Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski will retire after this coming season: report
- Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will retire after this coming season, sources told Stadium on Wednesday.
- A source told Stadium that Duke assistant coach and former player Jon Scheyer is a leading candidate to replace Krzyzewski.
Legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski - better known as Coach K - is retiring after this coming season, Stadium basketball analyst Jeff Goodman first reported, citing sources.
Krzyzewski has served as the head men's basketball coach for the Blue Devils since 1980. Since then, the 74-year-old has developed a powerhouse program, leading Duke to 35 NCAA Tournament appearances, 12 Final Four stints, 15 ACC tournament championships, and five national titles en route to becoming the winningest college basketball coach in the history of the NCAA.
On at least five different occasions, Krzyzewski was offered opportunities to leave the Blue Devils to coach NBA teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Each time he declined.
In recent years, speculation about the septuagenarian's retirement has superseded discourse about his departure for the pros. But when he'd been asked about stepping away, he'd consistently insisted that he still felt equipped to lead the team and that he was unsure when he'd walk off the hardwood for the final time.
It's possible that Duke's lackluster 2020-2021 campaign, which saw the Blue Devils miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995, prompted Krzyzewski to reevaluate. But reporting from The Athletic suggests that the uncertainty surrounding Krzyzewski's future with the program had begun to hamper Duke's recruiting efforts, prompting the Hall of Fame coach to announce his retirement ahead of time.
Top candidates to take over for Krzyzewski at the helm has long been a topic of debate in college basketball circles. And while a source told Goodman that Blue Devils assistant coach and former player Jon Scheyer is a leading contender for the soon-t0-be-vacant head coaching gig, there's a long list of potential candidates for the job.
Dozens of Krzyzewski's former players and assistants now hold coaching or front-office jobs at the college and NBA levels. Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand, Atlanta Hawks co-owner Grant Hill, Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley, Pittsburgh head coach Jeff Capel, and Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey are all Coach K disciples, but none is a sure-fire fit to take over in Durham.
Fans and experts alike have long assumed Duke would hire a candidate straight from the branches of Krzyzewski's coaching tree, but Brad Stevens has quickly emerged as a potential successor. The former Butler Bulldogs head coach stepped down from the helm of the Boston Celtics Wednesday to take on a new role as the franchise's president of basketball operations. And while he doesn't have a direct connection to Coach K, Stevens has become a friend of the Chicago native and earned his respect as a coach.
Further fueling speculation are the 44-year-old's purported comments to Celtics higher-ups after he first got the team's head coaching job. According to The Fayettevivlle Observer, Stevens told the franchise he wouldn't leave Boston "until they either fire him or Duke comes calling."
Whoever newly-minted Duke Athletics Director Nina King selects for the position will undoubtedly have massive shoes to fill. In the meantime, Krzyzewski will enjoy one final season at historic Cameron Indoor Stadium - with yet another top recruiting class at his disposal - before he hangs up his whistle for good.