Getty Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils looks on against the Michigan State Spartans during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has been the head Blue Devil since 1980. Through his nearly 40-year tenure in Durham, he has amassed an innumerable amount of accomplishments.
He’s the winningest coach in NCAA Division I basketball history, sporting a 1,132-343 record. He’s won 5 national championships, which could push to 6 this season as Duke is currently leading in the Elite 8 versus Michigan State. He also has:
- 12 Final Four appearances
- 15 ACC Tournament titles
- 12 ACC regular-season titles
- 3 Naismith Coach of the Year honors
With that sheer cornucopia of accolades, it’s not surprising that Krzyzewski is 72 years old. When looking at his face, however, he doesn’t really look it. Bleacher Report in fact named him as one of its 25 Sports Figures that Never Age” back in 2015.
As Fox Sports pointed out in 2014, “you wouldn’t know” his age by looking at his brown hair. He claims he doesn’t dye it to keep it from turning gray.
As we get ready for the NCAA tournament, Duke’s legendary coach broke some huge news over the weekend that will likely rock the college basketball world: He doesn’t dye his hair.
He revealed this important news after telling reporters that doctors last week told him he had the brain of a 20-year-old. The News-Observer’s Laura Keeley then followed up with a perfect question:
So when Duke spokesman Jon Jackson called out, “anything else?” I asked what I thought was an obvious inquiry.
“Did they tell you you have the hair of a 30-year-old?”
“I will tell you this – I do not color my hair,” Krzyzewski said, after pausing and laughing, kind of. “I do not. Now, I’m losing my hair, which a lot of people do. But I do not color my hair. I don’t. That’s a myth. My buddies would kill me.”
Maybe it’s just an ACC thing. Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton was asked back in 2018 about his routine for maintaining a youthful look.
“I think my mother was 97, and obviously she passed some pretty good genes down to me,” Hamilton said to USA Today. “But I think more than anything else I enjoy what I do. I don’t really feel stressed or pressured. I really enjoy working with young people.
“I think sometimes when you enjoy what you do, it allows you to eat well, prepare well. I don’t sleep very much, but I never have.”
Krzyzewski said last year that he simultaneously feels old but well, healthwise. He stated he doesn’t have a retirement timeline yet, either.
“Right now I’m in much better shape than I was last year,” he said to Jonathan Alexander of the News Observer, “because I’ve got everything replaced (he chuckled). And I feel good. I feel really good. The willingness to prepare to be good. I still want to do that. That’s probably the biggest question. Coaching or being the head coach, that’s good, but are you willing to prepare and do all the things necessary to be at this level of success? Or do you just hang on? And right now, I don’t feel like I’m just hanging on.
“I feel like I’m working as hard as I ever had. Obviously it keeps getting closer than further.”