WATCH: Coach K responds to speculation he could unretire, reflects on career
After one of his former players speculated Tuesday that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski could return in 2022-23, the college basketball legend officially chimed in. In an interview with Sean Farnham on ESPN radio, Coach K said he is not going to pull a Tom Brady, and is 100% done with his coaching career.
“To even be put in the same room that Brady would be in is an honor,” Krzyzewski said. “He still has talent that can be used at a really high level. I’m done with the coaching part of it.”
Krzyzewski led Duke to the Final Four for the 13th time this past season, surpassing John Wooden for the most ever appearances. He of course ended up losing to North Carolina, ending his career just two wins short of his sixth national championship. The Tar Heels also handed Coach K a loss in his final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, spoiling his farewell tour twofold.
Despite the painful losses to end this season, Coach K has plenty of fond memories to look back on from his 47-year career, which began in 1975 at Army, his alma mater. He took over as the Blue Devils coach in 1980 and would go on to lead them to national championships in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015. His coaching prowess extended beyond the college realm as well, as he coached USA basketball to Olympic gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Krzyzewski finishes as the winningest college basketball coach of all time with 1,170 victories. Already a Hall of Fame inductee, it’s not those numbers, but the experiences and people that he relishes the most.
“I’ve been so lucky to be in it for 47 years,” Krzyzewski said. “Almost five decades of coaching at either West Point or Duke. Then 11 years with (USA basketball). How lucky can you be? To be in that arena with two of the best institutions in the world, and then to represent your country in the global arena? It’s been an unbelievable honor and I’ve loved it. I’ve loved doing what I dreamed of doing when I was 16, and that was to be a coach. It went on steroids. All the opportunities and people who’ve helped me. Obviously, one of the main things is the players you’ve had an honor to coach who have been so very talented and so very committed to team play. As a result, we’ve won a lot of championships. Obviously, you lose too, but those times that you win are cherished.”
Jon Scheyer, who played under Coach K from 2006-10 and has been an assistant on his staff since 2018, is set to succeed his mentor as Blue Devils coach in 2022-23. Krzyzewski set him up well with the No. 1 recruiting class for 2022, signing the top three players according to On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Even though Krzyzewski won’t be on the bench, expect him to stick around the program as Scheyer transitions into his first head coaching job.