Wojciechowski appointed as new assistant coach

Less than two weeks removed from playing for a national championship, the men's basketball team continues to change in a hurry.

With five recruits waiting to come in and several underclassmen still deciding about their future, Mike Krzyzewski quickly filled Quin Snyder's spot on his staff yesterday by naming Steve Wojciechowski as Duke's new assistant coach.

In the process, Johnny Dawkins was promoted to associate head coach, Snyder's old position, and Wojciechowski was introduced just a year after stepping off the court in Cameron for the last time as a player.

"I've got to tell you, I'm unbelievably excited to be back and be a part of this program again," Wojciechowski said. "This program has meant so much to me. Besides my family, this University and more specifically the basketball program and everybody associated with it helped give me the best four years of my life."

Wojciechowski, 22, was never gone from Durham very long. After graduating last May, he played professionally in Poland in the fall before returning to the University as an intern at the Duke Management Company.

He also did radio work during Duke's broadcasts this past season, but that was never a career goal.

"One of the reasons I came back and was doing stuff in the area, if there ever was an opportunity, I wanted to put myself in a position where I was always in Coach [Krzyzewski's] mind," Wojciechowski said. "I thought I would always be considered if there was an opening, but I wasn't sure if he would hire me or the route he wanted to go."

Wojciechowski visited his former coach in the hospital Monday following Krzyzewski's hip replacement surgery. The two spoke again Tuesday after Snyder's decision to become Missouri's new head coach and talked for two hours about how Wojciechowski would fit in the program.

"In coming back from Poland, I kind of made a conscious decision to disassociate myself for the most part from the guys I played with in hopes of one day being able to come back and coach them," Wojciechowski said. "I didn't know when that day was going to be, but I wanted to be prepared for that and for them to look at me in a different light rather than a teammate."

One of Wojciechowski's main responsibilities will be recruiting. Snyder excelled in the position and next year's freshman class might very well be the best in the country and potentially Duke's best ever.

Wojciechowski was actually involved with recruiting as a player, helping to show around the likes of Shane Battier, Will Avery and Elton Brand when they made official campus visits. He says that experience, along with his interest in continuing to "bring in the same kind of quality kids," will help him when he's visiting recruits on the road.

"I want to bring passion and enthusiasm and I want kids to love the game," Wojciechowski said. "I want to be able to teach kids what I learned, not about skill sets, ballhandling, rebounding, but how they're going to apply the values and the things that they learn through the game to their life after basketball."

Krzyzewski, for one, is confident in Wojciechowski's ability to do the job.

"I'm ecstatic about having Steve join our staff," Duke's head coach said in a release. "You cannot personify team play any better than Steve did during his career. His ability to teach that concept as a coach will be important in our success at Duke.

"Wojo bleeds Duke blue and it is that commitment to our program why I know he will be a success in coaching."

While Wojciechowski has no prior coaching experience, Dawkins has been on the staff for the past two seasons and received the promotion to the associate position yesterday as well.

Dawkins will no longer be on the road visiting recruits as much anymore, instead focusing on scouting, game preparation and handling day-to-day duties for Krzyzewski.

Though former associates Snyder and Mike Brey both used the associate position as a steppingstone toward head coaching jobs, Dawkins is in no hurry to leave.

''Eventually I would like to be a head coach, but don't push me out the door too soon,'' Dawkins said. ''I don't have any kind of time frame where I'm in any rush to go anywhere. Get used to seeing my face.''

Note: Krzyzewski returned to his home yesterday afternoon, four days after his operation. He continues to make progress in his recovery and remains on schedule.

"I want to thank the entire Duke community for the outpouring of love, well wishes and support over the last several days," he said. "It has meant a tremendous amount to my family and to me personally as I began to recover from the surgery."