fine that some think Krzyzewski shouldn't have won the award over others. I agree, guys like Aaron Rodgers and Djokovic certainly had fantastic years in the world of sport. But to call Krzyzewski being honored a criminal wrongdoing is just stupid. In the last year, the man just surpassed arguably the greatest college coach of any sport in history, the legendary Robert Montgomery Knight, to become the winningest men's basketball coach ever. And, not to mention, the accolades that Krzyzewski has accumulated over the past three years altogether, which rivals anything anyone in any sport has achieved over that period. As I said, I thought K should have been honored in 2010.

Holding your own opinion is fine, but, really, a criminal act? Get real please.

reclegend22;1003989 wrote:It's fine that some think Krzyzewski shouldn't have won the award over others. I agree, guys like Aaron Rodgers and Djokovic certainly had fantastic years in the world of sport. But to call Krzyzewski being honored a criminal wrongdoing is just stupid. In the last year, the man just surpassed arguably the greatest college coach of any sport in history, the legendary Robert Montgomery Knight, to become the winningest men's basketball coach ever. And, not to mention, the accolades that Krzyzewski has accumulated over the past three years altogether, which rivals anything anyone in any sport has achieved over that period. As I said, I thought K should have been honored in 2010.

Holding your own opinion is fine, but, really, a criminal act? Get real please.

Did someone delete a post? No post on the thread uses the word "criminal" or anything similar until you did.

reclegend22;1003969 wrote:

"No other coach has ever won the Olympics, the NCAAs and the Worlds -- and Coach K did so in a span of 26 months." -SI

"Coach K is a guy who could've been coaching in the pros many years ago. His resume speaks for itself, the players that he has gotten prepared for the NBA speaks for itself... I just want to be able to tell my kids one day that I played for Coach K, one of the greatest coaches of all-time." - Dwyane Wade

"Coach K just fits perfect for us. Like I said before, it doesn't matter if he's a collegiate coach or not, he fits perfect for what we need in a coach. He allows us to have freedom. He allows us to play the game of basketball and just go out there and have fun, but at the same time he wants us to be perfect. We should expect perfection and that is what he is about. We like that, we like that kind of challenge." -LeBron James

It is no coincidence that Team USA returned to glory with Mike Krzyzewski at the helm. The players certainly made the performances happen, but Krzyzewski helped change and remold the culture of a completely broken USA basketball program. He is a master motivator. He understands how to inspire individuals to believe in the FIST, as Coach K refers to the unit of five guys on a basketball court playing together for one common purpose, and achieve their best. And obviously, one of the great minds in the game, ever. Larry Brown had arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the game in Tim Duncan, as well as two of the world's best in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, in 2004, and finished third. Third.

USA born players > World players any day of the week regardless the coach. What do you think Wade and Bron are going to say? Are you really this dense/stupid/ignorant?

Also, you are a bandwagon fan. Enjoy!

Queencity, maybe I've lost it, but I was sure there was a post that said that. I wouldn't have wrote that otherwise. Maybe it was on another site.. Although, you did mention "fatally flawed." I think that might be a bit much, considering K's recent accomplishments. But, as I said, Rodgers had a deserving year as well.

As for LeBron and Dwade's praise for Coach K and what he has meant to USA basketball, they are some of the best and most influential basketball players on the planet (I do hate LeBron, though) and certainly didn't have to laud the guy in such a celebratory manner if they didn't want to. Where are all the quotes about Larry Brown, the '04 coach?

sleeper wrote:USA born players > World players any day of the week regardless the coach.

Larry Brown, the 2004 USA men's basketball coach, had arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the game in Tim Duncan, as well as two of the world's best USA born players in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, in 2004, and finished third. Third. That must have been the day of the week that the earth stood still. On second thought, 2004 gold medal-winning Spaniard point guard Pepe Sanchez did play college ball in Philadelphia for Temple, so maybe that counts.

reclegend22;1004112 wrote:Larry Brown, the 2004 USA men's basketball coach, had arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the game in Tim Duncan, as well as two of the world's best USA born players in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, in 2004, and finished third. Third. That must have been the day of the week that the earth stood still. On second thought, 2004 gold medal-winning Spaniard point guard Pepe Sanchez did play college ball in Philadelphia for Temple, so maybe that counts.

Larry Brown never played the best players in the world. He relied on Starbury and Billups to win the title. Coach K's greatest coaching move was to actually play our best players and play them often. A trained monkey could do that.

sleeper wrote:Larry Brown never played the best players in the world. He relied on Starbury and Billups to win the title. Coach K's greatest coaching move was to actually play our best players and play them often. A trained monkey could do that.

reclegend22 wrote:Larry Brown, the 2004 USA men's basketball coach, had arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the game in Tim Duncan, as well as two of the world's best USA born players in LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, in 2004, and finished third. Third.

Do you just intentionally read right through facts, or do you seriously not see them? You should consult an optometrist, because you may have glaucoma.

I think K deserves some credit for the US team winning Gold, but not all of it. Probably less than half, because you do have to eventually realize any coach could win with that roster. I know Larry Brown finished 3rd, but Melo and LeBron were 20???? Tim Duncan was fully in his prime yes, but LeBron and Melo were not mature yet. They were young. The best in the world did not play. Shaq turned them down, Carter turned them down, Kobe turned them down, etc, etc. There is a reason that this team was compared to the Dream Team before they even played. Everyone knew they would win Gold.

Again, K deserves some credit for keeping them focused and keeping egos in check, just dont go overboard with it.

Only because Joe Paterno got caught.