Duke Basketball Introduces Jon Scheyer as Next Head Coach Press Conference Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Good morning. I am thrilled to welcome Jon Scheyer as the next head coach of men’s basketball at Duke University. Coach K talked yesterday about the importance of success and succession. So when it came time to make that decision for Duke basketball, Kevin and Nina went through a thorough, thoughtful and rigorous process that you’ll hear more about in just a minute, and I could not be more enthusiastic about the outcome. Jon is not just committed to Duke’s passion for excellence in athletics and academics, he’s lived it. Jon has been a part of Duke University and the Duke basketball family for 15 years. He’s been a student athlete, a team captain, a national championship player and coach. And for the last three years, the associate head coach to the greatest mentor in the game.

Speaker 1: (01:06)
There is no one better prepared or more committed to carry on coach K’s legacy and to drive the continued eminence of our basketball program and our university than Jon Scheyer. Jon, his wife, Marcel, daughter Noah and son Jett have grown up as Blue Devils. Jon represents the next generation of leadership in Duke athletics and I know our students, faculty and staff and alumni and the millions of Duke basketball fans worldwide cannot wait to be a part of this. We’ve been spending a lot of time in Cameron these past few weeks for ceremonies and announcements. And I trust that the next time we are all together here in Cameron, there will be face paint and not face masks, and we’ll be jumping up and down together and not six feet apart for coach K spectacular last season and the start of a new era of excellence under our head coach, Jon Scheyer.

Speaker 2: (02:30)
Feels like Groundhog day and for our coaches and our staff, we’ve used that expression liberally here over the last year with COVID every Friday when we met for an hour. But it’s just so great to be here this morning. Once again, not unlike yesterday, my objective is to be intentionally scripted and very brief. To be sure this is indeed an exciting moment in the history of Duke athletics, quite frankly, in the history of Duke University. Jon Scheyer represents in my opinion, and everyone here’s opinion best in class relative to the next generation. Simply put, an outstanding, contemporary leader within college coaching. Pointedly, Jon, along with Nina King’s recent appointment as VP AD places Duke University at the cutting edge of the next generation movement.

Speaker 2: (03:33)
I mean, we are really well positioned moving forward. In terms of process, let me be clear and utterly transparent, although I’m on the exit ramp and have been so proud to have served here for the last 13 years. President Price asked me to help facilitate the process along with my esteemed successor Nina King. Of course, beginning with my Duke interview back in 2008, there has been no shortage of inquiries, questions relative to Duke’s men’s basketball leadership succession, for Mike Shashefski’s eventual departure would be dramatic if not, absolutely impossible to replace. Throughout the past decade, I’ve been in earnest securing valuable insight from former players, Duke players, university senior administrators, if not keenly interested trustees along the way.

Speaker 2: (04:40)
Not withstanding, an occasional taxi driver or a bartender as well. Justifiably so, of course, I engaged in ongoing conversation with our tremendous iconic coach [inaudible 00:04:56] for his perspective has been invaluable and perhaps absolutely priceless. To that end, I might characterize all of these ongoing conversations as what I call pre-procurement activity, for we have long been studying the marketplace and placing a real premium on Duke family members first and foremost. As for the research process, you should know that we have had nine head coaching searches during my tenure here at Duke. Each search was chaired by the respect of sport administrator. And in this case, this one was ably served by John Jackson, who’s the men’s basketball sport administrator, and he did a brilliant job.

Speaker 2: (05:43)
Interestingly enough, relative to those nine appointments, I thought you might find this interesting, three came from the inside of the department, came from the existing staff. For good reason, we are extremely proud for having a very high quality bench to go to. And we’ve had that, again, one third of the appointments we’ve made have come from internal candidates that were on the existing staff, and we are very proud of that. Staying true to the past practices once again, a search committee was assembled, again, Jon was the chair wherein they work very closely with CSA, Collegiate Sports Associates. For those who know this, our business, that would be Todd, Turner & Company, and they have facilitated all nine of our head coach searches to date.

