How would you like to have Coach K for a father-in-law?

Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski shows elite toughness as a father-in-law, from trees used in landscaping to doling out relationship advice – both of which usually come back to basketball analogies. That is, at least until the wine starts flowing. With Krzyzewski’s retirement looming, his family pulls back the curtain on what it’s like to have one of the most famous college basketball coaches as a family member.

So what do you get a man like Krzyzewski for a retirement gift when he’s your father-in-law? New gardening gloves? A trinket from West Point?

The couple had just moved from Oklahoma to Durham, N.C., not far from where Jamie’s parents lived. On this night, for the first time, her parents were coming over for dinner. Her husband, Chris, was nervous. He gets along well with his father-in-law, but this wasn’t just pasta night with the family. It was an important rite of passage, as it is for any young couple, something of a graduation into adulthood. And Jamie’s dad is a noted perfectionist and alpha who usually gets his way. Jamie and Chris walked outside to greet them. Jamie’s mother was going on about the wooded property’s beauty. But her dad, Mike Krzyzewski, who was cradling two bottles of fine Napa Valley wine, seemed transfixed by this … thing … next to the walkway. “Whose decision was this?” Krzyzewski, Duke’s legendary men’s basketball coach and Chris Spatola’s father-in-law, asked. Jamie and Chris shrugged, because isn’t a plant just a plant? Not to Krzyzewski, an avid gardener whose luxury Escalade’s interior is often littered with leaves, mulch and assorted yard waste. This plant, close to the Spatolas’ front door, was a weeping Nootka false cypress that Krzyzewski’s guy, Keith, had selected, and about which the Spatolas had no strong feelings. It was an evergreen, unusual looking, kind of big. It was a tree. But its branches drooped, making it look a little like a forlorn Christmas tree. And that was precisely the problem, Krzyzewski explained, in the same excruciating detail as if he were correcting a freshman’s mechanics on a jump shot.

Another bottle of cabernet?

Then, inevitably, the wine runs out. So Krzyzewski sends his sons-in-law into his massive wine cellar to select another bottle or two. It keeps the party going, but it’s also another social experiment…And because Krzyzewski’s interests tend to become obsessions, he has befriended winemakers and restaurateurs, assembling a vast collection of bottles. Some are rare, valued in the thousands, theoretically reserved for special occasions… Because what does Coach K actually want from this? It’s clearly about more than just wine. Something modest and palatable, equivalent to the Blue Devils reaching the NCAA tournament? Or a big, meaty Caymus that’ll cut down the damn nets? The smart play, then, is to bring back options: three bottles that represent a range of value and quality. It’s a shrewd act of political deference, suggesting they need the big man’s help in making the final decision. Besides, they know he’ll probably open the best one anyway.

Full story: https://wapo.st/3N0pbPM