Reports: Nolan Smith leaving Duke for Louisville staff

Former Blue Devil headed to school where his father starred

Jon Scheyer now reportedly has two spots to fill on his coaching staff.

The longtime Duke associate head coach was promoted to head coach after Duke lost to North Carolina in the Final Four on Saturday. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski had previously announced he was retiring when the season ended.

Scheyer already had to replace himself on the assistant coaching staff. Now, according to multiple media reports, he’ll also have to replace Nolan Smith.

Smith, a teammate of Scheyer’s on Duke’s 2010 national championship team, has been on Duke’s basketball staff in some capacity since 2016.He started as a special assistant, was promoted to director of basketball operations and player development in 2018, then promoted again this past offseason to assistant coach.

Louisville media veteran Rick Bozich reported that Smith was “in talks” to join the staff of new Louisville Cardinals coach Kenny Payne.

Smith’s father, Derek, was a star for the Cardinals winning a title in 1980. He is the seventh-leading scorer in program history. Nolan Smith was born in Louisville, and his father, who died of a heart attack in 1996, is buried there.

ESPN and Stadium have both reported that Smith is leaving Duke for Louisville.

ESPN’s Marc Spears tweeted “Former NBA guard Nolan Smith has spoke with Duke’s men’s basketball staff and told them he plans on accepting a job as associate head coach with new head coach Kenny Payne at the University of Louisville.”

Stadium’s Jeff Goodman echoed that, tweeting “Breaking: Duke assistant Nolan Smith is headed to Louisville to join Kenny Payne on staff … Smith’s father starred at Louisville and the Cards broke the bank to get Nolan—one of the rising stars in the industry.”