There are rumors growing at Duke that seem very logical.
Duke Athletics Director Kevin White announced his retirement months ago, effective at the end of the spring semester. But a search committee was just formed and no names have made the media as possible candidates.
White retiring after a decade atop a great athletic program with two seniors coaching their revenue sports is not surprising. Lame duck ADs don’t want to hire new coaches on their way out the door, leaving them to their successors whose primary duty is maximizing money made from football and basketball. ADs want to pick their own coaches, but that’s a daunting task at Duke.
So what’s going on? Just like it was for Dean Smith and Roy Williams and all Hall of Fame coaches at the end of their careers, speculation for years has Mike Krzyzewski’s heir apparent coming from the Duke family or, excuse me, should I say the Brotherhood.
Jeff Capel left for Pitt when not granted coach-in-waiting status, and former Blue Devils favorite John Scheyer is Coach K’s top assistant with enough under his belt to take over. The new AD will be charged with picking the new basketball coach and football coach when David Cutcliffe retires.
What if that new AD is the old, and I mean 74 years old, basketball coach? The rumor is Krzyzewski will become the interim athletic director when White leaves and then choose the next hoops coach.
Maybe it’s calling Capel back or promoting Scheyer, but there is one other twist that would rock the basketball world. Because Roy Williams retired suddenly and UNC wanted to name his replacement as soon as possible, that eliminated all NBA coaches in mid-season.
But the NBA season will be over by the time White leaves and Coach K steps in. And what if the Celtics’ Brad Stevens turned down $70 million from Indiana because he has an agreement with Duke in place?
There is a big but to that plan. Duke has emerging Mark Williams and several other veterans coming back, plus three more 5-star recruits coming in. The 2022 Blue Devils are already ranked preseason No. 6. Will Krzyzewski want to stay one more season to try to win No. 6?
Say he will be acting athletic director after all, and with 40-plus years no one at Duke has more power. It could be a done deal with Coach K as the interim AD who gets to decide what happens next.
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