Coach Mike Krzyzewski

In this episode of Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020, one of history's best college basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski inspires graduating seniors to surround themselves with good people and to trust those who love them as they make life decisions moving forward.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Commencement Speeches for the Class of is a production of
I Heart Radio. Class of Parents, faculty, rising graduates, Welcome
to commencement. You made it. This year is a little different,

(00:23):
a difficult time to graduate because the traditional graduation day
has been put on hold. So we're bringing it to
you wherever you are because this is still your day,
your moment. And now put your hands together. It's time
to be inspired. This year's commencement speaker the one and
only coach Mike Zevski. Wow, we didn't know what have

(00:53):
this opportunity to be together today and I'm honored to
have this opportunity to celebrate your commencement, your graduation incredible.
What I'd love for you to do is use your
imagination during the next few minutes that we're together. Envision
and imagine that you are at your graduation. Close your

(01:15):
eyes every once in a while, and listen to the
words I'm saying, but also try to be in the
place where you would have been for your graduation. I
call it getting control over your environment. You know, that's
what a winner does. A winner creates an environment that's
conducive to success, and winning is really making the best

(01:38):
out of any situation you're in and doing it in
an ethical manner. And so what are you thinking about today?
What's going on in your mind? Are you excited, are
you proud? Are you nervous? I hope one of the
things that you are is thankful. And there are people
that have put you in the position you're in today.

(02:00):
As a graduate. You're the primary person who's put you
in and you will always be the primary person. In
other words, you're the one who's responsible. That's another characteristic
of being a winner, having an imagination, making sure that
you're in a great environment, and taking responsibility for what's happened.

(02:24):
But you know what, there are people who have helped you.
I can remember a long time ago when I graduated
from the United States Military Academy. I was sitting there
in my uniform. I was thinking, how did I get here?
I was proud, But then I started thinking back of
all the people who impacted me, and the one person
who stood out was my mom. My mom had an

(02:47):
eighth grade education, never went to high school, and you
know what, she was a queening lady in downtown Chicago.
I grew up in the inner city of Chicago. She
was wise. I remembered a couple of things that she
said to me that really I'd like to share with
you because they've been really the foundation for for me

(03:09):
for my whole life. You know, just before starting high
school and in the city you would go to high school.
I went to Catholic high school and you have to
go on a bus. And the night before I was
going to school, she said, Michael. And whenever she said Michael,
I knew there was something that was very important that
she wanted to say. And I was a little bit

(03:30):
of a wise guy. You're fourteen years old, inner city.
And I said, my what what? And she has sit down, Michael,
and she you know, tomorrow, make sure you're on the
right bus. And I said, I know, Damon Armitage, Armitage there,
I can take the vision of grand and I know
my way around the city. And she said, that's not

(03:50):
what I'm talking about. And I was a little impetuous,
and I said, what are you talking about? And she said,
tomorrow you're gonna meet a lot of new people. You're
gonna start driving your bus in different neighborhoods, and you're
gonna drive your bus for your entire life. Make sure
that you put good people on your bus, and if

(04:11):
you get on someone else's bus, make sure they're good people.
If they are, then they will help you go to
places that you will not be able to go along.
And she was right. I've done that my entire wife,
and that's something I would ask you to do. Hank
with good people, Be with good people. There's a greater

(04:32):
chance of you winning if you're with good and obviously
if you're with exceptional. And then a few years later,
here's that eighth grade education coming into being, and I'm
trying to make a decision. I'm where I want to
go to college. I was an all state basketball player
and recruited. I was not even thinking of going to

(04:53):
the United States Military Academy and they came in and
I didn't want to go. I didn't see myself being
an army officer and that's not something I imagined, and
I turned it down. And for a couple of weeks,
my mom and dad they would speak in Polish when
they were talking about me and my brother Bill, and

(05:14):
then I was listening to him for a couple of
weeks in the kitchen and they would say something in Polish,
and all of a sudden it would be stupid and
then Mike, so I knew they were talking about me,
not in glowing terms. Finally, that ethnic pressure got the
best of me and I said, okay, I'll go. And

(05:36):
I call it the best decision I never made. Four
years later, when I was sitting in your seat and
Mikey Stadium at the United States Military Academy at West Point,
I was there because my parents believed in me. They
wanted something better for me. And you know what, I
was smart enough, even though I didn't know it, I

