Jon Scheyer: Who Is Duke’s New Coach?

Mike Krzyzewski’s illustrious career comes down to its final game or games, maybe two. Jon Scheyer has taken over in his place.

His career as a coach has spanned 47 years, 42 of which he spent stalking Cameron Indoor Stadium as the best Duke (and, possibly, college basketball) coach in history. With 1,202 career wins, 101 NCAA Tournament victories, 13 Final Four berths, and five national championships, he earned that incredible longevity through equally incredible success. These accomplishments include 15 ACC Tournament championships, 13 ACC regular-season championships, and five national championships.

That has allowed him to become the third-oldest coach in the history of Division I basketball (75) and also its third-longest-tenured coach (47 years). All that is to say that Duke hasn’t had to worry about who would replace Coach K for some time.

He appointed 34-year-old Jon Scheyer, a four-year player and longtime assistant who was an integral part of two national championship teams in each of those capacities, as his replacement.

What you need know about Scheyer, who must not only follow a legend but also make an effort to emerge from his shadow, is as follows:

Jon Scheyer: Who Is Duke’s New Coach?

Scheyer has been chosen by Krzyzewski to take his position when the 2022 NCAA Tournament is over. After a brief playing career abroad, Scheyer, a four-year Duke player from 2006 to 2010, returned to Durham in April 2013 as a special assistant. When Jeff Capel departed the programme to become the head coach at Pitt in 2018, he was promoted to a full-time assistant position and became associate head coach in May of that year.

In 2022–2023, when Coach K steps down, he will take over as head coach for the first time, becoming Duke’s first new head coach since Neill McGeachy in 1973. He was sacked after a 10-16 season in 1973–74, therefore his reign lasted just one.

Scheyer, of course, will likely be granted substantially greater flexibility, not only because of the position Coach K has left it in (on the edge of yet another national title) but also for the he anointed him as his successor. Also, Scheyer’s outstanding playing history at Duke works in his favour.

A member of Duke’s 2006 recruiting class, which 247Sports’ Composite rankings place sixth nationally and second in the ACC, was the 42nd-ranked player in the country. Scheyer assisted the Blue Devils in achieving a 115-29 record, four NCAA Tournament bids, one ACC regular-season championship, two ACC Tournament titles, and one NCAA Tournament victory over the course of the next four years.

The Northbrook, Illinois-born, 6-5 guard played a significant role on those squads. He is the first player in the history of the school to score 2,000 points while also collecting 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 3-pointers, and 200 steals, according to his Duke profile. The second-team All-America pick in 2009–10 was the two-time team captain, who led Coach K’s fourth national title squad with averages of 18.2 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. (He was an assistant on his fifth in the future, in 2015).

Scheyer appears to be willing to take over as Coach K’s replacement. It includes assembling the 2023 recruiting class, which currently holds the top spot in the country and has five-star athletes Caleb Foster, Jared McCain, and Sean Stewart.

Did Jon Scheyer ever play in the NBA?

Despite being one of the top guards in the NCAA and helping Duke win the 2010 national title, Scheyer was not taken in the NBA Draft.

His NBA career began with a bang when he agreed to play for the Miami Heat’s Las Vegas Summer League squad.

In his first Summer League game, Scheyer defeated the New Orleans Hornets with a game-winning 3-pointer, demonstrating the same poise he exhibited with the Blue Devils.

Scheyer had a strange injury in his second Summer League game that ended his chances of making the NBA in the future. Scheyer was unintentionally jabbed in the eye during a game against the Golden State Warriors by Australian player Joe Ingles.

He had a lacerated eyelid, a torn retina, a frayed optic nerve, and swelling inside his eye, according to the diagnosis. His retina required surgery to be repaired.

“I couldn’t look left, I couldn’t look right. I had to keep my head still and look straight ahead and hope it healed,” Scheyer said in the New York Times article. “The optic nerve controls the message from the brain to the eye. If the message doesn’t get through, you can’t see.”

Jon Scheyer D League career

Scheyer joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, a D-League team affiliated with the Houston Rockets, in the middle of the 2011 season after overcoming his eye ailment.

In his 16 regular-season games, Scheyer averaged 13.8 points, 4.1 assists, and 3.9 rebounds.

The Vipers were able to advance to the playoffs, and Scheyer assisted in guiding his group to the D-League Championships. He had a playoff scoring average of 11.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, but the Vipers’ championship round opponent, the Iowa Energy (a Bulls/Suns affiliate), defeated them in three games.

Jon Scheyer’s international pro career

During his first D-League campaign, Scheyer agreed to a two-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the EuroLeague. Before joining Gran Canaria of Liga ACB, he played in Israel for just one season.

He put an end to his playing career in 2014 by joining the Duke men’s basketball coaching staff as Coach K’s special assistant. After Coach K announced his retirement, he stayed on the Duke staff until he was promoted.

 

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