Could Coach K Cancel Retirement, Return to Duke?

Mike Krzyzewski has retired from coaching college basketball after 42 years at Duke and five national titles. He walked off into the sunset following a loss to North Carolina in his 13th Final Four. Coach K did a farewell tour all season, being praised and gathering his flowers at every stop, but is there a chance he could pull a Tom Brady and wind up deciding not to retire after all? One of his former players thinks there's a good chance that might happen.

On Tuesday's episode of Keyshawn, JWill and Max, Jay Williams said he thinks Krzyzewski might come out of retirement, but not for the reason you might think. No, it wouldn't be because he didn't go out on top, or that North Carolina beat him in both his final game and his final home game. Williams thinks K could return in order to salvage Duke's No. 1 recruiting class.

Assistant Nolan Smith recently left Duke to take a similar position at Louisville. Smith has long been the Blue Devils' top recruiter, so many of the players he recruited could ask out of their Letters of Intent. And now he could use his abilities against Duke and to bolster an ACC foe.

Here's what Williams had to say about it:

“Here’s why I give it (Coach K returning) a legit chance, because if you’re Nolan Smith, and you have a great relationship with all these players, you’re in the conference, man. You’re at Louisville. It turns into recruiting battles, man, and it weakens your hold on the No. 1 class. So, if you’re Coach K, how do you strengthen that hold? By coming back.”

Here's the key part of the segment from the show:

Do I think a 75-year-old Coach K is coming back? No, almost certainly not. But I do think he's going to give it some thought. And this is yet another reason for him to do so.