Speaker 2: (06:39)
Again, from the time that Mike and Mickey firmed up their retirement plan, this process took roughly 10 days. And we’re proud of that as well. At the end of the day, Jon Scheyer literally won the job. Jon, you won the job and we’re just so darn proud of that. During Jon’s three interviews, he depicted once again, a contemporary leader who enjoyed a great grasp of all things, analytics, transfer portal, NIL, not withstanding, Jon has an unparalleled sense of both the current and futuristic, highly competitive recruiting game and/or all the strategies. Lastly, unequivocally, Jon has a phenomenal relationship with the players, some of which are here and some former players as well.

Speaker 2: (07:28)
For within this ever evolving landscape, it’s never been more important if not absolutely critical to have those kinds of relationships in place. Given all of that, Jon and Marcel, as well as the entire [inaudible 00:07:43] family who are here proudly and should be, I’m just so darn proud, Jon. I know I’ve said to you three or four times, the fact that you won the job and you did it intellectually, emotionally and passionately. I’m just really proud. Of course, from now until April 2022, Jon will continue to serve as coach Shashefski’s very, very strong associate head coach. I would argue maybe the best associate head coach in the country before embarking on this next chapter as the 20th head men’s basketball coach in Duke history. Again, congratulations to Jon. Nina, next play. It’s all you.

Nina King: (08:31)
All right. Good morning, again. Third in the lineup again means I’ll be brief, again. I am thrilled to be here along with President Price and Kevin White to introduce Jon as our next Duke men’s basketball head coach. Simply put, Jon Scheyer is Duke. As you know, he came to Duke in 2006 and enjoyed an outstanding career as a student athlete. His blood, sweat and tears are in these hardwoods. As a player, and now an associate head coach, Jon has been learning from and has been mentored by the very best in coach Mike Shashefski. He is a teacher and mentor in his own right, passionate about the student athlete experience, both on and off the court. Jon knows what it takes to achieve excellence. He’s a national champion.

Nina King: (09:24)
A smart, competitive driven leader with a great vision for the future of Duke men’s basketball. There’s no doubt that he will continue to build upon coach Shashefski’s legacy while carrying us into the future. Jon and I have already had a great start together, and I look forward to our partnership continuing to grow as colleagues, teammates, and friends. April 2022, when Jon steps into his new role will undoubtedly be an incredibly exciting moment for Duke athletics. In the meantime, as I mentioned yesterday, this upcoming year is one to be celebrated and relished as Duke men’s basketball once again, pursues excellence under coach Mike Shashefski. Once again, thank you, coach. Heartfelt congratulations to Jon, Marcel, Noah, and Jett, wherever they are. With that, it is my pleasure to introduce to you all the 20th men’s basketball head coach at Duke University, Jon Scheyer.

John Scheyer: (10:51)
So I don’t want to break any tradition yet. Do I need to spell my last name? This is incredibly exciting. President Price, Kevin, Nina, thank you so much for this incredible opportunity. Coach talked to yesterday about the power of belief, and I won’t take a moment for granted the belief that you’ve put in me. I am incredibly grateful and so thankful for this opportunity. This has been an indescribable 48 hours for me. It’s been surreal, the amount of messages, texts, calls, it’s a pretty cool moment. But all the messages, friends, family, former players, some who I haven’t heard from in a while, which is terrific. And it’s a reminder that I’m not up here alone today. I’m incredibly thankful for all the people along the way who have supported …

Jon Scheyer: (12:03)
… for all the people along the way who have supported and helped me on my journey to get to this point.

Coach, I’m so thankful to you and Mickey. When I was 16 years old, you came to my high school and you laid out a vision for me, and it went beyond just playing basketball here. You told me that I was meant to do something special. I don’t know if this is what you had in mind when you said that. If you did, you’re really damn good. You’re really damn good. But I have enjoyed every second that I’ve been here as a player and as a coach playing for you. Your family has treated me like family, and I love you all. This is going to be an incredible year.

By the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t congratulate you both on your 52nd wedding anniversary. So congrats to you guys.

But you did put your belief in me, put your belief in those guys over there as well, even when we lost four in a row my freshman year. Twice, by the way. Which you mentioned the dark moments you had yesterday at times, I think you were referring to my freshman year. I felt responsible for that. But not many coaches would tell their team that they’re going to win a national championship in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and you did that. You spoke, we listened, we believed in you immediately and we did amazing things together. Obviously, winning the national championship is a part of that. We’ve always said that making the decision to come to Duke is a lifetime decision, and I learned that firsthand when I graduated from Duke. We won the national championship my senior year. By the way, shout out to [inaudible 00:14:23] former teammates back there, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek and Nolan Smith. I’m going to get to you later. Obviously, Gerald Henderson as well. That’s my guy right there. I didn’t see you back there. Well, yeah, we can give it up for [inaudible 00:14:41].

