To scout or to coordinate?

A common refrain when it comes to college basketball coaches and their styles is “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

How coaches assign duties among their assistants is becoming an either/or situation.

More coaches are moving toward a coordinator structure and away from the traditional route of having one of three assistants handle game preparation. There’s a football feel to it, with assistants focusing on offense, defense or — well, with two sides of the ball, three full-time assistants and no kickoffs, that’s where the variables come back into play.

Explaining the benefit of a coordinator-style approach makes sense when listening to Miami coach Jim Larranaga explain his reasoning.

“I decided a long time ago that I had too many voices of guys having opinions about everything we did,” said Larranaga, who’s in his 12th season at Miami and 39th as a head coach. “So I decided to designate an offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator and a scout team coordinator.”

Welcome to the future of college basketball staffs.

Traditional roles of assistants when it comes to game preparation is to assign one assistant to scout each opponent. Assistant A scouts Team A, Assistant B has Team B, and Assistant C has Team C — a progression that plays out 10 or so times in the regular season.

If the ACC is an indication, that’s still the case for the majority of college basketball teams (full breakdown below). But more are moving away from it.

Six ACC teams — Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State and Wake Forest — deem their assistant coaches as coordinators. While Larranaga has had the system in place for a while, it’s new this season for Duke and N.C. State; their Big 4 rival implemented it last year.

“I think everybody’s a little bit more engaged,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. “I mean that from experience. When it was my scout as an assistant, I was into everything. I was yelling, screaming, offense and defense.

“And then when it wasn’t my scout, I wasn’t as engaged. Or I just went recruiting.”

The coordinator structure isn’t going to be universally adopted overnight or over the course of just one offseason — even with the speed of which college basketball is evolving in the era of NIL and immediate eligibility for first-time transfers.

It’s something that you’ll see become more prevalent, though.

“It’s really where college basketball is going, and pro basketball as well,” Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas said. “It’s just kind of where the game is going right now.”

A dive into all 15 ACC teams reveals one thing above all other conclusions: There’s not much rhyme or reason to why certain coaches prefer the traditional method or otherwise.

You’ve got three coaches from Mike Krzyzewski’s lineage in the ACC — Jon Scheyer has coordinators at Duke, while Mike Brey (Notre Dame) and Jeff Capel (Pittsburgh) go with the traditional scouting approach.

Scheyer adjusted in taking over for a coach who’d won national championships; Hubert Davis didn’t change the way UNC scouts and handles preparation.

If you’re thinking it’s an age thing, where the older coaches prefer the way it’s always been done and the newer and/or younger ones are mixing things up, Larranaga shoots down that theory.

“Every time there’s a timeout, I meet with the staff and I go directly to the defensive coordinator. ‘Hey, how do you want to play the ball screen now?’” Larranaga said. “And then I turn to the offensive coordinator, ‘What’s working well? Who should we go to.’”

Larranaga recalled a game this season in which Jordan Miller, averaging 15.1 points per game, had two at halftime.

It was easier for him to talk with Bill Courtney, his offensive coordinator, to figure out how to get the wing more involved than getting a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen solution from his staff.

“He said to me, ‘We’ve got to get Jordan more involved, let’s run these plays for him,’” Larranaga said. “And he immediately scored and then he immediately went off and had a big second half.

“Those are the things that are important to me as a head coach. Rather than talking to three different guys and asking them all what they’re thinking, I talk to one guy about each category.”

Two of the six schools that take the coordinators approach had staff shakeups. Scheyer took over for Krzyzewski, so he needed to replace himself as an assistant, and then Nolan Smith left Duke for Louisville. Amile Jefferson was promoted from within, and Scheyer hired Lucas, who’s become Duke’s defensive coordinator.

The other team in the Triangle new to the coordinators approach saw Kevin Keatts use the timing of his personnel overhaul to institute change. All three of the Wolfpack’s assistant coaches — Levi Watkins, Kareem Richardson and Joel Justus — are in their first seasons at N.C. State.

“It’s actually worked out well for me, something different that I’ve never done in the past,” Keatts said. “But it’s been really good because it keeps everybody engaged in every game.”

In asking about this shift, you’ll notice that word — engaged — comes up often.

Another E-word — evolution — is what this feels like.

