Mike Krzyzewski and Mike Ditka. Two Hall of Famers. Two legendary coaches with Chicago ties.
Krzyzewski and Ditka spoke recently with Coach K interviewing Da Coach for his SiriusXM show. In an episode of "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K" that aired Thursday evening, the two coaches discussed Ditka's start in coaching, the evolution of football and, of course, the first-place Bears.
As a Chicago native and an alumnus of Weber High School, Krzyzewski remains a big Bears fan. Which made it natural for him to probe Ditka on the prospects of this season's team, a squad Ditka believes is positioned to win the NFC North.
"They're probably going to win that division," Ditka said. "Unless they get some real key injuries. The linebacker they got, (Khalil) Mack, got hurt. They didn't even miss him. You watch them play the last couple weeks, this is a really good football team. Really well coached. And the quarterback (Mitch Trubisky) is just maturing into one of the best quarterbacks in football."
Krzyzewski, meanwhile, expressed his admiration for second-year running back Tarik Cohen _ who, by the way, just happens to be a big Duke basketball fan.
"He's good," Krzyzewski said. "... It's hard to see him and then all of a sudden he breaks loose. He's so damn tough."
In the 14-minute conversation, Krzyzewski praised Ditka as a "no-B.S. guy" and expressed his admiration for his approach.
"You have always been about winning and doing it right and recognizing if someone did it better," Krzyzewski said. "... Your thing has always been about values and earning what you get."
Ditka also shared a self-deprecating tale from his days playing college basketball at Pitt.
"I guarded Jerry West," Ditka shared. "I guarded him for 3 minutes. And I had five fouls and he had 15 points. But I guarded him. Later on his career, they asked him if he remembered that. He said, 'Yeah. I'm glad he fouled out. Or I might not have had a pro career.' "
