Mike Krzyzewski to Retire Following 2021-22 Season
Duke Hall of Fame head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is retiring following the 2021-22 season, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium. Goodman also reported that the leading candidate to replace Coach K is current assistant and former Blue Devils player Jon Scheyer.
Krzyzewski is NCAA men’s basketball’s all-time leader in wins with 1,170. He has 97 NCAA Tournament wins, 12 Final Fours and five National Championships. Coach K also has won 12 ACC Championships. He took over the Duke program in 1980 after six years as the Army head coach and two years as an assistant with Indiana. Krzyzewski was a three time Naismith College Coach of the Year, one time NABC Coach of the Year, one time Clair Bee Coach of the Year, one time UPI Coach of the Year and five time ACC Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001 and College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The news comes two months after North Carolina head coach Roy Williams surprisingly retired.
Coach K is the second longest tenured head coach in college basketball, behind good friend Jim Boeheim of Syracuse. The two coached with USA Basketball together and are very close off the court. Since Syracuse joined the ACC, the rivalry between the two programs has produced some memorable games. Including sell out crowds in the Carrier Dome, buzzer beating moments, and even an NCAA Tournament matchup.
Duke and Syracuse have also battled on the recruiting trail. Both offered Joe Girard, who is currently on the Orange. Duke landed Jordan Tucker, who ultimately transferred out, over Syracuse. Transfer Patrick Tape also picked Duke over Syracuse. The two programs are currently both pursuing 2022 forward Kyle Filipowski, who has official visits scheduled to both this month.
Coach K is one of the all-time greats and in the discussion for the greatest of all time. It will be interesting to see how Duke adjusts after he retires, both on the court and on the recruiting trail.
More from Sports Illustrated’s Ben Pickman:
According to Stadium, assistant coach, and former Duke player, Jon Scheyer is the leading candidate to replace Krzyzewski. There is a meeting on Wednesday afternoon to determine if Scheyer, who has been on the Duke staff since 2014, will be stamped as the successor, per Stadium.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Duke has also talked to outside candidates about replacing Krzyzewski, including Harvard coach Tommy Amaker.
Krzyzewski will retire having recorded one of the most impressive resumes in all of coaching. In addition to his success at Duke, he also led the U.S. men's basketball team to three consecutive gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
"I really feel that whatever he chose to be—a politician or a minister or a businessperson or a philanthropist or whatever—that he'd be amazing," former Duke star Grant Hill told Sports Illustrated in 2011 when Krzyzewski and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt were named the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year. "Good leaders accomplish great things. He's this amazing leader who happens to coach basketball."
Krzyzewski's first collegiate head coaching job came at Army, his alma mater, where he led the program to winning seasons in four of his five years. He left the Black Knights following the 1980 season and took over a Duke program that had been previously coached by Bill Foster.
While the Blue Devils failed to make the NCAA tournament in each of Krzyzewski's first two seasons, he missed the NCAA tournament only twice more in the coming decades, with last year's missed tournament appearance being the program's first since 1995.
Duke's 24-season streak had been the third-longest in NCAA history, trailing North Carolina (27) and Kansas (30).
"While our season was different than any other that I can remember, I loved the 2020–21 Duke Basketball team and was honored to be their coach," Krzyzewski said in a statement after the team pulled out of last year's ACC tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test. "We have not asked more of any team in our history, and they deserve enormous credit for handling everything like the outstanding young men they are."
Krzyzewski and Duke are poised to rebound next season, after bringing in the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation. The star-studded group is highlighted by forwards Paolo Banchero and A.J. Griffin, and guards Trevor Keels and Jaylen Blakes.
News of his forthcoming retirement also comes just months removed from the retirement of longtime North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who announced news of his departure on April 1.
When news of Williams's retirement broke, Krzyzewski said that, "College basketball is losing one of its greatest coaches and a man who genuinely cares about the game of basketball, and more importantly, the people who play it."
It echoed what Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff wrote of Krzyzewski and Summitt in 2011: "In their respective modulations, they've chosen not to overlook half of what it means to be human. And by doing so they double the chance that they'll unlock what human beings are capable of."
From the SI Vault:
- From 2011 — Sportsman of the Year: Mike Krzyzewski/Sportswoman of the Year: Pat Summitt
- From 1992 — Blue Angel: Coach K's Divine Spirit and Working-Class Ethics Have Forged an Exemplary Program
- From 2005 — The Duke Way: A Fabulous Freshman Class has the Blue Devils Ranked No. 1, But Those Frosh Are in for Vigorous Training in Coach K Culture
