MKRob Sports

Mike Krzyzewski left no doubt Tuesday that he plans to spend the rest of his coaching career at Duke.

During the opening remarks of his annual summer news conference, Krzyzewski put to rest rumors that he would be replacing Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

“I’m not leaving Duke,” Krzyzewski said. “Whatever you hear about anything like that, I would never leave Duke until I leave coaching. Anything else that’s being said would be just somebody saying stuff.”

Before squashing that rumor, Krzyzewski said an announcement on who will coach the U.S. Olympic team in 2012 will be made July 21 in Las Vegas. He spoke glowingly of his experience over the past three years coaching the Olympic team and repeated his previous stance that he will remain involved with the team in some capacity.

Last summer, Krzyzewski coached Team USA to a gold medal in the Olympics in Beijing, China.

“It helped our (Duke) program,” Krzyzewski said. “It helped me. It helped our school. It’s just a good thing. Really, when you’re listing the positives and the negatives, there is no negative for me.”

Krzyzewski, 62, has never been so publicly emphatic about staying at Duke for the remainder of his career. In 2004, when he turned down a reported five-year, $40 million offer from the Lakers after some soul searching over the Fourth of July weekend, he stopped short of saying he would never consider another job.

On Tuesday, though, he said he has believed he would finish his career at Duke ever since that flirtation with the Lakers job.

Hearing another rumor about it convinced him to inform his team and the community that he plans to stay at Duke.

The coach’s ties to Durham extend far beyond the three NCAA titles and 10 Final Four trips he has achieved with Duke. Krzyzewski held his news conference just off campus at the Emily Krzyzewski Center, named in honor of his mother, which provides low-income students with academic, character and leadership training geared toward getting them admitted to college.

His name is on the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the center for athletic excellence attached to Cameron bears his name.

“I’m getting ready to start my 30th year at Duke,” Krzyzewski said. “I don’t see the finish line yet. I know the finish line will be there some time, but it’s not in my vision right now. I’m really enthusiastic, and going to be coaching at Duke.”

But Duke will have to share his attention with Team USA, perhaps in the head coaching role again. Krzyzewski said discussions are ongoing, but expects the staff to be announced July 21.

He said every day he spent working with the national team was rewarding. He said if he coaches again, the experience will be different.

The United States will be trying to defend its Olympic supremacy instead of trying to recapture the gold medal that had eluded it in the 2004 Olympics and the world championships in 2002 and 2006.

Krzyzewski said that instead of having a completely different plan for each four-year Olympic cycle, the goal is to establish continuity in the national team program.

“We want to have it where we all have the same standards,” Krzyzewski said. “This is what it means to represent our country. You do different offenses and defenses. But the way you represent your country is going to be the same. The thing is, I’m going to go forward with USA Basketball whether I coach or not.”