Coach K returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium to watch Blue Devils basketball
It took an old friend’s potential final visit to Duke as a head coach to get the retired Mike Krzyzewski back to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a Blue Devils basketball game.
Krzyzewski, who retired last year after 42 seasons as the Blue Devils head coach, attended Duke 68-64 win over Notre Dame on Tuesday night. It’s the first Duke game he’s attended this season
The game marked Notre Dame coach Mike Brey’s only visit to Cameron Indoor this season. A former Duke assistant coach under Krzyzewski, Brey announced last month this would be his final season with the Irish after 23 seasons as their head coach. He has said he’d like to continue coaching elsewhere, though.
Earlier Tuesday, according to a post on Notre Dame men’s basketball’s official Twitter feed, Krzyzewski met with Brey at Notre Dame’s gameday shoot-around at Cameron. The 76-year-old Krzyzewski gave his former assistant an personalized bottle of wine with Duke and Notre Dame logos and the message, “You’re the guy for Notre Dame.”
Krzyzewski hired Brey as a Duke assistant coach in 1987, giving Brey his start as a college coach. During their time together, Duke won NCAA championships in 1991 and 199,2 and also made four other Final Fours in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1994.
Brey left for his first head coaching job in 1995 at Delaware, where he coached for five seasons before taking the Notre Dame job in 2000.
Krzyzewski and his wife, Mickie, entered the playing arena about 10 minutes prior to tipoff. They sat in courtside seats on the baseline near the Duke pep band.
The win over Notre Dame gave Duke an 18-8 overall record, including 9-6 in the ACC, in former Duke player and assistant coach Jon Scheyer’s first season as head coach.
Duke’s players enjoyed seeing the coach who built the Blue Devils into a championship-caliber program back in their home arena.
“I know he’s been trying to respect our boundaries over here and everything,” Duke freshman center Kyle Filipowski said. “I mean, he’s the one that built this. He’s the one that started this off. So it was amazing to have him out there supporting us. Just enjoying the game.”
When he entered the court prior to the start of the game, Scheyer stopped to hug both Krzyzewskis. Brey also came over to greet them.
During a timeout with 3:57 left in the first half, a public address announcement was made welcoming Coach K and his wife back to Cameron. The sold-out crowd gave them a lengthy standing ovation.
Given how that Duke won Tuesday night, Scheyer would be good with Krzyzewski coming back more often.
“His support has been incredible throughout this whole year, throughout this whole process,” Scheyer said. “And, you know, I wanted to make sure we got the win while he was here.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Coach K returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium to watch Blue Devils basketball."