“I think it’s important that you evolve as we go along,” Keatts said. “When I added a new staff … it gave me different energy and I wanted to take advantage of doing something different because I had new folks.”

If there needs to be convincing for anybody to change from traditional methods to coordinator style, looking at the top of the league standings should do the trick.

Four of the league’s top six teams use coordinators, and Georgia Tech is the only one with coordinators that’s going to finish with a losing record in league play.

Virginia Tech’s Mike Young doesn’t use coordinators and doesn’t see himself making that switch — but it’s he understands why some of his peers do.

“I’ve had a number of conversations with those that have done it and certainly see the benefit of doing that,” Young said. “I’ve never gravitated toward that line of thinking. It’s just how I’ve done it.”

The bio page for Steve Forbes is a college basketball odyssey.

Eleven years spent in the junior college ranks, in Iowa, Kansas and Florida. Assistant coaching stops at Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Illinois State, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Wichita State. Head coach of all three junior colleges, and then East Tennessee State, and finally Wake Forest for the past three seasons.

And it was last season that he first structured his staff with coordinators instead of traditional roles.

“In this situation, you hear the same voice talking about the same vocabulary every time you present the offense. And you have the same voice, same vocabulary every time you present the defense,” Forbes said.

“The most-important thing is it’s the best thing for the players,” he added.

Forbes counts college football as his second-favorite sport and references that when diving into the genesis for changing his staff entering last season.

In that light, think of assistant coach Brooks Savage as the offensive coordinator — though you’re not going to see him watching the game from a coaches’ box and screaming into a phone at his point guard.

Savage can be seen on Wake’s bench during games holding up a whiteboard with play calls before possessions, with point guard Tyree Appleby and every other Deacon glimpsing the call and going into the set.

“We like this way better,” Savage said. “I think everybody is more involved every game, and it allows you kind of dig in more to your specific area. You can get through a lot more film and really dive in to your side of the ball.”

First, a disclaimer: Wake Forest overhauled its roster in the same offseason that Forbes changed the responsibilities of his assistants.

But it’s telling that in Forbes’ first season with the Deacons, their offense ranked 191st in the country in offensive efficiency (KenPom). In two seasons since, the Deacons ranked 41st last year and 38th this year.

Savage and Jason Shay, an assistant last season and now Wake’s special assistant to the head coach, work on the Deacons’ offense. Assistants BJ McKie and Matt Woodley coach Wake’s defense.

There’s another benefit to making the shift to a coordinator-based approach; one that has Forbes delivering the last word of this quote with particular disdain.

“I think it’s very ego-driven at times for assistant coaches,” Forbes said. “They tend to have their own record for wins and losses on their scout, which is bullshit.”

Everybody’s on the same page there.

Jai Lucas’ hiring last offseason signaled that Duke was plunging into a new era.

For the first time in at least two decades, Duke would have an assistant who didn’t play at Duke. After the departure of Nolan Smith, who won a national championship with Scheyer, the first-time head coach opted to branch off of Krzyzewski’s tree.

What wasn’t known last spring, though, was that Lucas’ hiring also related to the different way Scheyer wanted to build his staff.

“It was something he had talked about, what he wanted to do that was kind of different,” Lucas said of Scheyer’s approach during the hiring process.

Lucas came to Duke having spent the previous two seasons at Kentucky, after he’d spent seven seasons at his alma mater, Texas.

All he’s known is coordinator-structured staffs.

“I had been accustomed to it, what he was … looking to do,” Lucas said. “He didn’t know who was going to be what, like who was going to be offense, defense, whatever. But I was already familiar with what he was trying to do.”

Where this differs from football is Lucas saw himself as an offensive or defensive coordinator, eventually slotting into defense. Associate head coach Chris Carrawell is tasked with Duke’s offense, and Amile Jefferson focuses on skill development.

What Scheyer has done is different from other programs with coordinator-style approaches.

Duke also assigns each assistant specific games to scout — a marriage of sorts between the way Krzyzewski did things for 42 seasons and Scheyer putting his stamp on the program.

When you’re taking over for the winningest coach in the game’s history, it’s probably best to avoid complete overhauls — while also acknowledging some room for tweaks.

“There’s obviously such a great infrastructure in place and a great way to do things,” Scheyer said on Monday in relation to a different topic. “You’re always looking at ways to improve, and so I think … it would have been wrong if I didn’t look anywhere else to see what other top programs are doing.”

