Jon Scheyer adds to Duke staff. Elon’s Mike Schrage will return to Durham, per sources
Jon Scheyer took a big step toward completing his new Duke basketball coaching staff Tuesday, plucking a sitting head coach to join him on the bench.
Elon announced Mike Schrage’s resignation as its head coach on Tuesday and Duke announced Thursday he will become a special assistant to Scheyer.
Scheyer moved into Duke’s head coaching position after the Blue Devils lost 81-77 to North Carolina at the Final Four in New Orleans Saturday night. Mike Krzyzewski announced his plan to retire after 42 seasons as Duke’s head coach last June, when the school selected Scheyer as his successor.
Schrage will join a staff that includes returning associate head coach Chris Carrawell on Duke’s staff. Amile Jefferson, the team’s director of player development since last summer, is also expected to be promoted to assistant coach, sources said.
“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 a statement released by Duke. “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.”
Duke still has to hire another assistant coach to fill out its staff.
These moves come as Nolan Smith, an assistant coach last season for the Blue Devils, decided Monday to leave his alma mater to become the top assistant at fellow ACC school Louisville under its new head coach, Kenny Payne.
Schrage previously worked at Duke from 1999-2008 on Krzyzewski’s staff in non-coaching roles. He was the team’s academic and recruiting coordinator from 1999-2002 and its director of basketball operations from 2002-08.
“I followed this program a lot,” Schrage said last Dec. 18 after Duke beat Elon, 87-56, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “I was here for many years. I have a lot of pride in it.”
Schrage left Duke in 2008 to become an assistant coach at Stanford when former Duke player and assistant coach Johnny Dawkins was the Cardinal’s head coach.
Since leaving Stanford, Schrage has served as an assistant coach at Butler for one season and Ohio State for two years. He landed his first head coaching job at Elon in 2019.
In three seasons with the Phoenix, Schrage compiled records of 13-21, 10-9 and 10-22. Elon reached the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship game for the first time in 2021. The Phoenix lost, 63-56, to Drexel to fall a win short of an NCAA tournament berth.
A 1998 Indiana graduate, Schrage worked as a student assistant for Hoosiers coach Bob Knight.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 6:45 PM.