But we won the national championship, and that summer I was playing for the Miami Heat’s summer league. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade probably do not know this, but I was planning on being their teammate that fall. And then the second game was summer league, I had an injury to my eye and instead of being teammates with LeBron, I was looking at life a little bit differently and doctors were telling me that I may never play basketball again because the permanent vision loss that I had in my right eye. And I remember calling Coach, Coach called Terry Kim, who was on a flight the next day immediately to come to Chicago to make sure I got the best care I could possibly have. If that’s not an example of Duke being a lifetime decision I don’t know what it is, and it set me on a path that has led me here to this point today. I was able to get into coaching at an incredibly early age, and the experience that I’ve had is unlike any other I could have possibly dreamed of. That’s what I wish for all players going forward.

One of the best gifts that you’ve given all of us, coach, is each other. I’ve been overwhelmed with the love, the emotion of our former players and our brotherhood these past couple of days. I didn’t even know these guys were coming last night. I know the things that I’m saying about coach I can speak on behalf of all of our former players, we have an incredible pride in this program, in the blood, sweat and tears that need to mention that all of us have put into this. I do want to acknowledge two special members of the brotherhood, and that’s Chris Carrawell and Nolan Smith. Not only were both of them incredible players here, but I’ve been lucky to know them as great friends. Incredible, incredible coaches. And I know all three of us cannot wait to make this last year for Coach an incredible one. I appreciate you both big time. As I look back on what I’m most proud of in my career is the fact that I never missed a game or a practice as a player. And I would have never missed a game as a coach if it wasn’t for my wife deciding she was going to go into labor early on January 29th, 2018. By the way, I made it to the first half of the Notre Dame game and she decided, or Noah decided, I guess, there was time, and so I am… That’s a half of the game.

The other moment was two years ago when we were playing at Syracuse, and some of you may remember this, and we’re going to the game and I felt a pain in my stomach and a few hours later, I woke up in a hospital in Syracuse. I had my appendix taken out. But I say all that because I do not expect this to be easy. I don’t expect it to be easy. I don’t expect to be given anything. We do not expect to be given anything. But I’m always going to show up, always going to show up and do whatever it takes to succeed at the highest level here and with the standard that’s been set at Duke. It’s a privilege and an honor to do that. I realize how important of a time it is for our program, for this university, and I relish this opportunity. We’re going to be relentless in our pursuit of championships and in representing this incredible university on and off the court. I am so lucky to be able to call Duke University my home and I promise you I’m going to cherish it every single day.

As excited as I am about the future, my focus is on this upcoming season and making it the most special we possibly can. We have an amazing group of players, some who are here today somewhere. They’re here somewhere. I don’t know where they are. There you guys are there. We can give it up for them too. I feel like they were dressed up a little bit more for coach’s yesterday. I think they realized he controls the playing time still, but I appreciate you guys being here.

Before I move on, I just want to thank my family. My wife, Marcel, we’ve been on an incredible journey together and I can’t wait for this next chapter of our lives. Nina, thanks. All of you thanks for mentioning my son, Jed and my daughter, Noah, wherever they are. I’m not sure they know what’s going on right now, but hopefully at some point it hits them. My parents, Laurie and Jim, Brooke and Ryan, Jen, Danny. I love you all. Thank you for the incredible support, the sacrifice throughout the years.

I just want to say, as important as anything in this, our players come first. I am so proud of these guys back here. I’m proud of all of the players that have come through here in my last eight years, the relationships, the moments. I think of, Coach has talked about this and it’s true, you mentioned Joey Baker or Wendell Moore, and immediately moments pop into my head. A lot of you can probably guess what moments do, but it’s also the moments off the court. And so I’m looking forward to the future, but my main purpose and goal right now is to be the best assistant coach I possibly can and to have an amazing year this year. So thank you all for being here and I’m excited and I hope you can tell how passionate I am about Duke, about this place. I’m looking forward to answering any questions. Thank you.

