A big name reach is the logical alternative to a quick hire of a program guy. Those tend to be a bit of a circus, though, and you aren’t guaranteed results; besides Stevens (who would be a slam dunk hire for any program), who is an ideal choice if he isn’t interested? And all this would be playing out while Coach K is coaching his last season.
I expect the guy that follows Coach K to fail, but that is likely almost regardless of whom they hire. Meanwhile, there are real costs to a difficult search, and there would be a lot of constituent pressure (and pressure from Coach K, probably) to hire a program guy. Taking the program guy that’s in the program… gives everything else the greatest chance of maintaining success. Hope that you’re making a Ryan Day hire, do it quickly, and keep the wheels of recruiting moving.
I think it’ll fail, but it’s the most sensible way of doing things if you’re getting a program guy.
Maybe they’re planning the UNC model - hire the former player now, watch him struggle to follow the legend, then open up the piggy bank for the best available name on the market. Maybe Stevens is ready to coach again and wants to get away from the NBA in 2 years.
I had no clue this was a theory. Last time that happened (not ACC challenge):
This was a top 5 sporting event I’ve ever been to in person. I can’t even imagine Crisler in that situation now with two top 10 teams, coach K final season, plus coming off a year of no fan attendance.
Sign me up for that game. Juwan and the Fab Five were an early rival for Duke and for Juwan to coach against K in his farewell tour would be awesome. Great opportunity for Michigan’s players to showcase themselves as well. Likely would be a ton of NBA personnel in attendance. Banchero, Keels, AJ Griffin, Roach, Wendell Moore, Mark Williams, Hunter, Houstan, Diabate, Bufkin, Johns…tons of guys the NBA could be super intrigued in. Not just high first round guys but guys who could be mid/late first or 2nd rounders. Plus to see Michigan playing Duke in K’s final season would be a cool piece of history.
If not explicitly, that at least seems to be a consideration. Difficult transitions aren’t good for programs, and a bad situation can handicap the next coach (see: Rodriguez, Rich). You figure a program assistant is probably not going to be at the same level as his predecessor, but if it’s program guys you’re just making low-probability die rolls anyway and this way you get to keep continuity in staff and (crucially) recruiting. So he will have the best chance to succeed.
And if he doesn’t, the constituents are now tired of losing, less married to the idea of a “Duke Man,” more ready to embrace an outsider who is excellent.
This is probably the play here. And K has earned the right to choose his successor.
Kind of in a no win spot though because you can try to keep recruiting high-end talent and getting 1AD or go for more of what appears to be Juwan’s model for 2-3 year guys surrounding program guys. Problem is that could cause a dip for 2-3 years and I don’t know that Scheyer could survive that.
I am of the opinion that no coach earns the right to choose their successor, just like they don’t earn the right to hang on as long as they want to. That leads to situations like JoePa at PSU.
They get paid handsomely for doing their job, but the program doesn’t belong to them when they retire.
That was my freshman year so this definitely gives me a lot of feels! A few Michigan State games stand out as well, but that might be the best crowd at Crisler I’ve witnessed in person. Absolutely incredible.
The timing of Juwan’s hire will be forever clutch in my memory. This is the only landscape he knows as a college coach, it’s not an adjustment or additional burden.
If the Bulls had another poor year, they did make a bold move getting Vuc and moving their 1st round pick without even making the play in stages. Donovan is a terrific coach I am not sure he would go back to college but he would probably kill it at Duke.
I was at that game as a student. I lived through TA era and beginning of JB’s era. Victories like this are extremely rare at the time but now we expect to compete for the national title. How time has changed for the better!
