The time is now. Confident Jon Scheyer takes over Coach K’s Duke basketball program
When Jon Scheyer begins his day Sunday, he’ll do so on the first day of his head coaching career.
Just as Duke’s 81-77 loss to North Carolina Saturday at the Final Four ended Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching career, it triggered the transition where Scheyer took over as Duke’s head coach.
He’s 34 years old, not even half the age Krzyzewski, 75, at which the Hall of Fame coach retires with an NCAA-record 1,202 wins and 13 Final Four appearances.
He’s been preparing for this day in earnest since last June, when Krzyzewski announced his plan to coach one more season before retirement.
Now, it is here.
“I’ve never been one to make public statements about it,” Scheyer said during an interview at the Superdome. “I feel very confident about what we can do and what we’ve put ourselves in a position to do. I don’t shy away from the expectations that I have. I mean, I believe in them fully.”
Scheyer won an NCAA championship as a Duke player in 2010. He was an assistant when the Blue Devils won the 2015 NCAA championship, which proved to be the last of the five won during Krzyzewski’s tenure.
Since last June, when Nina King called to tell him he was the school’s choice to replace Krzyzewski, he’s taken the lead on recruiting while Krzyzewski focused all his attention on his final team. Scheyer, along with fellow assistants Chris Carrawell and Nolan Smith, put together the No. 1-rated recruiting class for 2022 and are on their way to another strong class for 2023.
It’s clear the plan Duke intended to execute is going well.
“It just worked,” Krzyzewski said last week. “We have great continuity in our program. And Jon has taken over what’s happened in recruiting, not just this year, for next season, but for the following year. We’ve had great continuity.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be changes. Krzyzewski is renowned for his notebooks filled with his thoughts, practice plans and other Duke-related items.
Part of a new generation, Scheyer is digital driven.
“He’s got his, you know, madness with all his papers everywhere,” Scheyer said, acknowledging that Krzyzewski’s method clearly worked for him over the decades. “I’ve my iPad, right. It’s all organized, very neat.”
Throughout this final season with Krzyzewski as head coach, Scheyer found himself in a different position than before. As the chosen successor, he was an assistant but one with more responsibilities.
He and Krzyzewski spent more time discussing situations, be them from games or practices. They found themselves spending extra time in discussions when meetings ended.
“When you think about yourself running a program,” Scheyer said, “you you think about everything, you think about everything all the time. So it’s provided coach and I to have really organic conversations. Not even like we’re setting a time. We just end up sometimes after a staff meeting we end up talking about could be anything. It could be, you know, the could be compliant, you know, compliance NCAA thing is it can be academic, it can be recruiting, it can be strategy.”
Krzyzewski is staying on at Duke, officially as an ambassador but in reality as an advisor to school president Vince Price. He’ll be involved in projects all over campus. He’s keeping his same office in the Schwartz-Butters Building next to Cameron Indoor Stadium. But the rest of the basketball offices have been renovated to allow for the program’s new structure and a new, larger office for Scheyer.
Even though Krzyzewski has said he won’t be attending Duke home games next season, Scheyer vows to not be shy about keeping him involved with the team.
“I just know him,” Scheyer said. “He’s going to be so sensitive to what his presence does. For me, I guarantee you, this summer I’m going to call him one day and say, `Can you please come to a practice and watch us and see what you think?’ And we’re gonna be in close touch. I have a feeling it’s going to be me reaching out to him more than it is him reaching out to me. But I hope it’s not that way. But that’s just the type of person that he is. But he’s going to be there.”
While out recruiting since last June, Scheyer didn’t shy away from the enormity of his coming job change — and what it means for Duke and college basketball.
“It’s as pivotal a moment as any program in the history of college basketball,” Scheyer said. “ There have been different teams in different eras that have been the best. But to sustain it, this is Duke’s opportunity to continue to do that.”
The pitch proved successful as he landed the No. 1-ranked player in the class, 7-1 center Derek Lively, along two more top-10 players in 6-11 center Kyle Filipowski and 6-6 small forward Dariq Whitehead. Another five-star player, 6-8 forward Mark Mitchell, committed to play for Duke as well.
To go along with those four five-star players, Duke also will add a four-star recruit in 6-5 shooting guard Jaden Schutt and a three-star developmental player in 7-1 center Christian Reeves.
That’s a fabulous group of players to help transition Duke into the Scheyer era.
“They’ve believed in it,” Scheyer said “I think they see the opportunity, which is the combination of being a part of a program like Duke with the stage, the history, but with being the first to do something. Like they’re the first in making sure that we continue to go up. I think that’s a real opportunity for these guys.”
Three players are committed for the 2023 class, including two five-star talents in guards Caleb Foster and Jared McCain.
But the 2022-23 season is first up for Scheyer. He has to add another assistant coach to fill out his staff. Director of player development Amile Jefferson, another former captain from his Duke playing days, is a strong candidate for that role.
“I would like to move quickly and get it going,” Scheyer said, noting that he’s never previously hired anyone for a job.
When Duke’s season ended in the Final Four, that job became Scheyer’s. For the first time since Jimmy Carter was in the White House, there’s a new boss for the Blue Devils, even if he’s someone they know well.
“We have an amazing infrastructure in place,” Scheyer said. “Fortunately, everybody knows me here. They’re learning me, still, as the head coach: How I’ll operate, what I’ll need. That’ll change over time. But the fact that people know me and I’ve relationships in place, that’s been a big deal.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 11:10 PM with the headline "The time is now. Confident Jon Scheyer takes over Coach K’s Duke basketball program."