Let’s compare the retirement tours of Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams.
One Hall of Fame coach is in his last of 42 seasons at Duke. His HOF rival, and supposedly good friend, has already stepped away from the game after 33 years as a head coach at Kansas and UNC.
Coach K’s decision to go one more season and anoint 33-year-old Jon Scheyer as his successor (despite all the quasi consideration given to other candidates) is certainly one way to do it.
When he decided to leave the game he has loved since his freshman year in high school, Williams couldn’t get out soon enough so his hand-picked heir Hubert Davis would get a jump on his new job.
Of course, COVID interfered with both departures, postponing games on the farewell schedule of one soon-to-be 75-year-old coach and leaving a mask on the still-boyish face of wherever the 71-year-old other goes.
Both also have knee problems that are visible signs it was time to turn the reins over to young coaches. Scheyer is the same age as when Krzyzewski came out of nowhere (Army basketball) to take over the once-dynastic Blue Devils. The then pencil-thin Coach K carries additional weight as he clearly limps on and off the court on two artificial knee joints.
Hubert is 20 years younger than Williams, who vowed to attend every UNC game he could this season, missing only a couple so far to get his second knee done by the same Charlotte surgeon who replaced his first almost six years ago.
Coach K will go out with the same fire he brought to Duke, taking on Dean Smith in his fourth season when he leveled the infamous double-standard charge against the Carolina legend and his program. It wasn’t long before Duke was getting “all the calls” and fawning from the national media.
Williams doesn’t need to coach one more game against all the schools he beat like a drum on the way to nine ACC regular season championships since leaving Lawrence for Chapel Hill. He was welcomed back wildly Tuesday night as he and Wanda took their seats at Allen Field House.
The Roy video and standing O. pic.twitter.com/dpdgGjih47
— CJ Moore (@CJMooreHoops) January 12, 2022
Will Ol’ Roy be behind the bench at Cameron on March 6, when Coach K has his own Senior Game? Williams lost their head-to-head battle, but his most fervent supporters love to point out that when they met 9 times with first place in the ACC at stake, the record is and remains 9-0 in Roy’s favor.
Photo via AP Photo/Gerry Broome.
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