Jon Scheyer hires Elon head coach as special assistant

Former Duke staffer Mike Schrage rejoins Blue Devils

 Duke men's basketball head coach Jon Scheyer announced the first addition to his staff on Thursday with the hiring of former Elon head coach Mike Schrage as special assistant to the head coach.

Scheyer was named Duke's next head coach in June following the announcement by Hall of Fame head coach Mike Krzyzewski of his plan to retire following the 2021-22 season. Scheyer’s addition of Schrage, who brings more than two decades of college coaching experience back to Durham, comes after the former Duke staffer resigned his position at Elon on Monday.

"Having learned from some of the best coaches in the game before taking on a head coaching role himself, Mike brings an unparalleled breadth of knowledge to our staff," said Scheyer. "I've been lucky to know and trust Mike implicitly since my playing days when he was Duke's director of basketball operations. He will have an immediate impact on our team strategy and organization. We are excited for him, his wife Amanda, and his family to return to Durham."

Elon boasted at least two players on All-CAA teams in each of Schrage's three seasons as head coach. While leading the CAA in scoring defense in 2020-21, the Phoenix reached the CAA title game last season, becoming the first No. 8-seed to do so. The Phoenix totaled five CAA Tournament victories in his three years as head coach. The program had won just one game in the tournament prior to his arrival.

"I loved being a head coach and especially at Elon, but this was an opportunity I felt I could not pass up," said Schrage. "I am honored to be back at Duke starting this new chapter with Jon Scheyer. My experience previously with Coach K not only shaped my career in this profession but my entire life. I have believed in Jon to the fullest since I was fortunate enough to be on staff when he played. I could not be more excited to help him build on Duke's incredible tradition of excellence while putting his own stamp on the program too."

Prior to Elon, Schrage served as an assistant coach on the Ohio State staff under Chris Holtmann for two seasons in 2018 and 2019, after spending the 2017 as an assistant at Butler under Holtmann. Schrage was in Palo Alto, Calif., the previous eight seasons as an assistant coach for Johnny Dawkins at Stanford.

He graduated from Indiana in 1998 with a degree in kinesiology and served as a men's basketball student assistant for four seasons under Bobby Knight. After graduating, Schrage spent the 1998-99 season as director of basketball operations at Ole Miss before being hired by Krzyzewski at Duke.

With the Blue Devils for nine seasons beginning with the 1999-2000 campaign, Schrage was the academic and recruiting coordinator for three years and spent the next six director of basketball operations, assisting with all aspects of the program's administration that included scouting, scheduling, camp operations and planning.

While at Duke, Schrage additionally served as video coordinator for the USA Basketball Men's National Team at the 2006 World Championship Games in Japan and the 2007 Tournament of America in Las Vegas.

Schrage and his wife Amanda have a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Sophia.