Mike Krzyzewski recalls the moment he knew Jon Scheyer could become Duke's next coach

Recently retired longtime Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski knew for a while that Jon Scheyer would be the man to take over in his plan upon his retirement. On a recent episode of College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein, Coach K revealed exactly when he knew Scheyer was the right man for the job.

“John had reached that point where he could coach here or someplace else, and then it would be up to our administration whenever I stopped to determine if he would be the guy,” Krzyzewski said. “But it’s a great choice and I’m very happy with the year we had together where he was able to transition from being an associate to a head coach.”

Scheyer played for Kryrzewski in Durham from 2006-2010 before coming back to Duke as an associate coach in 2014. His promotion to associate head coach in 2018 was the proverbial writing on the wall for what would be his eventual taking over of the Blue Devils program.

“He must finished his ninth year working [for Duke], we’re fortunate,” former Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski said about his successor. “He had a really horrible injury to his eye, which stopped his professional playing career short, so we got him here when he was like 25, which is unusual.

“I always had my eye on him. I thought he’d play pro ball for over a decade, so I wasn’t sure if he’d ever come back, but when he came back, he learned and worked with other outstanding coaches. About two years ago he became my associate, and I knew he was ready to be a top notch head coach.”

Scheyer put the lessons Krzyzewski has taught him over the past decade to use, bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class, per the On3 Consensus, in his first season as head coach. While Duke has had multiple top-ranked classes over the last four decades, Scheyer’s first might be their most prolific.

Featuring three of the top five recruits in Dariq Whitehead (No. 1 overall), Dereck Lively II (2) and Kyle Filipowski (5) alongside three other four-star prospects – the Blue Devils are already one of the favorites to win the 2023 NCAA Championship despite losing the winningest coach in college basketball history.