Duke coach Jon Scheyer has made his first assistant hire since taking over for head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Former Blue Devil and national champion Amile Jefferson is being promoted after just one year as director of player development role to assistant coach, the team announced on Tuesday. He replaces fellow former Blue Devil Nolan Smith, who left to become the new associate head coach for Louisville, where his father was part of the 1980 national title team.
While the 2021-22 season was Smith's first as an assistant, he had been with the Blue Devils for six seasons, serving as the team’s special assistant for two years and director of basketball operations and player development for three.
"This is an incredible opportunity for Nolan to return to Louisville and continue his father's extraordinary legacy," Scheyer said in a statement Monday. "But for me it's bittersweet. Nolan's contributions at Duke cannot be understated, and I will treasure the memories we have made together as friends, teammates, and coaches over the last 15 years."
Jefferson, who played in a program-record 150 games, was a three-year captain for Duke and helped the team to a national championship title in 2015. Scheyer was on the Blue Devils' coaching staff for all but one of Jefferson's five seasons as a player.
"Having a front-row seat for the evolution of Amile's career has been special," Scheyer said in a statement. "His passion, knowledge, and ability to relate to our guys is second-to-none. He played a valuable role for our team this season, particularly in the development of our frontcourt, and this promotion allows him to make an even bigger impact in the years ahead."
Scheyer officially succeeded Coach K after the Blue Devils' Final Four loss to UNC.
(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
Why did Scheyer choose Jefferson?
Brendan Marks, Duke beat writer: Jefferson only became Duke's director of player development last summer, but he quickly proved himself to be a valuable asset to the program.
When assistant coach Chris Carrawell was physically limited due to a December knee replacement, and then later that month when the program dealt with a surge of COVID-19 infections, Jefferson was awarded an NCAA waiver to coach on-court despite usually not being able to. Those experiences allowed the former national champion to work directly with Duke's bigs, specifically Mark Williams and Paolo Banchero, and both spoke glowingly of Jefferson's influence on their development.
Now, Jefferson will serve as the replacement for Smith, Scheyer's 2010 backcourt mate, who left the program days ago for Louisville, where his late father played in the early 1980s. Jefferson is another young, bright Duke alum with real recruiting juice; it helps, of course, that high schoolers today were old enough to remember his playing career with the Blue Devils.
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Scheyer's next priorities
Marks: In terms of staff, Jefferson is Scheyer's first true assistant hire since taking over for Krzyzewski as Duke's coach. Former Elon head coach Mike Schrage resigned his position last week to become "special assistant to the head coach" at Duke, but that isn't a true assistant role. Translation: Scheyer still needs to hire someone to replace himself, in terms of the vacancy on Duke's bench right now.
With Carrawell still in the fold, as well as Jefferson and Schrage, there's some thought that Scheyer might prefer an experienced coach for that final assistant spot, especially someone else with prior head-coaching experience. But regardless of who that final hire is, Scheyer told reporters at the Final Four that he wanted to finalize his staff in the span of a few weeks, and there's no reason that timeline should have shifted.
Then, once the staff is in place, Scheyer can turn to re-recruiting his own roster, starting with rising junior point guard (and NCAA Tournament darling) Jeremy Roach.