Elon head coach Mike Schrage signals his players during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021.
AP
Durham
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 basketball sources confirmed to The News & Observer that he will become an assistant coach for the Blue Devils.
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 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 the final of three assistant coaching positions, sources said.
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 6:45 PM.
Steve Wiseman has covered Duke athletics since 2010 for the Durham Herald-Sun and Raleigh News & Observer. He placed second in both beat writing and breaking news in the 2019 Associated Press Sports Editors national contest. Previously, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the SC General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.
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