Even with the transition to Jon Scheyer already in place — with no drop-off on the recruiting trail so far — there are still so many unanswered questions about what Duke is going to look like after Mike Krzyzewski is no longer on the bench.
Krzyzewski will face many of those questions Tuesday at ACC Tipoff in Charlotte, the league’s annual media extravaganza, but he already knows at least part of the answer to one of the least important and most compelling, if not the rest.
Where will he watch Duke play when he’s not the coach?
“Not in Cameron,” Krzyzewski told the News & Observer. “I know I’m not going to be in Cameron.”
It is, to use a phrase of some disrepute, a known unknown.
Since Krzyzewski is keeping his office that overlooks Cameron Indoor Stadium — and most of the Duke campus — he could potentially watch games there, on the rarely used television hidden inside an armoire facing his desk. Or perhaps in a conference room closer to the court, where he could be available to Scheyer and his staff as needed. That has yet to be settled.
But Krzyzewski has ruled out more visible options. His wife and daughters have sat in seats in Cameron’s upper ring for many years, above the scorer’s table and across the court from Duke’s president. Krzyzewski won’t join them there, among the fans. Security would be a nightmare, among other issues.
Nor does Cameron have any luxury suites where Krzyzewski could potentially watch the games live but be secluded and somewhat hidden from view. Duke discussed building some sort of box in the corner of the arena behind the visiting bench, but ruled it out.
Krzyzewski also declined a facetious invitation to join Duke’s managers and germophobe writers tired of the Cameron press-row experience in the auxiliary media area that now sits high among the girders in the corner above the Duke bench.
“I’m OK,” Krzyzewski said.
There’s a lot to joke about here, but in some ways it’s an apt allegory for the new era Duke is entering.
Krzyzewski will still be around, watching, overseeing, advising. But he also understands the imperative that Scheyer be able to chart his own course, how delicate the balance truly will be between mentor and mentee, legend and successor.
Where Krzyzewski is physically located when Duke plays on without him probably has the least tangible impact of any of the factors involved, but as much symbolic significance as any, just as Krzyzewski keeping the head coach’s office after he is no longer the head coach sends a clear message that his job may be changing but his influence will not.
“It’s interesting. You want to be able to help but you don’t want to be a distraction,” Krzyzewski said. “Jon and I and the guys, we have an amazing relationship so it’s not like they’re worried about me getting in their space or whatever. …
“But I will watch every game. I don’t think I would go to a game on the road. Definitely not in conference. But maybe if they’re like in (Madison Square) Garden, where you could go someplace, something like that. I’ll be there to help, I’ll be there to support, but not to interfere. And going to a game would be interference.”
Even if there’s no demand for a decision right now, it is still one of many variables in a transition that is in some ways unprecedented, something that demands thought and consideration. If not remodeling.