From the court to the sideline: The inspiring journey of Jon Scheyer | Duke’s HC, family man and basketball legend

Jon Scheyer took over as Duke’s head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season for legendary Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Now, his team is in the NCAA tournament for the third straight year since then.

At just 37 years old, Scheyer is one of the younger coaches in Division I basketball, but in those years, he’s experienced what seem like a few lifetimes.

Scheyer’s inspiring story

High school and college playing career

Scheyer grew up in along Chicago’s North Shore and went to high school at Glenbrook North. There, he became a star on the basketball team, finishing his career with 3,034 points and was named a two-time Illinois Player of the Year (2005, 2006). In his senior year, he averaged 32 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

He went on to play college ball for four years at Duke, becoming the only player in program history to record 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 three-pointers, and 200 steals and won nearly 80% of his games. He finished his senior year (2010) with an average of 18.2 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game as the Blue Devils won their fourth national championship that year.

Professional playing career, derailed by life-changing injury

Scheyer went undrafted out of Duke, but got a shot with the Miami Heat in the Las Vegas Summer League. Unfortunately, his NBA career was quickly derailed by a serious injury. In his second game with the Heat, Joe Ingles accidentally poked Scheyer in the eye when he was going for the ball, resulting in a life-changing injury. Scheyer needed stitches to close a cut in his eyelid and surgery to repair a torn retina. He ended up losing part of his eyesight due to the damage in his optic nerve.

He was given another shot that same year, joining the Los Angeles Clippers in training camp, but he wasn’t fully healed and ended up getting cut in early October.

He spent some time playing in the D-League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2011 before signing a two-year contract to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Thanks to his dual citizenship in Israel, he was able to play on the team for coach David Blatt.

Scheyer played for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2012 Orlando Summer League before signing with Gran Canaria in the Spanish League. It was in 2013 when Coach K called him back to Duke.

Coaching career

Krzyzewski needed a new assistant coach in 2013 after Chris Collins left Duke, so he made Scheyer a special assistant. By 2018, he was promoted to associate head coach alongside Nate James after Jeff Capel left for Pittsburgh.

It quickly became clear that Scheyer would eventually be Coach K’s successor. In 2021, he served as acting head coach while Krzyzewski was in Covid-19 protocol, and it was a done deal by then. He took over in 2022, and the rest is history.

Personal life

After Scheyer moved back to Durham, he met his now wife Marcelle Scheyer, who was earning her nursing degree while Scheyer was coaching. They got engaged in August 2015 and were married in May 2017.

They now have three children together - daughter Noa (born February 2018), son Jett (born August 2019), who shares a birthday with Jon, and their second son James (born May 2022).

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