(05:58):
still had them on my bus. Crazy, huh. You know
a lot of times, as your bus moves forward, you
put people on and you forget about who is already on,
and you don't rely on what they can do for
you and what you can do for them. And so
I really was in a position then where my bus

(06:20):
was at West Point. I want to share with you
the very important things I weren't there. They put you
through the ringer kind and they change your limits, and
in order to get better, you have to change your limits.
And in changing your limits, you're gonna make mistakes, you're
gonna fail, and you're going to get knocked down. And

(06:41):
I did a number of times even though as a
golden boy in high school, I was not that golden boy.
At West Point, they taught me to get up, that
failure was never your destination, that it was only a
little stop over on your way of finding success. The
second thing along with that, they said, don't get up

(07:02):
alone while somebody to pick you up. Beyond a team.
Beyond a team. How relevant was that for me? Huh?
Going forward? I had five years in the military as
a captain in the field artillery, and I had always
had a dream. And if you have a dream, follow
your heart. I followed my heart. I wanted to be

(07:24):
a coach, and forty five years ago I became that
head coach at the age at the United States Military
Academy and I was there for five years. And for
the next forty years, I've been a duke. And wow,
my bus has I put on some great people on

(07:45):
my bus and I've gotten on the bus of an
amazing number of people. And you know, the thing that
I learned being on that bus and going through my
career is that when I'm on a team or forming
a team, you don't way for a team. When I
was coaching the United States Olympic team, and I had

(08:05):
an opportunity to coach the US team for eleven years.
I can remember the first meeting we had before trying
to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, and in the audience
are Lebron, James Chris, Paul Carmelo, Anthony, Kobe Bryant, you know,
some of the great players in the world. And we

(08:27):
always had a picture of the gold medal up in
the meeting room, and I was nervous. I talked to
them and I said, I want you to understand one thing.
You are not on the United States Olympic team. And
I know they looked at me puzzled. In the next instant,
I said, look at that gold medal up there. I said,

(08:49):
we will not win the gold medal. If you play
for the United States Olympic team, we will win the
gold medal if you are the US team. If you
own it, you will win if you own it. And
so as you go forward, get into organizations where you're

(09:11):
allowed to own it, you're allowed for it to be yours.
If it's yours, you're going to make it the best
it can possibly be. You know what, in the last
couple of months, going through this pandemic it's changed every
one's life. It's cost the lives of tens of thousands
of people around the world, but it also has given

(09:34):
us time to reflect and spend a little bit more
time with our families. And I had an interesting experience
over the last week. I was going through some things
and I found a box and it had Grandma's things.
And I look through it as my mom's somebody who's
been at the back of the bus. She's passed away

(09:57):
almost twenty five years ago, and I think of her
often and I used what she taught me every day.
But as I looked through the box, I looked at
cards and letters and pictures, and I laughed and I cried,
and I want to share with you something that I found,
and it's amazing. I remember my mom had an eighth

(10:17):
grade education, and I found a piece of paper five
by eight in her handwriting. There's no title or anything.
She wrote down. Once upon a time there were four
people named Everybody, Somebody, anybody, and nobody. There was an

(10:39):
important task to be done, and everybody was sure that
somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but
you know, nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that
because it was everybody's job. Everybody thought anybody could do it,

(11:04):
but nobody realized that everybody wouldn't do it. It ended
up that everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody
could have done. Wow, you know what I get from that?
I go back to the bus. That's my mom saying,

(11:27):
everybody has the ability to get on this bus. Who
you know what, We're not letting a nobody on this
bus because everybody on this bus will allow each other
to become somebody, and we will do that only if
we own it. So as you move forward, why you

(11:48):
have so much excitement ahead of you, remember hang with
good people. Listen to that group of people around you
where you need advice, where you're not alone, when you're
making big decisions, trust those people who love you and

(12:08):
have made an impact on your life. As you make
decisions and going forward, and as your bus moves along,
remember only what somebody's in and make sure that day
a while everyone on that bus to be somebody who
actually counts and it's important. Congratulations once again, God bless

(12:34):
you and God's speed. As we move forward, you can
find a collection of incredible commencement addresses from all your
favorite speakers at the commencement podcast on I Heart Radio

(12:54):
or wherever you listen to podcasts. I think I can't
do