Duke named Mike Krzyzewski its new men's basketball head coach on March 18, 1980. Coach K's first Blue Devils team posted a 17-13 mark in 1980-81 and lost in the NIT to Purdue. It was the first of what would prove to be three consecutive seasons in which Duke finished sixth or worse in the ACC and did not reach the NCAA tournament.
Coach K's early struggles have long since become a familiar part of his legend. Then, in the 1982 recruiting class, Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, Dave Henderson and Jay Bilas arrived, and the rest is history.