BY JOE GERGEN
One of the ironies of Duke's first loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season is the relationship of Mike Krzyzewski to Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio. The latter began his college head coaching career at West Point, just as Coach K had done two decades earlier.
"I think it was Lou Holtz who said, 'You should talk to your predecessors,'" Gaudio said yesterday. "So when I got the job [at Army], I called Mike and he said he'd see me at Five-Star camp. He was incredibly helpful. He's a great person. We talked about recruiting at the academy and about how to coach the players they get. We developed a friendship over the years.We're not the best of friends but I value the friendship we have."
It was in the last of Gaudio's four years at West Point that the Blue Devils engaged the Cadets for the first time in six decades although it hardly enhanced Gaudio's standing. Duke won, 100-38, in Durham. Gaudio endured four losing seasons at the academy before moving on to Loyola (Md.) but he needn't feel badly abou that. The last coach with an overall winning record at Army was Krzyzewski, who is now recognized as perhaps the best in the businesss.
And Gaudio did get a little payback for that crushing defeat in December, 1996, when Wake, in its first season under Gaudio who placed former boss Skip Prosser, the victim of a fatal heart attac last year, upset Duke on Sunday night.