Taking stock of the most obnoxious basketball program more than a decade later
Arrogant youths from Durham, NC eventually grow up into men
I came across an archive some of my old articles the other day and I thought it would be interesting if I brought you one today, unedited from when it was first published over 13 years ago.
Then, I will briefly update you on some of the folks mentioned in the article.
Duke basketball. Something I loathed…with few exceptions, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. being one of those exceptions.
I’ve softened a bit over the years, unfortunately, and I’ve started to give Duke more benefit of the doubt. But back in 2009, that was not the case…
When the Floor-Slapping Stops: Greg Paulus, Coach K, and a Dukie's Future
By BRIAN D. O’LEARY
MARCH 27, 2009
The Duke bench is where old Blue Devils go to pasture.
Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Collins, Nate James, and Chris Carawell all were serving on Mike Krzyzewski's staff (in some regard) as of the cringe-worthy end of their 2008-09 season. The Duke season ended Thursday night at the hands of the Villanova Wildcats and their 23-point margin of victory.
This begets a question. Does Greg Paulus, formerly much-heralded high school star of gridiron and hardwood, have a standing invitation to become a Krzyzewski assistant? A future NCAA head coach?
Granted, the Paulus flower lost its bloom during the last couple of seasons, especially in K's eyes, as the former point guard and ACC All-Freshman first-teamer, ultimately lost his starting position.
Nevertheless, shouldn’t unbridled intensity—exemplified by slapping Coach K Court during crunch time—at least give Paulus a shot at staying at Cameron Indoor for a little while longer?
The Blue Devil squad is not called—as it is known in some circles—"Coach K's Merry Band of Future Assistant Coaches" for nothing.
Sometimes, K even releases an occasional pony from the stable. Let's examine some of the careers of a few former Blue Devil players-cum-Blue Devil assistants-cum-NCAA head coaches:
Tommy Amaker, decently successful at Seton Hall, botched the Michigan job and parlayed it into the head position for the Harvard Crimson. Amaker finished the 2008-09 season an even .500 (6-8 in the rough-and-tumble Ivy League) with a signature non-conference win against cross-town Boston College. Apologetically, it was a let-down game for the No. 17 Eagles after knocking off top-ranked North Carolina a few days prior.
Johnny Dawkins—after a stellar career at Duke, a long and decent NBA career, and an eternity sitting next to K—finally got the keys to his own program as he took over the Stanford team this season. He finished the 2008-09 season a respectable 20-13, but finished ninth in the Pac-10. The College Basketball Invitational—one of now countless postseason college tournaments—came calling and the Cardinal ultimately fell to the President's brother-in-law and the Beavers of Oregon State in the CBI semifinals (for what that's worth).
Dave Henderson (not to be confused with the former Red Sox and Athletics slugger) played and coached for Krzyzewski. He had a brief, though terrible, one season run heading-up the University of Delaware program.
Quin Snyder, perhaps the most successful (and the most maligned) of the Krzyzewski coaching tree took over the Missouri program from Norm Stewart in 1999 after a number of years in K's nest and took the Tigers to the Elite Eight in his third season. The following season, the "Ricky Clemons Scandal" and its aftermath snowballed into a couple NIT berths for the Tigers, Snyder's ultimate resignation, and his current toils in the NBA D-League as the coach of the Austin Toros.
As for some others:
Jay Bilas—a former player and assistant in Durham—somehow climbed out of the scrap heap to become a rather entertaining analyst on CBS and ESPN (and is an attorney by-day to boot).
Jeff Capel III never assisted under Krzyzewski, but played for him. He is now the coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, is young, and seems to have a decent career ahead of him, gaining a 2-seed this season and a berth in the Sweet Sixteen (as of the time of this article). His father, Jeff Capel II, did coach under K, however, and III studied under him for a while at Old Dominion before the old man was shown the door.
As for K, himself, three national titles and coaching a USA Gold Medal-winning squad is not too shabby, but not any better than his mentor, Massillon, Ohio's own Robert Montgomery Knight, who has the identical credentials. None of K's former players, though, have beat Duke as head coaches.
Will Coach K give former wunderkind Paulus the opportunity to fail once again? For those of us who delight in the sporting misery of others, let's certainly hope so. Giddy up.
Where are they now?
Tommy Amaker
Still at Harvard. Amaker has racked up a 440-291 (.602) record for the Crimson over 15 seasons and 16 years (the math is a little wonky thanks to the “covid” panic).
He coached the future NBA star Jeremy Lin pre-“Linsanity” and has unfortunately led his squad to several victories against local rival Boston College.
Harvard went to four straight NCAA tournaments under Amaker, from 2012 to 2015 and qualified again in 2020 (but there was no tournament thanks to the fear and panic “covid” provided for the world).
In Toughness by (former Duke teammate) Jay Bilas, the author says, “Perhaps the best teammate and best communicator I ever played with was Duke point guard Tommy Amaker. Though he was the floor leader of our team, he was not the biggest, the strongest or the most physically imposing player on, but he was the smartest and most aware.”
