Duke wished to rent Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker final spring to succeed the retiring Mike Krzyzewski, even going as far as to supply him the job.
Krzyzewski, nevertheless, talked his former participant and assistant coach out of taking the job so he may guarantee his most well-liked candidate would succeed him, in accordance with a brand new e-book by New York Put up sports activities columnist Ian O’Connor.
In “Coach Ok: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski,” O’Connor reviews that Duke supplied the job to Amaker, the previous Seton Corridor and Michigan coach, earlier than hiring Duke assistant Jon Scheyer to take over the embellished Blue Devils program after the 75-year-old Krzyzewski finishes the present season — his forty second on the college.
Krzyzewski believed he would keep extra management over this system after his retirement by the 34-year-old Scheyer than the 56-year-old Amaker, sources informed O’Connor for the e-book. Scheyer has by no means coached anyplace else, whereas Amaker left his job as a Duke assistant in 1997 to take the job as Seton Corridor head coach.
O’Connor reported that Krzyzewski held a Zoom name with Amaker final 12 months and had what a supply described as “a really troublesome dialog” with him. Krzyzewski defined to Amaker that if he left Harvard to affix the Duke workers as a successor-in-waiting for the 2021-22 season, the transfer would pressure the demotion of a Blue Devils assistant and “create a clumsy dynamic with Scheyer.” Realizing that he didn’t have his mentor’s blessing, Amaker left the decision “heartbroken,” in accordance with an individual near him.
“Mike needed to clarify to Tommy why he couldn’t be the man,” mentioned one Duke supply. “He may be Don Corleone when he must be.”
A five-time nationwide champ and the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach with almost 1,200 mixed victories at Duke and Military, Krzyzewski mentioned the switch of energy to Scheyer, a star on his 2010 championship staff, represented “a continuity of excellence” that he first discovered was necessary in a succession plan as a West Level scholar.
Scheyer’s first Duke recruiting class is ranked No. 1 within the nation. Amaker is in his fifteenth 12 months at Harvard, which he has constructed right into a constantly robust Ivy League staff.
4 of Harvard’s 5 NCAA Event appearances have come beneath Amaker. The Crimson made March Insanity appearances in 2012-15, upsetting New Mexico as a No. 14 seed in 2013 and Cincinnati as a No. 12 seed in 2014.
Krzyzewski and Amaker declined to be interviewed for the e-book. The senior Duke official who carried out the search declined remark to O’Connor.
By saying his retirement upfront, O’Connor wrote, Krzyzewski all however assured that his private option to succeed him would land the Duke job.
“Mike is the final word orchestrator,” mentioned somebody near him. “He wakes up within the morning making an attempt to determine methods to remain forward of you. Typically Coach Ok has to eat his younger, and Tommy Amaker simply received eaten.”
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