Let me start this by saying that it is my opinion that Duke Head
coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best coach in basketball today. He is one of the
best ever. Best in college, best in basketball, best in sports. If you make a
top 10 list of the greatest coaches ever, and he isn’t there, then you are
lost.
And call me a homer for that if you want. It is the not the
opinion as a Duke fan. It is the opinion as a coach and a student of the
beautiful game of basketball.
But for a long time now, I have expected and hoped that
Steve Wojciechowski would be the heir to Coach K’s glorious throne. And that, I
have expected as a Duke fan.
Everything that I love about Duke basketball is rooted in
who Wojo is and how Wojo does things. He is hard nosed, true grit, slapping the
floor on defense and all out. I guess so you could say that everything Wojo is
also is what makes some people hate Duke. After all, it was Wojo who made the
floor slap a Blue Devil signature and that is what those less educated use as a
basis for hate so many times.
But this isn’t about Duke love or Duke hate. This is about
Wojo, the last remaining remnant of modern day Duke assistant coaches who have
made history in the program both with titles and with recruiting. Now long gone
is Johnny Dawkins (Stanford) and gone is Chris Collins (Northwestern), all
riding that Duke pedigree to Division 1 major conference jobs. Wojo follows,
now the head coach at Marquette , a
program who has been essentially obscure since Tom Crean’s exit and nowhere
near a legit title threat since the Dwayne Wade days.
But what Marquette
gets is a man on a mission.
See, as much as I have been part of ‘Team Wojo,’ I have
almost known better since the day Jeff Capel landed in town. VCU,
Oklahoma….Jeff Capel has the head coaching experience that common theory
suggests Duke will want in Coach K’s eventual replacement. Capel joined a long
line of Coach K players turned Coach K assistants. Bilas, Amaker, Dawkins,
Collins, Wojo. They’ve all done it. The latter four of those guys are all thriving
or going to thrive. Amaker and Dawkins not only danced this March, but
contributed to the Madness with “upset” wins.
But none of them had major experience before joining the
Duke staff. Jeff Capel, as it sits today, is the man who is going to replace
Coach K. Five years, ten years – it doesn’t matter. Today, he is the guy.
Tomorrow, if Wojo has his way, he won’t be.
Because what Marquette
gets is a man on a mission. When he played, Wojo was the hardest working player
on the court every second of every game. He was hardly the best. Seeing #12 in
the NBA wasn’t a pipedream, it was a laughable side joke. He didn’t get where
he did in college basketball on talent or size. He did it the hard way, the
dirty way, the on the floor after a loose ball way.
And he will do the same thing as the head coach at Marquette .
Because, he won’t be the best coach. He wasn’t the best coach on Duke’s sideline;
he wasn’t even the best assistant in some ways. But he will outwork, and
therefore out coach, a lot of guys in the coming years on behalf of the Golden
Eagles. Because, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light says
that Coach K isn’t retiring tomorrow. So Capel having that job in hand today
doesn’t mean much if someone can snatch it away. And if Wojo wants to do that, now is the exact right time to move on, even if it is just for a little while.
So Wojo will work. It will benefit him and it will benefit Marquette .
It is a golden opportunity for everyone.
But the most important part to me is that he will work for
those kids, that school and that community – but, it will be with a different
end goal in mind: to lead those crazies in Cameron. And when the day comes that
Coach K walks away, while Amaker and Dawkins and Collins and Capel and maybe
even Jon Scheyer reach for that golden rung, they shouldn’t get there in time.
Because with his new gig in front of him, Wojo is going to
work harder than them all.
