The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced on Monday that the NABC Metropolitan Award would now be known as the NABC Mike Krzyzewski Award in honor of the five-time national champion.
“The newly-renamed NABC Mike Krzyzewski Award will continue to recognize basketball coaches and contributors for long and outstanding service to the game,” the association said in a release about the change.
The award was first given out in 1941, and Krzyzewski won it in 2009. He added two more national titles to his resume after the achievement, including one with current head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] in 2010.
ESPN announcer Dick Vitale won the award in 2024, and notable coaches like Tom Izzo (2019), John Calipari (2018), and former North Carolina Tar Heels coach Roy Willaims (2014) have been honored in the past decade.
The longtime Duke basketball coach retired following the 2021-22 season after leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four 13 times, including one last appearance in his final season. He finished with a 1,129-309 record during his 42 seasons in Durham, winning the ACC regular-season title 13 times and winning the conference tournament 15 times.
Coach K also won the NABC Coach of the Year award twice, first in 1991 after he brought Duke its first national championship before being honored again in 1999.