Johnny Dawkins
At Stanford, Dawkins was saddled with the moniker, “King of the NIT,” winning the tournament in 2012 and 2015. The Cardinal only made the NCAA tournament one time during the Dawkins years, and after eight seasons as head coach he was dispatched from the Farm following the 2016 season.
Since 2016, Dawkins has been the head coach at the University of Central Florida. The Knights made it to the round of 32 in the 2019 NCAA tournament.
Bilas, writing in 2013, reminds us “Johnny Dawkins, who to this day remains the most important player in the history of Duke basketball,” was a captain on that 1986 team.
Dave Henderson
The co-captain with Dawkins of the 1986 Duke squad that lost to Louisville in the championship game.
Now a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Henderson won a ring in 2015.
Bilas on Henderson: “I say this without reservation: There has never been a tougher player at Duke than David Henderson. He was a ferocious competitor who refused to back down to anyone on the basketball court. No player believed in himself and his teammates more than David did. It did not matter with whom David was matched up; he expected to win and to be the better player that day. And he expected the same from his team.”
Quin Snyder
After Snider finished his turn in the D-League, he went on to assist the 76ers, Lakers, and Hawks for a season each. In between his jobs in L.A. and Atlanta, he was an assistant for CSKA Moscow over in Europe.
In 2014, Snyder became the head coach of the Utah Jazz. He resigned after the 2022 season having acquitted himself quite well over the years, ending with a 372-264 (.585) regular season record, finishing in first place in the “Northwest” division three times and never lower than 3rd.
Snyder’s teams made the postseason the final 6 of his 8 years in Salt Lake City. The Jazz lost in the conference semis three times and got bounced in the first round thrice as well.
Jay Bilas
Since 1995, Bilas has worked for ESPN and for several years called NCAA tournament games on CBS.
In 2013, Bilas wrote the book Toughness, from which we’ve briefly quoted here in this epilogue. The book idea stemmed from an essay he wrote in 2009 for ESPN.com.
The book comes highly recommended. I am obviously not a Duke fan, but I do respect the program much more after reading Bilas’s book and the glowing things he had to say about his own teammates and coaches.
Bilas is also one of the most prepared broadcasters in the game today, and it shows. We may not always agree with what Bilas says—his opinions are very strong—but you have to respect the guy because he doesn’t simply shoot from the hip as other analysts do. He gets his hands on gobs of information, studies it, and then filters and translates it into a common understanding for the viewer.
Jeff Capel III
Capel came back to the Krzyzewski stable in 2011 after being fired at Oklahoma which had just suffered two of the worst consecutive seasons in school history. He stayed until 2018 as an assistant coach under K.
Currently Capel is the head coach at University of Pittsburgh. In four seasons at Pitt, Capel’s Panthers have not finished higher than T-11 in the ACC.
Coach K
The man was a legendary coach. I couldn’t stand him, but he produced winners.
K’s Blue Devils reached the Final Four 13 times, the record for a head coach, winning 5 national championships.
K retired after the 2022 season, and after losing to archrival North Carolina in the Final Four.
Krzyzewski finished his Duke career an astounding 1,129-309 (.785).
Oh yeah, he also coached the US National team to gold medals in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympic Games.
We could go on…
Greg Paulus
I think what happened to Paulus after the end his Duke career is perhaps the most stunning, and at times silly, tale of any of K’s former pupils.
He was the impetus for this column, but I NEVER thought we’d see a career turn like we did with Greg Paulus.
The change was only impressive in the fact that it happened at all, not in the results that Paulus achieved.
In high school, Paulus was a legend. Named Gatorade National Athlete of the Year in 2005 after quarterbacking Christian Brothers Academy—outside of Syracuse—to the New York State Championship against New Rochelle HS in the fall of 2004 and after he was named New York State’s “Mr. Basketball” following his senior campaign.
Notre Dame and Miami reportedly offered Paulus a football scholarship. He chose to play for K, however, and had a decent career.
After serving as the Blue Devil point guard during his first three seasons, he became a reserve player as a senior, only starting 5 games.
Having a year of eligibility left to play sports and not having played football in college at this point, Paulus chose to transfer to Syracuse and compete for the starting quarterback job for the Orangemen.
He won the job, but Paulus’s Orange went 4-8 on the season. He did complete 67.7 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,025 yards and 13 TDs against 14 INTs, including a Big East record 5 picks against South Florida.
Nonetheless, Paulus got a shot in the pros at the New Orleans Saints minicamp in June 2010. He didn’t make the squad and went back to the hardwood to coach.
Paulus never got to coach under Krzyzewski at Duke, having assisted at the Naval Academy, Ohio State, Louisville, and George Washington since 2010.
Currently, Paulus is the head coach for the Niagra Purple Eagles. In three seasons at the helm—originally taking the job on an interim basis in 2019—he has cobbled together 35 wins against 46 losses for a .432 winning percentage.
Book mentioned:
Toughness: Developing true strength on and off the court by Jay Bilas
Brian O’Leary