Speaker 3: (21:59)
Jon, thank you very much. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Speaker 3: (22:02)
We have a number of questions in queue from our media that have gathered here, and we’ll follow the same protocols we did yesterday. If you have a question, I’ll call on you. And if we can use the mics and be ready in queue for the next question to move it along. And when you come up and ask a question, please introduce yourself, name and affiliation, and you may take your mask off when you do so. We’ll start here on the right mic, C.L. Brown followed by Brendan Marks.

C.L. Brown: (22:28)
Hi, Jon. I’m going to ask you this question with Coach K standing behind me so you have to let me know if he runs up on me, but have you thought a lot about what it’s going to be like to have him still present here as you are the head coach and just how much you may ask his advice? Or we talk about the shadow that his legacy has cast, I mean, will that also be a shadow in terms of how you manage the team?

Well, it’s no secret the amazing success that Coach has had here, and following him is incredible because of the foundation that’s been laid. I know there’s going to be expectations that come with that. I think I knew that beforehand. I especially knew that after Jay Bilas said, “It’s the hardest job in the history of sport,” so I appreciate Jay saying that. But one of the best advice that Coach has ever given me, and I remember the exact moment actually, we were out to dinner, it was a long day of recruiting after [Peacejam 00:23:45], and we were just talking about life, about everything, and he shared some advice that he was given when he was young, and that was just to follow my instincts fully. And that’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to follow my instincts. I’m secure in who I am. Coach K is one of one. He’s one of a kind.

… who I am. Coach K is one of one. He’s one of a kind and I would be unsuccessful if I tried to be him. Nobody can be Coach K. Now with that said, I’m not stupid. If there’s something that I can go to him and talk to about, I have the best resource in the history of college basketball that I could ever have. I’m going to go to him. Our relationship stands on its own. I feel excited about it. I think it’s an incredible advantage. I think it’s an amazing thing for the university to have him here. I’m frankly not worried about that at all.

Speaker 4: (24:42)
Go Brandon, and then we’ll go Jake Piazza.

Brendan Marks: (24:50)
Hey, Jon. Brendan Marks from The Athletic. Congratulations.

Hey, Brendan. Thank you.

Brendan Marks: (24:53)
I’m just sort of curious, for you over the next year, what are going to be the most important things to sort of pick up on, I guess, while you’re learning on the job, being able to have Coach there at all times, and also what are the things to you that you think are important in announcing this now, making this public in terms of continuing the succession that Coach talked about yesterday?

Well, I plan on taking advantage of the amazing opportunity that these 10 months present, right? It’s a unique situation. I think the thing that it does is it gives clarity, and clarity is helpful. Sometimes when something’s unknown, your mind starts to wonder whether you’re a player, fans, staff, university, whatever it may be. Now that there’s clarity for our team, I think for everyone, we can focus on the task at hand, which is to win the whole damn thing this year and to have the best season we possibly can.

As far as looking to the future, clearly recruiting is as important of a thing as it is with our current team and making sure they understand what the next step for them would entail. I plan on having lots of conversations with everyone here, understanding how they view things. I don’t think I have all the answers. I feel confident in my vision, but I also am going to look to others to help in that regard.

Thanks.

Speaker 4: (26:25)
After Jake, we’ll go to David Thompson to the right microphone.

Jake Piazza: (26:32)
Hi, Coach. Jake Piazza with the Chronicle. Congratulations on the big news.

Thanks, Jake.

What I wanted to ask you was about the moment. Was it a phone call? How did it happen and what kind of thoughts and emotions are running through your head when you realize that you’re going to beat the next Duke head coach?

Well, this is no offense to anybody that I’ve ever been on the phone with, but when I got a call and I saw Nina King’s name pop up, it was the best phone call I’ve ever received in my life. Well, I didn’t know that at the time, but after Nina said she wanted to have another Zoom call at the beginning, I didn’t feel very good, but then it was the best news I could’ve ever received. After talking with President Price right after, I was speechless. I didn’t really have the words for you President Price, but it was because of what a surreal moment. I think you immediately go back to the first time you pick up a ball, to the first time I was recruited to play here, to all the moments that I’ve been through with those guys back there, the ups and the downs, the blood, sweat, and tears and then it comes to that moment. I’ll never forget that in my life.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Speaker 4: (27:51)
After Dave will be Shane Smith, back to this mic.

