When Debbie Savarino once said that she hoped her dad “coached until he dropped,” it seemed a bit intense, but we completely understood. We never wanted him to leave. Still, we all knew the day would come when he would stop coaching but it’s still hard to believe he’ll step down after this season.
He’s been at Duke so long - since 1980 - that he seems permanently grafted onto the university’s identity. A few years before he came, Duke still had the squat, party boy Blue Devil logo that it sported in the 1960s.
Now? The Blue Devil has actually started to look like Coach K and has for some time.