College Basketball

Duke icon Mike Krzyzewski set to retire after 2021-22 season

Updated Jun. 2, 2021 3:16 p.m. ET

The 2021-22 college basketball season will represent the end of an era in Durham, North Carolina.

News broke Wednesday morning that legendary Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski will retire after the upcoming season, ending his soon-to-be 42-year tenure at the helm of the Blue Devils' program.

Krzyzewski – better known as "Coach K" – has an argument for the title of greatest men's college basketball coach of all time. Through 41 seasons, he has led Duke to 1,097 wins in 1,399 games, a winning percentage of 78.4.

His 1,170 total wins – he spent five years at Army before taking over at Duke, winning 73 total games – are the most wins ever by a college coach, and he also holds the record for most games coached in Division I men's history with 1,531.

In addition, his 97 career NCAA tournament wins are the most by any Division I men's coach.

During Krzyzewski's tenure, the Blue Devils have won five national championships, 15 ACC tournament titles and 12 ACC regular-season titles. He has guided Duke to the Final Four 12 times.

His five national titles are second to only the 10 won by John Wooden at UCLA , and from 1996-2019, Krzyzewski led Duke to 24 consecutive NCAA tournament berths, another men's Division I record.

Duke will join its rival, North Carolina, in beginning a new regime with a former player as the new head coach after longtime Tar Heels coach Roy Williams retired April 1 and was replaced by North Carolina legend Hubert Davis.

Duke assistant Jon Scheyer, who played under Coach K from 2006 to 2010, is expected to fill the enormous shoes of his former coach after serving on his staff since 2014.

FOX Sports' resident college hoops expert Mark Titus reacted strongly to the news on Wednesday.

"Brad Stevens steps down as the Celtics coach. In any other world, that's enough news to carry us through the rest of the week. Then Mike Krzyzewski, news breaks, that Coach K, at long last, is hanging it up. This will be his last year. This is a farewell tour.

"Wow. Wow. Absolutely insane."

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Multiple reports as to why Coach K chose to announce his retirement before the season began to circulate after the news broke, but consensus is that Krzyzewski wanted to be upfront with future recruits, considering college recruiting is nearly a year-round job.

Krzyzewski's legacy also extends past the college ranks.

He served as the head coach of the United States men's national basketball team for nearly a decade, leading the USA to gold medals at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic games, in addition to gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships.

Chris Bosh is a two-time NBA champion and 11-time All-Star, and he also won a gold medal alongside Krzyzewski in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He joined "The Herd" on Wednesday morning, where Colin Cowherd broke the news to Bosh of Coach K's retirement, before asking Bosh what he believed to be Krzyzewski's gift as a coach.

"He was such a motivator," Bosh said. "He made it a great experience competing for a gold medal with Team USA. He made you aware of the importance, and I just loved hearing him crack jokes and have a good time in the meetings. He did a masterful job in communicating."

As for Coach K's likely replacement, Scheyer, 33, was a McDonald's All-American in 2006 before being named to the ACC All-Freshman team in 2007. He was the ACC Tournament MVP in 2009, First-Team All-ACC in 2009, and played a major role in Duke's 2010 NCAA title run.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Duke also considered Harvard's Tommy Amaker, but in the end, the school decided to go with its lead recruiter in recent years in Scheyer.

This is a developing story.