It would appear that Duke has found the newest addition to its staff.
Former Elon head coach Mike Schrage, whose resignation was announced Tuesday afternoon, will join Duke as special assistant to the head coach, the program officially announced Thursday morning. Stadium's Jeff Goodman first reported Schrage's addition to the staff Tuesday afternoon. Schrage spent the last three seasons coaching the Phoenix and nine years at Duke earlier in his career, including serving as the Blue Devils' director of basketball operations from 2002-08.
"Having learned from some of the best coaches in the game before taking on a head coaching role himself, Mike brings an unparalleled breadth of knowledge to our staff," said head coach Jon Scheyer in Thursday's release. "I've been lucky to know and trust Mike implicitly since my playing days when he was Duke's director of basketball operations. He will have an immediate impact on our team strategy and organization. We are excited for him, his wife Amanda, and his family to return to Durham."
This most recent change to Duke's coaching staff comes on the heels of assistant coach Nolan Smith's reported departure to Louisville. Even with Schrage's return to Durham, Scheyer's staff will still have openings ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Before joining Elon, Schrage gained coaching experience at a number of different programs, and was notably a student assistant under Bob Knight at Indiana and an assistant coach under former Duke standout Johnny Dawkins at Stanford. In his three years at Elon, Schrage compiled a 33-52 record. He returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Dec. 2021 when the Phoenix faced off against the Blue Devils.
"I loved being a head coach and especially at Elon, but this was an opportunity I felt I could not pass up," Schrage said in Thursday's release. "I am honored to be back at Duke starting this new chapter with Jon Scheyer. My experience previously with Coach K not only shaped my career in this profession but my entire life. I have believed in Jon to the fullest since I was fortunate enough to be on staff when he played. I could not be more excited to help him build on Duke's incredible tradition of excellence while putting his own stamp on the program too."
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Jonathan Levitan is a Trinity senior and was previously sports editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.