Duke basketball officially undergoes coaching staff changes

The Duke basketball program has officially suffered a coaching change this season. 

Hours before the Duke basketball program landed the commitment from five-star recruit Trevor Keels, its first addition of the offseason, it suffered another loss.

Jeff Goodman of Stadium had reported on Sunday night that associate head coach Nate James was the leading candidate to become the head coach of Austin Peay, and that news became official on Friday afternoon.

James has been on Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching staff since 2008 as a conditioning coach and was promoted in 2009 to an assistant coaching position where he later became an associate head coach.

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The 43-year-old began his basketball career in Durham as a player with the Blue Devils, appearing in two Final Fours and being a member of the 2001 National Championship team, which ironically won its title 20 years to the date of James leaving Duke.

Nate James was also a part of two National Championships as a coach in 2010 and 2015.

Krzyzewski released a statement on the departure of his former player and coach:

Austin Peay, located in Clarksville, Tennessee, is coming off of a 14-13 (10-10 Ohio Valley) season, and the Governors have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016 and have only appeared in March Madness three times since 2000.

Duke has never played Austin Peay in the program’s history.

Who will replace Nate James on Duke basketball coaching staff?

It seems as if there are two choices for Mike Krzyzewski to elevate to an assistant coach, Nolan Smith or Steve Wojciechowski.

Smith is the current Director of Basketball Operations and Player Development while Wojciechowski was a former associate head coach under the Hall of Famer before leaving to become the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles, a position in which he was recently fired from.

Jon Scheyer is the other associate head coach for the Blue Devils and has been rumored for other head coaching vacancies, but nothing has come to fruition.

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If Krzyzewski wants to have two associate head coaches, he could elevate Chris Carrawell to the position while promoting Nolan Smith to an assistant coaching role or leave Carrawell in his current position and promote Smith to an assistant’s role while bringing Wojciechowski back to his old role on the staff.

There is plenty of decisions for Mike Krzyzewski to make as the wild offseason continues in Durham, and in college basketball.