John Calipari sent a classy note on Wednesday in response to Mike Krzyzewski’s announcement.
Coach K announced on Wednesday that he would be stepping down as Duke’s head coach after the season. Jon Scheyer has been approved as his replacement.
Coach K is 74 and has been coaching at Duke since 1980. He is an institution and has built the Blue Devils into a powerhouse program.
For over the last 30 years or so, Calipari and Coach K have competed against each other as coaches of elite programs. Calipari recognized that and sent a gracious note in which he thanked Coach K for raising the sport of college basketball and level of competition.
Coach K has been synonymous with college basketball for as long as I can remember. His benchmark for excellence has pushed all of us to be better teachers and students of the game. He has challenged me as a coach to be my best. The bar he has set will go unmatched! pic.twitter.com/kUcvTvaZme
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 3, 2021
That was a great note (with the exception of the grammatical error on “he” instead of “him” on the second-to-last sentence).
Calipari is 62 and first became a college head coach at UMass in 1988. He has been going strong in college hoops since 2000. It probably will be another decade or so before he joins Coach K and Roy Williams in retirement.
