One of the biggest changes between Jon Scheyer and Mike Kryzewski was Scheyer’s willingness to go outside the Duke basketball ‘Brotherhood’ to hire assistant coaches.
Scheyer added Emanual Dildy, Jai Lucas, and Evan Bradds to his coaching staff – none of which had previous ties to Duke – but now he’s bringing a former player back to the program.
Tyler Thornton will be joining Duke as an assistant coach for the upcoming season, helping to fill Lucas’ spot on the bench after he left following the completion of the regular season to be the head coach at Miami.
The Duke Basketball Roundup Podcast first reported the news of Thorton returning to Durham.
The former Duke guard is the fifth person that Scheyer has added to his staff that had previous ties to Duke, joining Amile Jefferson, Mike Schrage, Will Avery, and Justin Robinson.
Each person with a Duke connection remains on the staff except Jefferson, who opted ot leave for a coaching role with the Boston Celtics.
Thorton spent four seasons at Duke, joining the program as a freshman in 2010 – months after Scheyer left Durham following his graduation and winning a National Championship.
The Washington D.C. native played a solid role off the bench during his four-year career and then embarked on a short international professional career before he got into coaching.
Tyler Thornton has been an assistant coach at Howard since 2019 and is the second coaching hire of the offseason for Jon Scheyer, joining Evan Bradds who came to Duke from the Utah Jazz.
Duke is expected to have one of the best rosters in the country again this season, headlined by prized freshman Cameron Boozer – the son of Duke Hall of Famer Carlos Boozer.
The Blue Devils also added Cameron’s twin brother, Cayden, to its recruiting class.
Caleb Foster leads the group of returning players to Duke, as well as the sophomore trio of Isaiah Evans, Darren Harris, and Patrick Ngongba.