Krystkowiak adjusts to life as NBA head coach

If you’re ever in need of career advice, you might want to consult Larry Krystkowiak.

After leading the University of Montana men’s basketball team to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances as head coach, Krystkowiak left Montana last summer to become an assistant coach in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks.

With the Bucks struggling this year, largely due to injuries, head coach Terry Stotts was fired 64 games into the season and Krystkowiak signed a multi-year deal to be the new head coach.

Krystkowiak had been interviewed earlier by the University of Utah to fill its head coaching vacancy, but he couldn’t pass on his dream of being a head coach in the NBA.

Krystkowiak credited his hard work and attitude of taking things one day at a time with his quick move to the top.

“The philosophy that I’ve always had is you just try to get a little better today and try to do right by people and all those cliches,” Krystkowiak said. “Lo and behold, I wake up last week and a whole lot of things changed.”
Milwaukee is not something that’s new to Krystkowiak. He played nine seasons in the NBA – five of them with the Bucks.

He said he realizes how fortunate he is to get his opportunity to be a head coach in the NBA so soon.

“There’s a lot of guys that are maybe head-coaching material, that have been assistants in this league for 10 years and still haven’t had a chance.”

In his first game as head coach, Krystkowiak faced a San Antonio Spurs team on a 13-game winning streak, and the Bucks had lost four of their last five. But with the fresh start under their new head coach, the Bucks ended the Spurs’ streak with a 101-90 victory in Milwaukee on Thursday.

For a lot of the players, the San Antonio game was important to show Krystkowiak that they were behind him as their head coach.

“We put everything on that first game against San Antonio, wanting Larry to know that we were going to play hard for him,” said Bucks guard Lynn Greer, who came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points.

Krystkowiak said the win was big because it showed him that the team was behind him as their leader.

“A couple of the players came up afterwards and I got some bear hugs,” he said. “It’s just nice to know that you’ve got a group of guys that believe in you. It was real special.”

The Bucks beat the Charlotte Bobcats on St. Patrick’s Day to give Krystkowiak his second win in as many chances. Milwaukee will try to get Krystkowiak a 3-0 start to his NBA head coaching career when it hosts the LA Clippers tonight.

For many of the players, the coaching change has been a breath of fresh air in a difficult season.

“It’s a new start,” Greer said. “It’s new motivation to want to do better. Everybody’s motivated and everybody’s determined to finish strong.”

With the amount of success Krystkowiak had at Montana as a player – he is the all-time leader in rebounds and points – it isn’t shocking to some that he has moved up so quickly in the professional ranks.

“It really doesn’t surprise me at all,” UM sophomore forward Jordan Hasquet said. “When you look at a guy like Coach K and his resume, he’s been successful his whole career. He’s one of the more hardworking guys I’ve ever run into in my life. He’s always been a winner his whole life.”

The Bucks (25-41) are five and a half games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with only 16 games left to play. Krystkowiak said he wants to use the rest of the season to evaluate players and try to build a foundation for next year’s team.

He said he’s been so busy that he hasn’t had time to sit back and reflect on finally landing his dream job, but he said there’s time for that after the season.

“Maybe this summer sitting on Flathead Lake or something, it might creep into my brain, but I really haven’t thought about it.”