A road Mike Krzyzewski took to Duke’s campus for decades will soon bear his name
A 3-mile stretch of N.C. 751 in Durham that retired Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and his family have traversed for more than 40 years will be named in his honor.
The state Board of Transportation voted Thursday to rename the road Coach K Highway, between Duke University Road and Kerley Road. The new Coach K Highway includes the section of N.C. 751 known as Cameron Boulevard along the Duke campus near Cameron Indoor Stadium, where Krzyzewski coached the men’s basketball team for 42 years, winning 1,129 games and five national titles.
Duke University requested the naming, with support from the Durham City Council and Durham County commissioners. Duke will pay for new signs along the road, which are expected to cost about $2,000.
Despite the highway’s name, the honor is only partly to recognize Krzyzewski’s coaching career, which included leading the Olympic men’s basketball team to three consecutive gold medals. The resolution in support of the name also cites his work at the university’s Fuqua School of Business, on various charitable boards and in the Durham community, where each year the Emily K Center helps more than 2,000 low-income and minority students in all grade levels prepare for higher education.
Krzyzewski couldn’t be in the room when the Board of Transportation approved the new name; he was speaking to U.S. Military Academy cadets at West Point, where he graduated in 1969. But Katie Lipe, Duke’s assistant director for state relations, read a note from him.
“This recognition means a great deal to me and my family and is something that we will take great pride in for years to come,” Krzyzewski wrote. “As much as we love Duke, we love Durham. We’ve called Durham home for 43 years. We raised our children here, and now my grandchildren have had the opportunity to grow up here. The stretch of road that will be recognized is especially meaningful to me and my family, as it is a route we drove many times to and from Duke’s campus for more than four decades.”
Krzyzewski retired from coaching last year, after amassing more wins than any other college men’s basketball coach in history.
Approval of the Coach K Highway comes a little more than a year after the Board of Transportation agreed to name parts of Interstate 40 near Chapel Hill in honor of two of Krzyzewski’s rivals, UNC basketball coaches Dean Smith and Roy Williams.
