If You’re Passing Through Durham Any Time Soon, Some New Signage To Check Out

It’s a pretty cool tribute.

The season, and the career of Duke’s legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, is winding down, but not the theme of the season: ESPN is about to honor Coach K in a really nice way.

On Monday, two new billboards will debut in Durham celebrating his career. The slogan? “Where else are four decades defined by one letter?”

K, y’all, nice job.

It’s part of ESPN’s “No Place Like Sports” campaign and they’re going to do versions for other people like Bubba Wallace, runner Shalane Flanagan, and the Kraken, the NHL’s expansion team in Seattle.

In Durham, the billboards will be at Guess Road exit off of I-85 and on 15-501 at the Hillsborough exit. Both will see a lot of UNC-oriented traffic, which is kind of funny.

We don’t know if the family would have reason to drive by either billboard, but if they did, it would be an amazing experience to look back over the long arc of Mike Krzyzewski’s career. Remember that when he got to Duke, he had an NIT team in his first season with Bill Foster’s players and then struggled terribly for a couple of years before things got going.

Two things to keep in mind if you go by either billboard. First, Tom Butters had the ability to see greatness in a young coach with a middling record at Army. And second, when he took the job, Coach K said he saw no reason why Duke couldn’t be an annual Top Ten team.

People with vision are just so cool.