Tale of two coaches case study 3

Coach Bob Knight and Coach Mike Krzyzewski are arguably two of the best coaches to have ever coached college basketball in terms of notoriety and success. Anyone can reference a stat book and realize how successful these two coaches have been, according to the numbers, but comparing their leadership styles and approach to the game is a whole other story. While the two coaches have completely different leadership styles, Coach K and Coach Knight have more in common than just developing future NBA All-Stars, winning NCAA championships, and becoming a legend in the sport of college basketball. It so happens that Coach K and Coach Knight began what would become a lifetime friendship at the United States Military Academy at WestPoint where, then freshman cadet, Mike Krzyzewski was a player on Coach Knights basketball squad. Coach K would later become Coach Knight’s graduate assistant coach at Indiana University, the school where Coach Knight made his mark on college basketball.
Despite having different leadership styles Coach K and Coach Knight have some similarities in leadership as it pertains to coaching. The leadership skills found on the Kratz model are not huge factors in the success of the coaches. However, Coach Knight possesses two of the skills proposed on Kratz’s model; those are technical skills and conceptual skills. As a matter of fact, one could say that he excelled at those two specific leadership skill sets. Coach Knight is known for having the inherent ability of knowing what will work and what the best course of action is to win the game. Referencing the Kratz model once again, Coach Knight undeniably lacks human skills. This is evident just by the fact that he has been reprimanded and even fired for physically and emotionally abusing his players, including his own son who played under him at Indiana University. (Snook, 2005) Coach Knight is definitely known for his on the court antics of being a rough-and-tough guy buy being ejected from games for