2024 MARCH MADNESS
Who is Duke’s head coach? Where is Coach K now?
When you think of the Duke Blue Devils, you cannot help but think “Mike Krzyzewski,” even though he is no longer their head coach.
It is impossible to think of Duke basketball without thinking immediately of Mike Krzyzewski. The legendary Coach K led the Blue Devils for 42 years as they won five national titles, 13 Final Fours (the most of any coach in men’s basketball), 15 ACC tournament championships, and 13 ACC regular season titles.
But of course, Coach K retired following the 2022 season. His successor was announced as one of his protegés, Jon Scheyer. With a career spanning four decades, it was almost inevitable that Krzyzewski would have coached his successor at some point.
As a player for the Blue Devils, Coach Scheyer was a standout point guard and team captain, a member of the 2010 national championship team and ACC tournament MVP. He went undrafted by the NBA and played his professional ball in Israel and Spain before returning to Duke to work as an assistant under Coach K. When Krzyzewski retired, Scheyer was named as the Blue Devils’ head coach.
As for the legendary Mike Krzyzewski himself, since retirement he has taken a front office job at Duke, keeping his finger firmly on the pulse of the program that he helped build. He was allowed to continue to use his office in the Schwartz-Butters Athletic Center and speaks to Coach Scheyer on a daily basis. He devotes his efforts to charity work for The V Foundation and the Emily Krzyzewski Center, speaking gigs, and time with family.
While not officially anything to do with the Duke basketball team anymore, one can imagine Coach K being deeply involved. And while not beholden to Coach K, one can also just as easily imagine Coach S feeling a great sense of responsibility to one of the greatest names in NCAA basketball history.