David Thompson: (27:53)
Hey, Coach. Congratulations. I’m hoping this works out. I’m going to try to show you from here. I’m hoping you’ve seen this picture, but it was tweeted out by Duke men’s basketball. It says, “Dream big.” Coach K with his arm around you. It says, “To Jonathan, Work hard and always try your best.” I’m sure he didn’t think he had his arm around his successor, but can you give us a little background on this photo? Do you remember that and where that was?

I do. It was actually in Las Vegas and it was at the Jordan Fantasy Camp. Coach has K Academy now and my dad was able to go two times? Three times. Every year, my dad wanted to be coached by Coach K, that is what he wanted to do. Before the draft, he’d always go up to Coach, say, “Coach, I’m in really good shape. I’m feeling good this year,” For whatever reason, after the draft every year, Coach would tell him, “I had you the next pick. You were taking right before me.” That picture was taken one of those times. I think when my dad was upset he didn’t get drafted by coach, I was able to snap that with him.

David Thompson: (29:02)
Thank you.

Thanks.

Speaker 4: (29:04)
After Shane will be Brian McGullhorn [inaudible 00:29:06] .

Shane Smith: (29:07)
Hi, Jon. Shane Smith, Duke Chronicle.

Shane Smith: (29:09)
First of all, congrats. I’m curious on growing up on how you always saw your career after your playing career ended. Obviously, your playing career ended sooner than you would have expected, but did you always anticipate going into coaching after?

I always wanted to be a coach. I remember when I was about 10 years old, I would have these notebooks and I would draw fake rosters and schedules and statistics of college teams, of every team. I always had a love for college basketball, as well as professionally, but always college. My aspiration was to have a long NBA career and then get into college coaching. Sometimes life works out differently than you think. I mentioned that moment before where I think it definitely sped up the process of this happening. In retrospect, and I learned very quickly, that was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me.

To be in this position now is beyond a blessing, but coaching is an incredible passion of mine. It’s always been. Getting to experience someone else’s success other than your own, when you’re a player you’re solely focused on yourself. When this happened to me and I was proud of the professional career I had for three years, I played really in a bunch of different places, but to be in the moment and all of a sudden at Boston College, Joey Baker has three back to back shots, or were playing in North Carolina and Wendell Moore as a freshman has a game winning shot, like to be a part of them with that moment is incredibly rewarding and exciting. I also just wanted to make sure they were paying attention right there and they are.

Hopefully that answers that. Thank you.

Speaker 4: (31:09)
After Brian, we’ll come here to Chris Lea.

Brian McGullhorn: (31:12)
Hey, Jon. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Brian McGullhorn with Rivals.com. Devils illustrated.

You spoke about clarity. I guess one of the key components of that is with recruits as well. You’ll have this unique balance, I’m guessing, this year where you will have that moment to have the head coach hat on this year while you were also associate head coach. Can you speak to that component of it and that balance of speaking with the future for Duke and while kind of handling your business now?

Yeah. Well, it’s going to be a great challenge, but I think is a great opportunity. Nolan, Chris and myself, we’re going to be out on the road a lot. Duke is an incredible place with a lot to offer. It is the best of both worlds. You can’t get a world-class institution with a basketball program like this anywhere. It’s the best.

The thing is with Coach, Coach is still here. Coach isn’t going anywhere. We’re looking forward to, one, we haven’t been out, we haven’t been able to see anybody in person, so we’re looking forward to doing that. But, two, we’re going to navigate it as it comes. It’s a unique situation. I think we can really take advantage of it. There’s obviously some great kids out there who are really interested and it’s our job to find the right ones and get them here and meet in person. That’s always been really important to us, is developing the relationship and that can’t get lost. It still is about relationships, developing trust and the belief that not only that we have in players, but that they have in us.

Thank you.

Speaker 4: (32:52)
After Chris, we’ll go to Mark Watson.

Chris Lea: (32:57)
Congratulations, Jon.

Thank you.

Chris Lea: (32:58)
Chris Lea from WRAL. I wanted to ask, I know you’ve talked a lot about what Coach K’s meant to you off the court and the different lessons you’ve learned from there. But while you’ve sat on the sidelines with him, what is a moment that you think of, maybe an in-game adjustment or a call he’s made, that kind of blew your mind, that was like a huge lesson for you that you’ve kind of taken and put in those mental notes that you’ll take with you moving forward on how to adjust in game?

