Early Duke And Villanova Hoops Progress Show Why We Call It Succession
When Jon Scheyer and Kyle Neptune took over, respectively, the head coaching jobs of men’s basketball programs at Duke and Villanova, they replaced two long-time coaches who had together amassed seven national championships, 45 conference regular season and tournament championships and six Olympic gold medals.
Who are Scheyer and Neptune, you ask? Well, that’s kind of the point.
They are beginning their first year succeeding legendary coaches Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Jay Wright (Villanova). Both Scheyer and Neptune are off to decent starts and, while the manner in which their programs managed their coaching successions differed sharply, both are benefiting from a succession strategy that maintains a careful balance between keeping the old guard close enough to advise the newcomer yet far enough away to give him some breathing room.
Is there a business lesson to be learned here? How could you even ask that?
In a recent interview, the former CEO of US Bank and current CEO of Make-A-Wish America, Richard Davis, spoke of the three fundamentals of successful transition. First, he said, “introduce them (your successor) to the world,” both literally and figuratively, by being seen with them at meetings and other important events. Second, use the overlap between yours and your successor’s tenure to acquaint the newbie with your “routines and rituals,” including the “myriad number of things you do that no one, other than you, knows about.” Third, find a successor who you believe is at least as good, and preferably better, than you. If you can’t find a star, develop one.
“By the time you leave,” Davis averred, “you don’t want to leave behind as your legacy a replacement. You want to leave a successor, as in somebody who succeeds, not simply replaces.”
When Krzyzewski announced that the 2021-2022 season would be his last, he also introduced his successor, Scheyer, who was suddenly transformed from one of his assistants to the coach-in-waiting. While it must have been humbling, to say the least, to sit beside Krzyzewski and know you had some monolithic shoes to fill, Scheyer also enjoyed a front-bench seat to learn how one of the game’s greats managed practices and games and recruited Blue Devils players. This year, he’s 2-0 against unranked teams, but the team is looking good and ranked seventh nationally.
In the meantime, Krzyzewski’s rival Wright didn’t announce his retirement until after the 2021-22 season, sending a shock wave through Wildcat Nation and a national recruitment wave to search for his successor. Out of a whole sea of prospects, Villanova chose Neptune to captain the ship. Neptune didn’t bleed Wildcat blue or come with a super-impressive pedigree of championships, either as a player or coach. But he worked for Wright as an assistant for several years, enough for Wright to know a worthy successor when he saw one.
Neptune didn’t get the full-boat succession program, but he wasn’t simply left on his own either.
The truth is that great succession plans don’t end when the protegees take over. The second phase—call it the behind-the-scenes-phase—comes after the baton has been passed. At Duke, Krzyzewski keeps an office on campus where he continues to work to represent the program and the university to powerful alumni and donors. Wright does the same thing at Villanova, which has ridden the visibility of its basketball program to greater success in becoming a more desirable choice for undergraduates. Wright’s leadership skills have landed him in a “retirement job” as an assistant to the university president.
Like Krzyzewski, Wright has one ear on larger institutional matters and the other ear subtly tuned to the sound of feet running up and down the hardwood.
“We have a really good relationship,” said Wright of Neptune. “Both of us are trying to do the best job we can with this transition. I’m letting him know I am there anytime he needs me, but I don’t want him to feel like I’m there too much.”
That shouldn’t be too much of a problem as far as Neptune is concerned. When asked what kind of basketball Wildcat Nation could expect this season, Neptune replied, “Smart, disciplined, unselfish. That’s Villanova basketball.”
With plenty of breathing room to allow his own style of coaching to take root, Neptune says he’s surprised himself at how little he’s dwelled on filling those mighty shoes worn by his mentor. “For me,” said Neptune, “I don’t think about it as much as people think. All I can do is try to be my own man and try to do the best I can do for Villanova.”