In any walk of life, it shouldn’t be a surprise when someone who is 74 and has been in the same job for nearly four decades decides it is time, at last, to move on into a well-earned retirement. It shouldn’t, therefore, have felt remotely shocking when Mike Krzyzewski revealed on Wednesday, that this would be it: one more season and then he’s done as head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. There were indicators that this could be possible, not just his advancing age. After all, long-time adversary Roy Williams had already strolled off into a new, more restful future when he stepped down at North Carolina at the end of last season and lamented how things weren’t quite the same anymore. Things aren’t the same. College basketball now has little in common with how it was on March 18, 1980, the last time Duke needed to announce it was hiring a new men’s hoops coach (the only active coach who’s been in the same job longer is Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim). Back then, all the locals in Durham knew was that they were bringing in some guy who’d played and coached at Army, and that he had a long name. Yet it was still a jolt to the system when Krzyzewski dropped his news this week, a headline you never expected to see because you never felt the need to think about it. Coach K was just always there, always on the sideline at Cameron Indoor Stadium and so often around on the national stage when the business end of the NCAA Tournament rolled along. Whether you love Duke basketball and all it stands for or have loved to hate them, it was somehow reassuring to see the same guy with the same haircut, year after year, class after class, decade after decade. “My family and I view today as a celebration,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “For us, there is no greater joy than being part of our players’ respective endeavors through basketball and more importantly, their lives off the court.” The greatest college coaches become institutions in their own right. Bob Knight, who Krzyzewski played under in the 1960s, did. John Wooden did, Dean Smith did, and many more. Coach K stands among them, both iconic and present, all that basketball experience wrapped up in one man’s mind, as he tries to pass it on to players generations removed from his own. By deciding to tell us about it now, it sets up the delightful prospect of a long goodbye. One more chance for teams around the country to try to get one more win against a Krzyzewski-led Duke team, and, in most cases, one more chance to curse their inability to do so. But “farewell tour” is a bit of a misnomer in this case. Whether coincidence or not, and you can bet it isn’t, Coach K has picked a group that shapes up as having serious potential as the one to spearhead his final tilt. In fact, according to FOX Bet, the Blue Devils are listed at +1400 to win the 2022 National Championship, the third best odds behind Gonzaga (+850) and Michigan (+1100). Duke will be loaded next season, with incoming freshman Paolo Banchero a possible top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, transfer forward Theo John also arriving (from Marquette) and established stars in Mark Williams, Wendell Moore and Jeremy Roach. There are no certainties in college basketball, not with shifts in transfer rules and the plentiful options other than tertiary education that are now open to elite prospects. Yet you can be pretty darn sure that this version of Duke is going to be good, and that Krzyzewski is going to will them into contention or leave it all on the table trying. And then, he’ll be off, handing the keys to protégé Jon Scheyer, who had the chance of a lifetime land in his lap, one with real and pertinent sentimental value. What must Scheyer be thinking right now? He first met Coach K as a kid – Duke’s Men’s Basketball Twitter account posted a wonderful photograph of the moment – and played for him between 2006-2010, racking up 144 straight games. Scheyer is just 33, and he’s about to replace the icon who’s spent years mentoring him. It is, of course, an impossible standard to try to match. Duke’s failure to reach the tournament last season was a stunning outlier. Krzyzewski had taken them to the Dance every time except once in the previous 35 years and yeah, there were a few pieces of hardware they picked up along the path. Five national championships, 12 Final Fours, plus, outside the program, a fun little spare-time hobby of winning three Olympic gold medals with the United States men’s team. “In college basketball, there is only one Darth Vader – and his name is Mike Krzyzewski,” FOX Sports’ Tate Frazier said on the Titus & Tate podcast. “He is the thing that everyone has been trying to stop.” He’ll be missed, not in the kind of way that makes you think, “hmm, wouldn’t it be nice if he was still around” but because you’ve probably never known a time when he wasn’t. Unless you’re touching 50 or above, you’re not going to know what top level college basketball without Coach K looks like. There will be a lot of nostalgia over the next year or so. By the time the win-or-go-home immediacy of March Madness strikes up, all eyes will be squarely on him. Will this be the last game? Or this one? Or, will he get to have the ultimate dream sendoff, a title to depart with? Krzyzewski is part of history even with his own career still underway, so there is a lot to consider here. Can you imagine what Duke home games are going to be like next season? Heck, the students already camp out to try to be sure of a spot. The anticipation this time is going to be unparalleled. One more shot to see a legend doing his thing, a special opportunity to be part of the sendoff. It’s going to be emotional, symbolic, monumental and, as this is Mike Krzyzewski and his Duke team, probably highly dramatic. Here’s what others have said … Andy Katz, College Basketball Analyst: “His players knew they played for something bigger than themselves. They played for the name on the front of the jersey, not just the name on the back.” Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports: “(Bob) Knight was dubbed ‘The General,’ but Krzyzewski actually resembled it — strategic, calculating, smart, disciplined, innovative. He could be tough — mean even — but there was an analytical bent behind it, an ability to dominate every individual and group encounter he was involved in.” Michael Baumann, The Ringer: “Duke is replacing the man who built the program, who ruled by fiat at the school for 40 years, who inspired anyone familiar with the phrase ‘March Madness’ to view him with reverence or revulsion or some combination of the two. Any coach, if he’s merely a coach, will be an inadequate successor.” |
