JJ Redick’s basketball journey continues in Los Angeles, as he has been hired as the next head coach of the Lakers.
At 39, Redick has lived quite the basketball life. After earning high school All-American honors in Roanoke, Va., Redick spent four seasons playing under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke before enjoying a 15-year NBA career.
While Redick just landed one of the game’s most high-profile coaching jobs with no prior head coaching experience, he joins a long line of Coach K’s former players to move into the coaching ranks.
Here’s a closer look at head coaches from Krzyzewski’s coaching tree.
MORE: Inside Lakers’ turbulent coaching history
Mike Krzyzewski coaching tree
JJ Redick
- Experience: Los Angeles Lakers, 2024-present
- Head coaching record: 0-0
The newest on the block, Redick’s path to becoming an NBA head coach is far from conventional. After a 15-year career in the league, Redick spent three years in the media before leaping into coaching.
Throughout his NBA career, Redick displayed an otherworldly basketball IQ that should translate well to the sideline. Redick is now one of two former Duke players with an NBA head coaching job.
Quin Snyder
- Experience: Missouri, 1999-2006; Austin Toros, 2007-2010; Utah Jazz, 2014-2022; Atlanta Hawks, 2023-present
- Head coaching record: 418-321
Snyder played at Duke from 1985-89 and returned to Durham, N.C. in 1995 to join Krzyzewski’s staff as an assistant coach while also receiving a J.D. degree and his M.B.A.
After four seasons as Coach K’s assistant, Snyder was hired as the head coach at Missouri, where he spent seven seasons. After three seasons as an NBA G League head coach, Snyder took on various assistant jobs before landing the Jazz’s head coaching job in 2014.
After eight seasons in Utah, Snyder took some time away before he was hired by the Hawks late in the 2022-23 season.
Tommy Amaker
- Experience: Seton Hall, 1997-2001; Michigan, 2001-07; Harvard, 2007-present
- Head coaching record: 468-318
Amaker played for Coach K from 1983-87 and almost immediately jumped into coaching, joining Duke’s coaching staff as an assistant in 1988. After nine years on Krzyzewski’s staff, Amaker was hired as the head coach of Seton Hall.
Amaker has been a head coach for over 25 years but has spent each of the past 17 seasons on the sideline at Harvard, leading the Crimson to seven Ivy League regular season titles and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Kenny Blakeney
- Experience: Howard, 2019-present
- Head coaching record: 61-76
Blakeney, one of the new(er) head coaches from the Krzyzewski tree, has been Howard’s lead man since the 2019-20 season. Blakeney played for Coach K from 1991-95 before embarking on an assistant coaching career with eight stops at seven different schools.
Of the active head coaches who played under Krzyzewski at Duke, Blakeney is one of four who was never an assistant coach in Durham.
MORE: Why Coach K helped Lakers hire next coach
Jeff Capel III
- Experience: VCU, 2002-06; Oklahoma 2006-2011; Pittsburgh, 2018-present
- Head coaching record: 272-202
Capel’s Duke playing career spanned from 1993-97 before he spent three years playing professionally. The son of a legendary coach, Capel got into coaching at 25, spending two seasons as an assistant before landing his first head coaching job at 27.
After quickly rising the coaching ranks, Capel was named head coach at the University of Oklahoma at 31 and would spend five years leading the Sooners before a few tough seasons led him back to Durham. Capel spent seven seasons as Krzyzewski’s assistant and associate head coach before taking the head job at Pittsburgh in 2018.
Chris Collins
- Experience: Northwestern, 2013-present
- Head coaching record: 178-174
Coaching was seemingly always in the cards for Collins, whose father, Doug, was an NBA head coach for over 10 seasons. The younger Collins played at Duke for four seasons before spending two seasons playing professionally.
After his playing career ended, Collins jumped into coaching, spending a season in the WNBA and two seasons at Seton Hall before returning to Duke, where he was Krzyzewski’s assistant from 2000-13.
Collins, an Illinois native, returned home when he was hired by Northwestern in 2013.