I think the thing that you can’t just pick up from watching Coach on TV or from afar is his feel that he has in huddles. I could point to many different times. I’ll just take one example. The ’14-’15 season, we’re playing North Carolina at home and we’re down by seven with a minute and half to go and he pulled all of our players and said, “We’re going to win this game.” He can only speak for himself, I don’t think he would say that if he didn’t believe it. He doesn’t say that every time we’re down seven, but something told him in that moment, we’re going to win this game if we do X, Y, and Z. He laid it out, players believed, and we ended up tying the game. Tyus Jones had seven points right at the end of regulation and we won in overtime. But that’s an example of just the feel.

I’ll give you one X and Os, which is probably one of the more hectic situations we’ve been a part of since I’ve been here. But it’s when Cam Reddish hit a game winning three down in Florida State, which I’m sure some of you remember that game. It was a crazy sequence where we call the timeout, Coach drew up about three different plays, because there was stoppage to check the clock, Leonard Hamilton called a timeout, there might’ve been one more. On the third and final play, he said, “All right, here’s what’s going to happen.” Literally what he said was going to happen: Cam is going to come around, find him. They’re going to go right to RJ. And Cam ended up with a wide open three. Obviously, you have to make the shot still, but those are the special moments that have been fun to watch.

Chris Lea: (35:14)
Thank you.

Speaker 4: (35:15)
Mark Watson and then Bridget Condon.

Mark Watson: (35:18)
Thank you. Mark Watson, Blue Devil Nation. Congratulations.

Mark Watson: (35:22)
I’ve known you for a while, covered you on the recruiting trail, as a player, coach. I wondered if you could talk about the continuity of this hire. I mean this familiarity. You’re going to be coming along with Nina. You’re going to have a lot of good support around you, but more so about Nolan, how you two have been together so long and how that’s going to help you just knowing these guys and having them in place from day one. I’m going to sit down for that.

Okay. Well, first of all, I think it’s an amazing opportunity with Nina and myself. We’ve had many conversations. The fact of the timing of this with, what? Two weeks ago? A little over two weeks ago-

… what two weeks ago? A little over two weeks ago. And now with the timing of me being hired to grow together and coaches up from day one, literally the first year I came back, coach had the most important relationship, the two most important relationships are with your athletic director and with your president. I’ve seen the way coach interacts and that relationship with Nina, relationship with President Price is incredibly important to me. And I plan on doing everything I can to make sure I follow their lead, I follow their direction, and our program is going to represent what they want it to be.

As far as Nolan goes, I’m going to throw a Chris Carrawell in there as well. Although Nolan and I had the amazing experience of playing together for three years. We have been through a lot together and he is… I think you all know what an amazing personality he has. To go through this with both Chris and Nolan gives me a great deal of confidence. We are on the same wavelength. We’ve had conversations. One, how we can be as supportive as possible this year. How we get, like I said, focused on the task at hand. But two, go for the future and play off one another, just like we did on the court. We’re going to continue to do that. It’s going to be something where we have to figure it out as we go along. Because this is unprecedented. This hasn’t happened before, but there are not two other guys I’d rather do it with, than Chris and Nolan. I also want to say, the staff that we have, our entire staff is incredible. The infrastructure that we have in place, we are in an amazing position to move forward. And I can’t wait to work with, hopefully most of you out here with each and every one of you as we move forward. Thanks for the question, Mark.

Speaker 5: (38:08)
Bridget Condon and then Barry Jacobs.

Bridget Condon: (38:12)
Hi Jon. Bridget Condon from ABC 11. Coach K’s legacy is one we’ve heard, for years, yesterday especially too, it’s going to be here forever. It’s not going to be a race, but now you have the opportunity to create your own legacy. What do you want your legacy to be?

Well, I haven’t even gotten that far. I’ve tried to more in these last 48 hours, take it all in and be in the moment. I plan on doing that every step of the way this year. As far as my legacy goes, I literally have not gotten that far. I would like to think that everyone who knows me well, knows I show up every day. You can depend on me every single day. I think as far as my basketball knowledge and coaching instincts, I think only time will be able… It’ll take time for everyone to get a great understanding of that. But I show up every day and I’m going to take that as it comes. Thank you.

