What's changed about a potential successor to K, should he decide to pack it in this year or next (or the year after)?
Let me propose Quin Snyder. He is racking up win after win with the Utah, where he has coached since 2014. Five winning seasons in a row -- in a brutal conference. He had a flame-out at Mizzou, after initial success, but that was 15 years ago. Jeff Capel also had NCAA problems at Oklahoma.
Too late: Brey, Dawkins and Amaker. (Seem young to me.)
Candidates:
Wojo -- Winning record at Marquette last five years (not counting 2021) but no championships. Lots of player turnover.
Chris Collins -- Losing record at a very tough place to win. Miraculously made NCAA's in 2017.
Aforementioned Capel -- Close to break-even at Pitt and seems to be doing well. NCAA problems at Oklahoma but won big with Blake Griffin.
Bobby -- Done well at Arizona State the last three years plus 42-20 at Buffalo. Never coached under K.
Others:I think Blakeney will do well at Howard, but nothing yet.
Surely I have overlooked other obvious candidates.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Fair enough. Amaker and Johnny Dawkins had unsuccessful stints at Michigan and Stanford respectively. Not sure they have had enough success to be high on the succession list. Still, Tommy has had only two losing seasons in 24 years -- his first each at Michgan and Harvard,. He also has seven regular season Ivy championships with four NCAA tournaments. His overall record is 427-278 (0.605). Johnny's record is similar -- 13 seasons, and never had a losing season -- but only two NCAA tournament appearances.
I'm a fan of on Scheyer, and he is a likely successor. Mostly wanted to introduce Snyder to the discussion.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I don't see why Scheyer is a better choice than Nate Janes
Coach K will make the retirement decision or it will be made for him due to ill health. Let's hope it's not the latter circumstance. Once a new coach comes in, it will become his program and he will be free to mold the program in his own way. It may be different than Coach K's approach but will no doubt be competitive in the upper echelon of college basketball.
I want Hurley and there is no close second.
K gets commitments from Baldwin and Keels to join Griffin and Banchero, he wins another title and rides into the sunset, mask slightly askew...
I think two huge factors will be maintaining the strength of the brotherhood as a palpable force that benefits Duke Bball (therefore a selection that keeps this group united, and not grumbling about who was not selected), and making a hire that benefits Duke and the college Bball world more broadly (not just Xs and Os, but a leader that adds more than winning games to the equation). Duke is very fortunate to have two candidates who seem to check both boxes: Amaker and Dawkins. If K leaves in the next 3 or 4 years, I'll be surprised if the answer is not one of these two (Amaker being slightly more likely in my mind).
I think Duke will focus on hiring a Black coach and they won't just pay lip service to it. I'm also not sure replacing a legend is that attractive of a job. Brendan Marks has written that you want to be the guy who replaces the guy who replaced the legend. This is why I think Amaker is underrated in these discussions. Quin Snyder, who I loved in his Duke days due to his play and his friendship with Ferry, has done an incredible job turning his career around but all I ever see is that he's NBA for life.
Well, Quin (54) is a little younger than both Johnny (57) and Tommy (55)
I am not so sure that Duke will need the K successor to be someone who can hold the job for 15-20 years. Following a legend is not easy and it is not at all crazy to think that finding the right guy to keep Duke on top for 10 years is more important than seeking a younger candidate who might not be as much of a sure thing.
It is worth noting in regard to Quin that he is a brilliant developmental coach. He coached in the D-League for three seasons and consistently finished near the top of the standings while sending a lot of his former players to the NBA. He often found himself with a very young D-League roster, full of rookies, but he would always get them pretty deep in the playoffs and sent a large number on to bigger NBA careers.
If K retires in the next few years, before Quin is pushing 60, I think he would be a great hire. I suspect he would be a dynamite recruiter and he has already shown he is a brilliant tactician and great developer of talent.
-Jason "Quin was also a very early adopter of analytics... he was into computer statistical models before Ken Pomeroy even had a website" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Yeah, the questions really come down to "when exactly will Coach K retire?" and "how interested is Snyder in going back to the college ranks?" The coaching lifestyle in the NBA is certainly easier than the lifestyle in college, especially if you're talking about a blue blood program like Duke. So it's not a given that Snyder would want to take the job even if it was offered.
But I agree with Jason and sage that Snyder would seem a reasonable target, even if he is approaching 60 by the time he takes the job. And worth noting that, even at 60, he could very well still coach for 15 years if he so desired. So it's not like that would be a bad hire simply due to age. He could quite easily shepherd the program into a subsequent generation if he was successful.
Well this annual topic sure did pop up earlier than usual.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
This topic has been back on the table here for over 15 hours and no mention of Brad Stevens.
I'm disappointed.
Yep, Quin has now become my dream hire. It had been BRAD STEVENS (Tommy, can you hear me?), but I didn’t like what he had to say about taking down the 2010 banner.
And also he outright said the coach who follows K should be someone who understands the Duke culture. Well, that can only be a Duke guy. So, Quin Snyder, if you are reading this (yeah right) we would be absolutely thrilled to have you back!
I hear you. Jason makes a solid case for Quin. I wonder, though, if he were hired, how that would land with Jon and Nate (as well as Capel, Wojo, Collins etc.) who have been directly contributing to Duke's success as coaches over the last generation, learning patiently at the knee of the master, and whether they may feel like Quin was being jumped to the front of the line . . .