Stanford Names Duke's Johnny Dawkins As Head Coach

Duke associate head coach Johnny Dawkins has been named the new head coach at Stanford, replacing Trent Johnson.  Johnson, the Pac-10 Coach of the Year, left Stanford in early April for LSU.  Dawkins has spent his eleven years of coaching along side Duke's head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and Dawkins has also spent time with the U.S. Olympic team in charge of player development.  Also, Dawkins played at Duke under Krzyzewkski and ended his career as Duke's all time leader in points scored with 2,556 points.  He is currently second behind J.J. Redick. Dawkins will takeover the a Stanford team that went to the Sweet Sixteen, but he will be without the Lopez twins who have entered the NBA Draft. However, the core of guards are returning, Lawrence Hill, Anthony Goods and Mitch Johnson.

This is a great coaching hire for Stanford.  To be able to get a former Duke player, who coached under Coach K for over ten years is a tremendous hire for Stanford.  Stanford was in dire need of a coach who could keep them at the top of the Pac-10 and Dawkins is the right guy.  Stanford will probably have a down year next season, but I suspect that they will be back at the top in a couple of seasons.  Since Dawkins is already experienced in player development, he shouldn't have a problem with recruiting.  This is a great hire to counter California's coaching hire of Mike Montgomery.