After 42 years with Duke (and 47 as a head coach), Mike Krzyzewski is ready to call it a career and retire from the game after this college basketball season. The legendary coach announced he would lead the Duke Blue Devils for one more campaign to focus his attention on different things.
This will be a very emotional season for him, his players, and those accompanying Coach K during his final year. The situation has had a big repercussion on ticket prices, with some fans going to new levels to see the 74-year-old leading his team one more time.
Next March 5 will mark his last home game for Duke. Curiously, that game will be another edition of the Tobacco Road rivalry, where they face the North Carolina Tar Heels. Everything is set up for it to be a great game and nobody wants to miss that.
For instance, one fan spent $1 million on four tickets to that game. Coach K himself revealed this to Packer and Durham on the ACC Network, saying that an anonymous bidder got the four tickets at a V Foundation auction earlier this year.
"I've been fortune to be on the V Foundation since (the late Jimmy Valvano) and I were brothers. And so I host, with my family, the wine festival in Napa," Krzyzewski said. "We've done it 14 years, and this past year we raised $12 million. It's a big event. And the first auction item was four tickets to that game, and it went for $1 million dollars."
This is simply incredible. Coach K is really beloved by Duke fans. This season will be full of emotions for him and those around the program, and they'll hope to finish a cycle with a big celebration.
It's hard to predict what team will win the NCAAB national tournament next year, but Duke will try to finish his coach's 42-year tenure with a big win. Everybody will be watching them, especially when they face UNC on March 5.
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