Former Dukie Nate James Hired As Assistant

Former Duke player Nate James was hired on Tuesday by Mike Krzyzewski to be the team's new assistant coach. James played for the Blue Devils from 1996-2001, totaling a record of 71-9 including Duke's most recent National Championship in 2001. James is leaving his position as the program operator at Duke's new practice facility and now is taking over for Johnny Dawkins, who was named the new head coach at Stanford last week.

I know that assistant coaches being hired isn't big news, but this is a good signing for Coach K and Duke. It is tough replacing a long time assistant, but James is familiar with Duke and their tradition. He is still young, but he had tremendous success as a player, so he should have no problem being on Duke's coaching staff.