Duke Basketball: J.J. Redick would ‘say yes’ if asked to coach Blue Devils

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is entering his 39th season, and while there are some popular choices to replace him one day — hopefully many years from now — there is now also a dark-horse candidate.

If you’re like me, you choose to believe that Coach K is immortal and will never step down from the helm of the Duke basketball program.

And if we’re going to embrace our unrealistic thoughts, then we should also consider the possibility that when he actually does retire, J.J. Redick will be his successor. After all, Redick has allowed the thought to enter his brain.

At the Philadelphia 76ers Media Day earlier this week, the former Duke basketball standout told Stadium’s Jeff Goodman that he has no interest in coaching unless Krzyzewski asked him to have his job.

While the chances of anyone ever uttering the phrase, Meet the next Duke basketball coach, J.J. Redick, has the same chance of happening as current Duke basketball freshman Zion Williamson sticking around for four years in Durham, it’s still fun to think about (same goes for envisioning Williamson as a senior).

One thing’s for sure: If Redick was the coach, the team’s three-point percentage would rise (assuming he could teach his players to have a shooting stroke that even closely resembles the beauty of his own). And so would its swagger.

Redick was animated as a Blue Devil — his head bobs and ear-to-ear grins will stay forever fresh in the memories of Dukies old enough to have watched him play. And Coach K is certainly renowned for the way he stays charged from the bench when attempting to instruct his players, inspire the fans, and, of course, berate the refs. So, in regards to energy levels, the transition from Krzyzewski to Redick would be smooth.

And in terms of being a natural fan favorite, Redick isn’t too far behind Coach K. Not only does his jersey number hang in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium after leaving as the ACC’s all-time leading scorer, but he also matured in front of Duke fans by persevering through his own demons — after he arrived on campus, he ate too much fast food and drew suspicion that he hit too many bongs.

Nowadays, Redick, at the age of 34, is still surprising the NBA world by remaining a major scoring threat in the league — he averaged a career-high 17.1 points last season as he debuted in Philadelphia. And the 12-year veteran has drawn praise for taking younger players (most recently, Ben Simmons) under his wings and acting as their big brother.

And so it is possible that if Coach K retires within the next few years, Redick will still be draining threes and dishing out sound advice as a player for some NBA team, meaning that the chances of Redick — who has zero experience being an actual coach — taking his place would be even slimmer.

But if you’re like me, you’re becoming nauseous at the mere thought of Krzyzewski ever leaving at all. And so this article, written for the sole reason of having an excuse to dish out more praise to the greatest coach of all time and one of the top Dukies of all time, ends.