"Our next coach is in this room" - behind the scenes article in the Athletic

[mkirsh]

Fantastic article today in the Athletic about the Duke coaching search process from Seth Davis and Brendan Marks. It's paywalled, but if you don't subscribe to the Athletic I would highly recommend it as it has excellent writing and coverage across the board.

https://theathletic.com/2658754/2021...rce=dailyemail

The article is mostly about Scheyer's experience in the search process, and while some of the inner workings remain mysterious, including who else was seriously considered (although the article does mention Amaker as a strong contender), I thought it was a great "behind the curtain" look into the process and its complexities. I did find this section particularly encouraging, showing that Jon is starting with incredible support from his peers:

With his assistants seated around the table, Krzyzewski revealed that he had reached a decision: He wanted to coach one more season and then retire. “Being in that moment, it was like, ‘Wow, this is arguably the greatest coach of all time stepping away from the game, and here I am witnessing it behind the scenes,” Smith says. Krzyzewski, who turns 75 in February, had long maintained he wouldn’t announce his retirement in advance, but he told the guys he wanted to be transparent with recruits about his intentions. He also liked the idea of having a clear succession plan in place. That meant asking the university to choose the next coach before the season started.

Upon hearing that idea, Carrawell spoke up: “I believe our next coach is in this room.”

All eyes turned to Scheyer. At 33, he was the age Krzyzewski was when Duke hired him in 1980. Unlike Scheyer, Krzyzewski had previous head coaching experience for five years at Army, but Krzyzewski strongly believed Scheyer was far more equipped to become the head coach at Duke than he was in 1980. Scheyer was a senior co-captain on Duke’s 2010 NCAA championship team, and he has been on Krzyzewski’s staff for eight years, the last three as associate head coach. They are fellow Chicago natives and kindred spirits, and they have talked many times over the years about basketball, life and the future. Yet until that moment, they had never discussed the possibility that Scheyer would be Coach K’s heir apparent.

And the quote from Scheyer at the end has me very excited for the future:

“I’m not going to move ahead comparing myself to Coach every single day. That’s a recipe for disaster,” he says. “But I’m also not hiding from the fact that this program is built on the expectation to compete for a championship every year. I’m not running from that at all. I believe in myself, and I’m excited to show what we can do.”

Definitely worth a read for any Duke fan.

[MarkD83]

Upon hearing that idea, Carrawell spoke up: “I believe our next coach is in this room.”

This gives me much more respect for Chris (I already had a lot of respect). This astute thinking is also why you become an associate head coach.

[Native]

Upon hearing that idea, Carrawell spoke up: “I believe our next coach is in this room.”

This gives me much more respect for Chris (I already had a lot of respect). This astute thinking is also why you become an associate head coach.

Another great C-Well anecdote near the end:

Carrawell’s house is in the same neighborhood as the Scheyers’, so Jon and Marcelle drove over to deliver the news in person. Carrawell was on his way home from the dentist. When he pulled into the driveway, Jon and Marcelle faked disappointment, but Carrawell didn’t fall for the ruse. “They’re horrible actors,” he says. Jon then broke the news, whereupon Carrawell sprinted in circles around his front yard in delight.