— With 1,018 career victories, five national championships and two Olympic gold medals, Duke head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s success is undisputed.

Krzyzewski’s success did not start at Duke, however. And it began even before he attended West Point. For the Chicago native born into a Polish home, Krzyzewski got some of his best advice from his mother, Emily, on his first day of high school at St. Helen Catholic School in Ukrainian Village.

“My mom never went to high school,” Krzyzewski said. “And she said to me, “Mike, get on the right bus.’”

The statement was not meant to be literal. Krzyzewski knew which bus to take.

“You are going to start driving your own bus now and it’s going to take you through different neighborhoods,” Krzyzewski recalled, noting the prophetic nature of Emily’s advice. “Only let good people on it and only get on other good people’s busses. Your bus will go to places that you will never go alone.”

The rarely-told story was one of many offered by Krzyzewski Thursday during an hour-long Fan Town Hall where he addressed more difficult topics like the dismissal of Rasheed Suliamon that led to the team’s rallying cry on their national title run and lighter ones like the importance of family and the relationship with his dog. Krzyzewski even weighed in on his use of social media, his affinity for Beyonce and may have solved the unsolvable BBQ debate.

IS BBQ A NOUN OR A VERB?

Krzyzewski may be on his way to legendary coach status, but he still has to eat. While he asserted that his favorite meal is pasta with a nice glass of wine, his take on BBQ is grounds for extended debate.

Will Thompson used Twitter to start the debate:

Coach K, do you prefer BBQ eastern style or western style? #FanTownHall — Will Thompson (@thrillis4) July 2, 2015

After a political response of “I like it all”, host Jeff Gravley put Krzyzewski on the spot, posing that BBQ is most definitely a noun and not a verb.

“In North Carolina, BBQ is a verb too,” Krzyzewski replied, triggering an even larger debate in the socialsphere. “I’ve been here 35 years; we BBQ man.”

Returning to form, Krzyzewski added that he can go either way with coleslaw.

TWITTER, BEYONCE AND RAP MUSIC

Krzyzewski is not one to take in many movies, offering that his favorite of all time is Legends of the Fall. He also does not listen to much music on his iPod preferring to “listen to the sounds around me.” But that is not to say Krzyzewski is not up on his pop culture.

The Duke head coach is on Twitter – although he will not give out his handle.

“It keeps me in touch with recruits and former players,” Krzyzewski said.

He added that in recruiting, he isn’t looking necessarily to build system guys, but rather is looking for three things – good talent, a good academic background and good character. The third of those things is most likely to trip up recruits when they are using social media.

“They need to be socially responsible,” Krzyzewski said, offering that it can go the other way too. “I may see something on there and text them or call them and say, ‘that was a cool thing you did.’ You have to be in their world.”

And it doesn’t stop at Twitter to get into “their world.” Krzyzewski stays in tune with the music the players listen to, even requesting to hear more of it at practice.

“I listen to all kinds of music and I try to stay current with my guys,” he said.

But the moment that rendered Krzyzewski red was when he met Beyonce.

“My face is all red and I look like I’m 11,” Krzyzewski said describing a picture the two took together.

FAMILY FIRST

Krzyzewski’s family-first focus is well noted, as is his relationship with his grandchildren. In Thursday’s open forum, though, he spoke freely on some of the best aspects of family life.

When asked about the best part about having grandchildren, he responded, “They don’t stay overnight and you can spoil them.”

And getting away from it all in his garden, he is rarely without his dog, True Blue (although he goes simply by Blue).

“I love being outside and I love my dog,” Krzyzewski said, thanking his wife Mickie for allowing them to break away sometimes. “He’s my buddy.”

It all kind of makes sense that family is so important considering the best advice he ever got was from his mother about simply getting on the right bus.