Last week, Pete Gaudet slowly strolled toward Cameron Indoor Stadium. On his way to the place he once knew as home, he was greeted warmly by good friends Johnny Dawkins and Steve Wojciechowski. But Gaudet couldn't talk for long-he had a game to coach.
It seemed like old times.
But then again, those times seemed so far away.
In 1995, Gaudet took over as Duke's acting head coach while head coach Mike Krzyzewski recovered from back problems. The coach that became almost legendary for his work with post players finally had his chance to call the shots for an elite program in college basketball.
Wednesday night, Gaudet returned to Cameron as an assistant coach for Vanderbilt's women's basketball team, just four years removed from when he commanded the opposite bench for the Duke men's team.
Here is a coach that counts among his pupils National Players of the Year Christian Laettner and Danny Ferry. Here is a coach that drew international acclaim for his expertise in basketball. Here is a coach that wears two national championship rings.
But here is the 58-year-old coach who is starting over.
In 1996, Gaudet left Duke to take the top assistant job with the Vanderbilt men's program. Just two years later, however, Gaudet left his post due to philosophical differences with Vanderbilt's then-head coach Jan van Breda Kolff. But just when Gaudet thought his official duties with Vanderbilt were over, women's coach Jim Foster approached him last March with a proposition to assist him in coaching the women's team.
"I'm at the point in my career where I don't want to go to some place for two years," Gaudet said. "I've coached 10-year-olds, I've coached pros, I've coached All-Americans [at Duke], I just like working with kids. Other people go into the adult world, I don't think I ever want to go work in the adult world, I like working with kids too much."
That love for coaching takes Gaudet's journey back to square one. Wednesday night, instead of relaxing back at his home in Nashville, Gaudet is once again doing what he does best-working with kids.
After Duke's Peppi Browne denied Vanderbilt's Chantelle Anderson the ball on a post-up, Gaudet immediately offers Anderson guidance during the ensuing timeout. After Anderson had been late in passing out of a double team, Gaudet calls Anderson to the sidelines to remind her to rotate the ball.
Nearly a decade after turning Laettner into an All-American, Gaudet is again tapping every bit of potential out of a post phenom. This time, it's Anderson, Vanderbilt's 6-foot-6 freshman.
And that's exactly why Foster hired Gaudet.
"He's a guy that's spent 30 years coaching this game; has been a Division I head coach; has been to seven Final Fours, he's got two championship rings," Foster said. "Am I going to listen to him? I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid.
"Is he a good basketball coach? Of course he's a good basketball coach. But he's a hell of a better person, being the character the guy is of. Why wouldn't you want to sit next to him?"
But Gaudet, who had worked with men his entire coaching career, approached his new job cautiously at first. His players, however, made it clear to him that they are every bit as tough as the men, and every bit as coachable.
"I've gradually learned there is more of a pleasure coaching them because you can push them, you can go after them, demand they work hard-that makes it more fun," Gaudet said. "I like the fact that style points aren't there yet. You have guys leaving after a year, you don't have that [in women's basketball].
"Hall of Fame coaches have come up to me and said, 'You know if I had to do it over again, maybe I'd start out coaching the women.' This is a good time to be coaching in women's college basketball."
And as Gaudet quietly sips his Coke after watching his team drop a nine-point decision to Duke, the casual observer can clearly still discern the passion he still carries for the game and his job-the frustration is still there, the gratification is still there and the joy is still there.
"I still want to coach," Gaudet said. "When I left here, I still wanted to coach. The only issue is my knees. I still have to go home every night and talk to them every night and thank them for giving me a good day."
As for that harrowing season Gaudet spent as Duke's acting head coach?
"I don't look back on it, that's water over the dam," Gaudet said. "The first couple of years afterward, I had dwelled on it, but now, I don't dwell on it."
Gaudet doesn't need to-he's got another post prodigy in the making.
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