One of Duke’s Tobacco Road rivals had just completed a stunning championship run under beloved coach Jim Valvano. The other was at the apex of its power under legendary coach Dean Smith. The Blue Devils, on the other hand, had just concluded back-to-back 17-loss seasons under Krzyzewski, culminating with a 43-point shellacking in the 1983 ACC quarterfinals against Virginia.

“Durham was not a pleasant place to be in 1983,” said former Duke forward Jay Bilas, a freshman on the 1982–83 team. “There was a lot of discontentment around the program, and it was vocal. Heck, there was a petition circling around calling for Mike to be fired. I saw it. One of the Iron Dukes showed it to me, which I thought was kind of a classless move. But there were a lot of people who were really unhappy.”

Duke is very fortunate that its athletic director had more patience and foresight than most of its deep-pocketed alumni did at the time. Tom Butters’ faith in Krzyzewski was so unwavering that he called the Duke coach into his office a few weeks into the 1983–84 season and awarded him a five-year contract extension to drive home the message that no change was imminent.

The same overzealous alumni who wrote Butters angry letters calling for Krzyzewski’s firing later wrote fawning letters urging the athletic director to pay his basketball coach whatever it took to keep him from leaving. Krzyzewski gained the support of Duke fans by taking the Blue Devils to 11 Final Fours and capturing four national championships, winning so many games along the way that he could become the first Division I coach to claim his 1,000th college victory on Sunday against St. John’s.

“Someone who never gets enough credit is Tom Butters,” said Bobby Dwyer, an assistant coach under Krzyzewski for his first three seasons at Duke. “When we struggled a little bit in our second and third years in particular, he never wavered. He was rock-solid. I look around nowadays and it seems like people aren’t as patient with coaches as they used to be. Tom Butters deserves a lot of credit for the success Duke basketball has had the last 30 years.”

If Butters warrants more praise for standing by Krzyzewski during his early struggles, he also should receive more recognition for making the unpopular decision to hire him in the first place.

When Duke coach Bill Foster resigned in 1980 to accept the same position at South Carolina, Butters began a search to find a replacement. Krzyzewski became a candidate despite going 9-17 at Army the previous season because Duke associate athletic director Steve Vacendak urged Butters to consider him.

“Tom turned to me and he said, ‘How bad do you want my job?'” Vacendak said. “He said, ‘Let me see if I’ve got this right. You want me to hire a coach whose name I can’t pronounce, I can’t spell and who has a losing record at Army to be the head coach at Duke?’ I said, ‘Yup, that’s your man.'”

Vacendak’s recommendation stemmed partially from the glowing praise of his high school coach, a good friend of Krzyzewski’s. The Duke associate athletic director also witnessed one of Krzyzewski’s practices in advance of a game against the Navy and emerged impressed with how the Army coach assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent and prepared his team.

Open-minded yet unconvinced, Butters consulted with Bob Knight and then flew Krzyzewski to Durham for an interview. The Duke athletic director came away certain Krzyzewski had the potential to be an outstanding coach, yet he let the 33-year-old leave for the airport without a job offer because he was fearful of how the public would perceive such an off-the-radar hire.

Only minutes later, Butters reconsidered. He dispatched Vacendak to bring Krzyzewski back from the airport, so he could offer the job in person.