By Devon POV Mason | Staff Reporter
Longtime Duke Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski will retire at the end of next season.
Coach K has been the head coach at Duke since 1980. He has won more basketball games than any other coach in men’s history and the hoops coaching icon plans to retire at the end of the 2021-22 season and will help the university pick his replacement.
2021-22. The last ride for The Goat.
— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) June 2, 2021
This will be the first big move for new athletic director Nina King, the university’s first woman — and one of color — to lead the university in Durham, NC.
King’s hiring, along with Coach K’s eventual departure marks the beginning of a new era at Duke.
Sources believe former Duke player and assistant coach Jon Scheyer is the leading candid to take over coaching the team.
He played for Coach K from 2006-10, with his final season resulting in his mentor’s fourth NCAA title.
Scheyer joined the staff in 2013-14 and rose to his current role following the 2017-18 season.
He even served as interim coach last season when Coach K was sidelined for a January win over Boston College due to COVID-19 protocols. Scheyer has never been a head coach at any level.
Other names mentioned as possible replacements for the legendary K, are former Duke players and assistants Johnny Dawkins (Central Florida Head Coach), Jeff Capel (Pittsburgh Head Coach), Tommy Amaker (Harvard Head Coach).
One of the three African – American head coaches are in line to become the first Black sideline stalker in the history of the powerhouse program which has only known one coach during its historic rise from small private school to nationally-recognized hoops factory.
A wildcard in the coaching search could be current Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. He also played and coached for Coach K at Duke and has the credibility of having coaches at the NBA level.
Coach K was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.
He has won 5 National Championships at Duke, and has taken the Blue Devils to the Final Four on 12 occasions in his 40 seasons the helm.
He also has 12 regular-season ACC Championships, and 15 conference tournament titles while producing 28 NBA lottery picks — and 41 first-round selections over his 40 years in Durham.
His five titles rank second only to former UCLA coach John Wooden aka “The Wizard of Westwood” who has 10.
His 97 NCAA Tournament wins rank No.1 among all coaches, as do his 126 weeks ranked atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
In addition to his unmatched college coaching resume, he also headed the US Men’s National Team. As head coach he led the team to three gold medals (2008, 2012, and 2016) in the Summer Olympic Games.
Might as well mention the fact that he’s also a permanent part of Team USA basketball lore as an assistant coach for 1992 Olympic “Dream Team.”
The shocking announcement comes on the heels of archrival UNC losing it’s head coach Roy Williams to retirement in the same off-season.
Williams had this to say about his friend and rival’s retirement announcement.
“Mike’s been fantastic for the game of basketball. He’s been fantastic for college basketball. He’s been fantastic for the ACC, the greatest rivalry in sports — Duke, North Carolina basketball.”
Coach K played his college basketball at Army, under his mentor Robert Montgomery Knight aka Bobby.
