ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg weighs in on potential Coach K return

The eulogy of Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career is still being written following the team’s 81-77 loss to rival UNC in the Final Four on Saturday night. Coach K leaves college basketball as the game’s winningest head coach with 1,202 wins, including five national titles. ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg joined Get Up on Monday morning to discuss Coach K, his legacy, and whether or not the Duke legend will consider postponing retirement.

“(This loss) doesn’t impact his legacy, at all,” Greenberg started. “In terms of what it means as he goes off into retirement, if you think about this, Coach K woke up every single morning with the purpose of, ‘What can I do to make Duke basketball better?’ … That’s his passion, that’s what he actually lived for.

“He’s going to wake up on Wednesday morning, sitting there by himself, he’s not going to be thinking about the five national championships, the Olympic gold medals, he’s not going to be thinking about the players whose lives he impacted. In the back of his mind, knowing how competitive he is, he’s going to be thinking about that game at Cameron, and that semi-final game… I think that this thing’s going to stick with him for a while.”

Will Krzyzewski reverse course?

Half-jokingly, Get Up host Mike Greenberg asked his guest whether or not Coach K would consider coaching for another season given how the tournament run ended.

“Greeny, I’m going to give you a little preview,” Greenberg said. “‘Goooood morning, it’s time to Get up! Is he retiring or is he coming back?’ Greeny, there’s no chance he’s coming back! He’s had an incredible career, an incredible career. Think about the championships, I go back to the lives he’s impacted. No, it’s his time to walk away, he understands that. He can look in the mirror and be comfortable with that. I think the bigger question is, where does he go moving forward? What is going to be his passion moving forward? This is John Scheyer’s program. He’ll have to create his own vision for this program and what that’s going to look like.”

Bill Self on Coach K’s legacy

Kansas head coach Bill Self was asked what Coach K has meant to college basketball during a recent press conference. He opened up on how much Krzyzewski has been able to accomplish over the years as he took over as one of the best coaches in the sport. Self even said the now-former Duke head coach has meant more to college basketball than any individual ever.

“In my time, since I’ve been involved as a coach, when I first got involved, Coach Smith and Coach Thompson were the two pillars,” Self said. “But as that mantel has shifted, basically in my coaching career he’s been the standard since I’ve been doing this. I’ve been coaching while he’s won all five national championships. I was a graduate assistant on the Kansas staff when he went to his first Final Four. I’ve been able to see it even though I was young.

“But he’s meant as much to our sport as anybody in our sport has ever been. And he will be missed. I think to someone’s point earlier, I don’t think they’ll ever replace him. But I do think collectively there’s a lot of guys out there that can collectively carry the mantel, not individually that he has.”

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.