‘A piece of Blue Devil history’: Coach K’s Durham ‘starter home’ under contract
Even Coach K knows how hard it can be to get on the property ladder.
In 1980, then just 33, Mike Krzyzewski, before he earned his famous moniker, moved to Durham as a relative newbie. After a brief stint coaching in the Army, the Chicago native was hired for roughly $40,000 a year to lead Duke University’s men’s basketball.
Krzyzewski, the son of Polish immigrants, came from humble beginnings. At the time, apart from his wage, he and his wife, Mickie, didn’t have much.
“We were OK but we had no money to buy a house,” Krzyzewski, now 76, said in an August 2021 interview with The News & Observer, shortly before retiring from his epic 46-year career. Today, he’s working as a special adviser to the NBA. But in his early days, he admitted, it was tough: “We’re in the Army and then we’re at West Point. So they have quarters for you. You don’t have a home to sell, and you don’t have equity.”
Ultimately, the couple settled in a split-level, traditional house at 5425 N. Highland Drive, 10 miles north of downtown Durham. They borrowed 100% for the down payment, he said, when interest rates were “around 18%.”
“I think we bought it off our credit card,” he said.
On the market
Coach’s K’s 2,706-square-foot “starter home,” where he lived from 1980 to 1981, is under contract and expected to close later this month for over $400,000.
Built in 1972 and advertised as a “piece of Blue Devil history,” the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home was listed for $399,000.
It’s on nearly half an acre in the Willowhaven subdivision, and features a bonus room, back deck, and detached two-car garage.
“It’s a fine house, but it’s not a grand estate,” its listing agent, Alex Nickodem, a Realtor with Terra Nova Global Properties in Durham, said. “It’s technically not even within city limits.”
It’s also not your “typical” split-level home, he said. “When you walk in, you’re not on any floor, you have to go up or down to go anywhere.”
Though the Triangle’s housing market is starting to cool, it’s still competitive. Case in point: Coach K’s house received four offers after just four days on the market. Nickodem wouldn’t reveal the final sale price, but said “clearly, people were interested in it because of its history.”
The Krzyzewskis didn’t stay in the home for long. After about a year, they built a new house on Trappers Court in Durham, where they lived for 18 years until moving to their current multimillion-dollar home just across the Orange County line off Cornwallis Road.
In 2022, Krzyzewski retired after 42 seasons as Duke’s head coach. He’s college basketball’s all-time coaching wins leader (1,202), amassed while leading Duke to five NCAA championships and 13 Final Four appearances. He also coached NBA players on the U.S. men’s national team to Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016 in addition to FIBA world championships in 2010 and 2014.
This story was originally published June 5, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "‘A piece of Blue Devil history’: Coach K’s Durham ‘starter home’ under contract."
