Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
In Season 2 of FX’s The Bear, which recently dropped a batch of 10 all-new episodes on Hulu, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) looks for inspiration in an unlikely place as she and Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) work to turn The Beef into The Bear.
Instead of searching for that spark in the book of a renowned chef, she turns to basketball.
More specifically, we see her reading Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski’s book Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life more than once throughout the season.
Coach K led the Duke University men’s basketball team from 1980-2022, helping them win five national titles in 13 final four appearances, so we’d say he’s a good authority on leadership and what it means to be a leader.
The first time we see Sydney with the book is in episode 3, “Sundae,” when a server at Kasama comments on it — “Courage and confidence,” he says, is one of Coach K’s strategies. Sydney says she’s not a Coach K fan; it’s just a book her dad gave her.
In the next episode, “Honeydew,” Coach K’s book is again featured, this time as Sydney FaceTimes Marcus (Lionel Boyce) in Copenhagen, and he asks what she’s reading.
What has she learned from the man who led “the greatest comeback in history” so far?
“Dude. They had a minute left, and they kept their composure. He made a bunch of decisions, and it was very cool. And they won. Sports.”
Coach K becomes a recurring thread after that; the book continues to pop up during the rest of the season, whether it’s in conversation or the book is just sitting on a countertop, and at one point, we hear Coach K himself in the form of an old interview.
All of this culminates in Sydney becoming a better chef and leader by learning how to keep her composure in stressful situations by keeping Coach K’s words and actions at the forefront of her mind.
Basketball court, kitchen, or your own workplace — Coach K’s lessons on leadership, composure, and heart are universal.
Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life by Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski with Donald T. Phillips, $17+
Coach K’s book was recently rereleased with a new cover, but the old one is the cover that appears in The Bear.
