Jon Scheyer discusses Mike Krzyzewski’s first game back at Cameron Indoor Stadium

Mike Krzyzewski, the legendary and long-tenured Duke head coach, now retired, took in his first in-person college basketball game as a fan on Tuesday night for the first time in decades, in all likelihood. And it was always going to be a Duke game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With Duke taking on Notre Dame on Tuesday evening — likely the last time Krzyzewski’s friend and coaching rival Mike Brey will coach in that building — Coach K made his first appearance at a Duke game since retiring. First year head coach Jon Scheyer, who played under Krzyzewski and then served as an assistant, found the experience to be special in a number of ways.

“We talked about it preseason. ‘When are you going to come to a game? We want you at a game.’ And for him to be here tonight, it’s special for me,” Scheyer said. “I’ve been in so many battles and games here with him, with him right next to me. I don’t know how he felt sitting over there instead of on the bench. It just means a lot, his support. He’s been incredible throughout this whole year, throughout this whole process. And I just wanted to make sure we got a win while he was here. But it was really special for me to having him and Mickie as well. That was a really cool thing for me and the team and our staff.”

It could’ve been awkward or imposing — just having your former boss come to watch you work his old job carries stress, let alone when it’s a legend of the sport — but Scheyer kept hammering home how special it was for him.

“It wasn’t nerves from me, but it was emotional just because of how many moments we’ve been in there together,” Scheyer said. “And once the game started, I was coaching the team and all that. But for me walking out, just walking right by him, that’s such a special thing for me. I met Coach 20 years ago, so to be in this position, this situation now, and to have his support, I can’t even tell you how supportive he has been from Day 1. Whether it’s a loss, win, whatever it is. And he’s that person for me. He’ll always be that person for me.”

Krzyzewski himself had said in the past that he doesn’t want to spend too much time hanging around the Duke program in retirement. He’s got his own life to live with grand children and the like. Plus, it could’ve overshadowed whatever the fledgling Scheyer Era grows into.

But the current Duke head coach will be completely happy to have his old boss back whenever he pleases.

“I think the bigger problem here was ‘Where was he going to sit?’ I think that’s the toughest part. It’s not — it’s hard for him to have privacy and I think he just, in his mind, trying to be respectful of whatever we have going on. The thing for me, I want him here whenever he wants to be here,” Scheyer said.