There is a self-evident truth for coaches in college athletics: if you win enough, you choose both the hour of your departure and the name of your successor. This is part of the immense control that is granted to the great ones. They morph from employees to potentates who dictate the future paths of their programs.
In this spring of 2021, on the cusp of seismic change in college sports, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski now follows North Carolina’s Roy Williams down the gilded path of power exits. Two of the giants in college basketball history have all but named their replacement.