Johnny Dawkins
- Experience: Stanford, 2008-2016; UCF, 2016-present
- Head coaching record: 304-218
Dawkins’ No. 24 hangs from the rafters at Cameron Indoor Stadium. In his four seasons with the Blue Devils, Dawkins was a two-time First-Team All-American and the Naismith Player of the Year as a senior in 1986.
After a nine-year career in the NBA, Dawkins returned to Duke as an administrative intern and on-air analyst. In 1998, he joined Coach K’s staff as an assistant coach and was the associate head coach from 1999 to 2008 before taking the head coaching job at Stanford.
Dawkins was fired after eight seasons in Palo Alto, Calif. but bounced back and has led UCF since.
Bobby Hurley
- Experience: Buffalo, 2013-15; Arizona State, 2015-present
- Head coaching record: 197-151
A two-time National Champion at Duke, Hurley’s No. 11 is retired in Durham. Hurley was the seventh pick in the 1993 NBA Draft and enjoyed a five-year NBA career despite a near-fatal car accident during his rookie season.
After some years as an NBA scout, Hurley fully got into coaching in 2010.
Following two seasons at Wagner, Hurley joined his brother Dan’s staff as the associate head coach at Rhode Island, where he spent one season. Hurley was named Buffalo’s head coach in 2013 and spent two seasons there before he was hired by Arizona State in 2015.
MORE: What it was like to be recruited by Coach K before and after he became a Duke legend
Greg Paulus
- Experience: Niagara, 2019-present
- Head coaching record: 67-78
After playing for Duke from 2005-09, Paulus famously spent one season as Syracuse’s starting QB before getting back to basketball as an assistant coach. Paulus spent one season at the Naval Academy, six seasons at Ohio State, a season at Louisville and a season at George Washington before being hired as Niagara’s head coach in 2019.
Jon Scheyer
- Experience: Duke, 2022-present
- Head coaching record: 54-18
Perhaps the most notable member of the coaching tree is Coach K’s predecessor, who took over following Krzyzewski’s retirement in 2022.
Scheyer played at Duke from 2006-10 and won a National Championship as a senior. After his college career ended, Scheyer played in the G League, Israel and Spain before joining Krzyzewski’s coaching staff in 2014. He was promoted to associate head coach following Capel’s departure in 2018 and ceremoniously appointed head coach in 2022.
Steve Wojciechowski
- Experience: Marquette, 2014-2021; Salt Lake City Stars, 2023-present
- Head coaching record: 128-95 (NCAA), 20-14 (NBA G League)
Wojciechowski played at Duke from 1994-98 and spent a year playing professionally before returning to join Coach K’s staff in 1999.
Wojciechowski spent 15 seasons as Krzyzewski’s assistant before being hired as Marquette’s head coach in 2014. He amassed a 128-95 record as the Golden Eagles’ lead man but was fired at the end of the 2020-21 season. In 2023, he was hired as head coach of the NBA G League’s Salt Lake City Stars, an affiliate of the NBA’s Utah Jazz.
List of former Duke basketball players with head coaching jobs
Redick is one of 11 former Duke players who is an active head coach in NCAA Division 1, the NBA or the NBA G League. Of the group, only four did not spend at least one season as an assistant coach under Krzyzewski.
| Name | Team | Duke player | Duke assistant |
| Tommy Amaker | Harvard Crimson | 1983-87 | 1988-1997 |
| Kenny Blakeney | Howard Bison | 1991-95 | — |
| Jeff Capel | Pittsburgh Panthers | 1993-97 | 2011-18 |
| Chris Collins | Northwestern Wildcats | 1992-96 | 2000-2013 |
| Johnny Dawkins | UCF Knights | 1982-86 | 1998-2008 |
| Bobby Hurley | Arizona State Sun Devils | 1989-1993 | — |
| Greg Paulus | Niagara Purple Eagles | 2005-09 | — |
| JJ Redick | Los Angeles Lakers | 2002-06 | — |
| Jon Scheyer | Duke Blue Devils | 2006-10 | 2014-2022 |
| Quin Snyder | Atlanta Hawks | 1985-89 | 1995-99 |
| Steve Wojciechowski | Salt Lake City Stars | 1994-98 | 1999-2014 |