Speaker 5: (39:16)
Barry Jacobs and then Jim Sumner.

Barry Jacobs: (39:22)
Congratulations again today, Jon.

Thank you, Barry.

Barry Jacobs: (39:25)
Sure. People love to predict the future, even though they can rarely get it right. One of the things they use is a precedent and I’m sure you have a prepared answer. You kind of alluded to this before, but the conventional wisdom is, just like you can’t replace Christian Lightner, You can’t follow a coach like Mike and expect to be successful enough that people are satisfied. So what is your, you’ll be asked this many times, what is your answer starting off?

Well it’s, I know my history. I understand the I’ve been told many times the last 48 hours, by the way, that you’re not supposed to be the guy that follows the guy. You’re supposed to be the guy that follows the guy, that follows the guy. With that said, I’m not afraid of it. This is an incredibly unique situation. Coach did mention it yesterday. This is one of one in terms of a succession and how this is going to work, is I think is built for success.

The thing I’m not going to allow or pay attention to is what other people consider success. I feel, as long as I’m on the same page with my president, my athletic director, our team, our staff, our coaching staff, that’s what’s important to me. I’m anxious for the opportunity to show what we can do of course, but I’m not going to pay attention to the outside noise expectations. I understand that comes with this job. I’m not running from it, not hiding from it, but I realize that’s a part of it. Thank you.

Speaker 5: (41:14)
We have time for a couple more after. We’ll go Jim Sumner and then Mike Tober.

Jim Sumner: (41:20)
Hey Jon, again, congratulations. I’m sure you get tired of hearing that, but congratulations.

Thank you.

Jim Sumner: (41:25)
Okay. I want to ask you to follow up on something that Kevin led you to earlier though, the word continuity’s thrown out a lot yesterday, continuity of cultural continuity of excellence. By the same token you’re taking over and you’ll be taking over during an incredibly volatile college basketball landscape, the maturation of the G league, the transfer portal. Something is coming down the turnpike. We don’t know what or when, but something’s coming. The NBA might be changing their CBA. How do you balance the of, of keeping the things that have made duke so good over the decades while being nimble enough to adapt to this changing landscape?

Well, we’ve been fortunate to have to adapt throughout the time that I’ve been here. And obviously this is a time where it’s changing more than ever.

I think it’s changing for the better. It’s a great time for our players. I think Duke and I think our program is in the best position to move forward in this new landscape with an IO, with the competing leagues, you had mentioned the professional league. It’s great to have those options for kids. It’s great. The right kids will still want to come to Duke. I feel confident in that. Knowing Chris and I have talked about it, we’ve talked about with coach, building a team where we have a balance with stability, with older players. That’s been a great recipe for us, as well as really talented players who may go on to do amazing things sooner. So the balance is what we’re looking for, but Duke is an amazing position to move forward successfully.

Speaker 5: (43:10)
All right, last question to Mike Tober

Mike Tober: (43:21)
Jon, congratulations. You talked a little bit about recruiting and my question is as a first time head coach, what will be your strategy to attracting recruits to Duke and again, in a role as the head coach? Can you describe how helpful it might be to have former duke players kind of making up the staff in that regard.

For Chris, Nolan and myself, as former players, we’re incredibly protective over who comes into our program. We’ve walked it, we’ve been here. We’ve been here from multiple perspectives. I think it brings a level of credibility. We know the pressure, we know the expectations and in some ways that can even go up. But I think it’s an amazing opportunity. Like I said, coach is still here as well. You get the best of both worlds. The thing that I know I don’t have the luxury to show or to prove is who cares who I am as a head coach this year?

Although I think it boils down to trust and belief. I think all relationships do at some point. I know people had to put their trust and belief in coach before he was able to prove what he could do. I look forward to earning that trust and I know Nolan and Chris do as well. Thank you.

Speaker 5: (44:43)
Jon, Thank you very much.

Can I just say before we go, I see Coach Lawson and her staff up here and congratulations on making it to the Olympics. We’ll all be rooting for you. Thank you all for being here. I know baseball is about to, not tee off, not tip off, but they’re about to play and excited and rooting for them. So thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 5: (45:05)
Thank you.

Duke Basketball Introduces Jon Scheyer as Next Head Coach Press Conference Transcript

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