Mike Krzyzewski will step down from his head coaching position at Duke at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Wojnarowski adds that Duke’s current associate coach, Jon Scheyer, is expected to be named the coach-in-waiting.
Krzyzewski is one of the best coaches in college basketball history, as he led Duke to five national championships in his 40 seasons coaching the Blue Devils.
He has coached several great stars throughout his time at Duke, such as Kyrie Irving, Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, Zion Williamson and Jayson Tatum, as he’s left a lifelong impact on all of them.
The Boston Celtics now have a head coaching vacancy after Danny Ainge announced he’s stepping down as the president of basketball operations and Brad Stevens will assume that role.
“I loved coaching and I loved coaching the players both at Butler and here, but this is the new challenge and this is what we need to do to hopefully be even better,” Stevens said.
Jason Kidd and Lloyd Pierce are expected to be candidates for the newly vacant head coaching position, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Kidd has served as an assistant coach on the Los Angeles Lakers’ staff for the past two seasons after coaching stints with the Nets and Milwaukee Bucks. Pierce recently was relieved of his head coaching duties by the Atlanta Hawks.
Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka is also a candidate for the head coaching job, according to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Udoka has been widely considered a deserving candidate to take over a head coaching job in recent years.
Chauncey Billups is also expected to gain consideration for the open Celtics head coaching job, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Billups played 51 games for the Celtics in the 1997-98 season.
