Duke Basketball Team Surprises Coach K With Puppy After Retirement
If you’re a Duke basketball fan, then you didn’t get your Cinderella ending of a season this year. Even people who weren’t Duke basketball fans were rooting for Coach Mike Krzyzewski, also known as “Coach K,” to get one final NCAA Championship before retiring.
Coach K has spent over 40 seasons dedicating his life to coaching Duke University men’s basketball. So how could you ever repay a man for that? A puppy!
Duke Men's Basketball surprised Coach Mike Krzyzewski with a puppy at his final team banquet last night.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 15, 2022
Coach K's 12-year-old lab passed away last summer, and he has said he wanted to get another dog shortly after he retired 🐶
(📸: @DukeMBB) pic.twitter.com/8Jc6LR0DbP
Earlier this past season, Coach K had announced that he would be retiring after this 2021-2022 season. So that would make last week’s end-of-year banquet his final banquet with the team. Talk about going out with a bang!
What do you get for the Coach who has it all??????
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) April 15, 2022
A HANDSOME, 15/10 PUPPY 🐶x🐐 pic.twitter.com/MDKUAP0cxf
“Since you have a lot more time now, coach, we felt you needed something to train, so we want you to meet the new member of your family,” said Jon Scheyer, who was named as Coach K’s replacement. That’s when the team brought out the surprise: a four-legged furry friend named Coach.
The highlight of the night was seeing Coach K smile. Tweets started surfacing about people who had never seen such a light-hearted side of Coach K! He even gave the audience a wave of a paw while holding his new forever friend. This was right before the pup won the crowd over by giving Coach K a few kisses.
The sweet moment was shared across all social media platforms. What better way to spend retirement than with an adorable pup! Now, puppies are no joke and some people don’t think they should be given as gifts because of how much work they are. No worries here though, Coach K had been vocal about wanting a new dog after his retirement since his former best friend, 12-year-old lab Blue, passed away in 2021.
Happy retirement, Coach!
