Duke basketball: Five reasons Chris Carrawell should coach women

Why Duke basketball’s Chris Carrawell should lead the women: FAMILIARITY

1. FAMILIARITY

Seven years after becoming the ACC Player of the Year as a senior for the 1999-00 Duke basketball team, Chris Carrawell returned to Durham from a pro career overseas and served in a variety of roles within the university’s athletic department. And notably in 2011, the St. Louis native was briefly a special assistant for the women’s program before joining a coaching staff in what was then the NBA D League.

Three years later, former Blue Devil point guard and assistant Steve Wojciechowski snagged his ex-teammate for his crew at Marquette. Then in 2018, Carrawell came back home to his alma mater once again, becoming a full-time assistant coach for Mike Krzyzewski.

ALSO READ: Ranking all 40 Duke teams under Coach K

So altogether, including his days as a player, Carrawell has spent 10 years at Duke. Plus, the 42-year-old has now been in one coaching role or another for the past 13 seasons (coinciding with Joanne P. McCallie’s entire Blue Devil tenure).

In other words, Carrawell is the only option to seize the reigns of the women’s program if the powers that be are looking for someone who has 1) a deep familiarity with, and obvious affection for, all things Duke, 2) experience, even if limited, coaching women, and 3) the benefits that come from being under the tutelage, as both a player and coach, of the college game’s all-time wins leader.

Let’s move on to reason No. 2…