In addition to the offense/defense/development split, there are also position-specific responsibilities.

Lucas coaches Duke’s guards, Carrawell the wings, and Jefferson the centers. Scheyer also makes it clear each assistant has freedom to cross over to another position or side of the ball if they need to make a point.

“I just feel like the more direct responsibility you can give, the more ownership you can have,” Scheyer said. “I’m not going to change it going forward, we’ll continue to do that.”

It’ll be worth tracking and revisiting whether any of the schools that have switched to the coordinator style go back to the traditional method.

From the way those coaches talk, though, they’re not interested in backtracking.

“I think it’s just the evolution of the game,” Lucas said. “The college game is changing, feels like every day with new rules and stuff. The game itself is changing, too. So that’s a big part of it.”

**********

Here’s a rundown of each team in the ACC and their respective staffs:

Boston College

Head coach: Earl Grant (second season at BC; ninth as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Anthony Goins, Corey McRae, Jim Molinari.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 15-15, 9-10 ACC | T-9th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 244/106/165th overall.

*****

Clemson

Head coach: Brad Brownell (13th season at Clemson, 21st as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Billy Donlon, Dick Bender, Sean Dixon.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 21-9, 13-6 ACC | T-4th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 73/66/70th overall.

*****

Duke

Head coach: Jon Scheyer (first season as Duke’s head coach and overall).

Assistant/associate coaches: Chris Carrawell, Amile Jefferson, Jai Lucas.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 22-8, 13-6 | T-4th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 59/30/33rd overall.

*****

Florida State

Head coach: Leonard Hamilton (21st season at FSU, 35th as a head coach*).

Assistant/associate coaches: Stan Jones, Steve Smith, R-Jay Barsh.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 9-21, 7-12 ACC | T-11th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 169/243/209th overall.

* not including one season as coach of the Washington Wizards.

Georgia Tech

Head coach: Josh Pastner (seventh season at GT, 14th as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Anthony Wilkins, Julian Swartz, Brian Eskildsen.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 13-17, 5-14 ACC | 13th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 208/143/173rd overall.

*****

Louisville

Head coach: Kenny Payne (first season as Louisville’s head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Danny Manning, Josh Jamieson, Nolan Smith.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 4-26, 2-17 ACC | 15th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 264/289/285th overall.

*****

Miami

Head coach: Jim Larranaga (12th season at Miami, 39th as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Bill Courtney, DJ Irving, Kotie Kimble.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 23-6, 14-5 ACC | T-1st.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 12/120/38th overall.

*****

North Carolina

Head coach: Hubert Davis (second season as UNC’s head coach and overall).

Assistant/associate coaches: Brad Frederick, Jeff Lebo, Sean May.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 19-11, 11-8 ACC | 7th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 58/43/45th overall.

N.C. State

Head coach: Kevin Keatts (sixth season at N.C. State, ninth as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Joel Justus, Kareem Richardson, Levi Watkins.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 22-9, 12-8 ACC | 6th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 36/76/51st overall.

*****

Notre Dame

Head coach: Mike Brey (23rd season at Notre Dame*, 28th as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Anthony Solomon, Hamlet Tibbs, Antoni Wyche.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 11-19, 3-16 ACC | 14th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 96/256/164th overall.

* this is Brey’s final season at Notre Dame, as his pending resignation was announced Jan. 20.

*****

Pittsburgh

Head coach: Jeff Capel (fifth season at Pitt, 14th season as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Milan Brown, Tim O’Toole, Jason Capel.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 21-9, 14-5 ACC | T-1st.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 31/111/64th overall.

*****

Syracuse

Head coach: Jim Boeheim (47th season at Syracuse and overall).

Assistant/associate coaches: Adrian Autry, Allen Griffin, Gerry McNamara.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 16-14, 9-10 ACC | T-9th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 69/221/127th overall.

*****

Virginia

Head coach: Tony Bennett (14th season at Virginia, 17th as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Jason Williford, Kyle Getter, Orlando Vandross.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 22-6, 14-5 ACC | T-1st.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 78/28/40th overall.

*****

Virginia Tech

Head coach: Mike Young (fourth season at VT, 21st as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: Mike Jones, Kevin Giltner, Christian Webster.

Traditional or coordinators: Traditional.

Current record, ACC standing: 17-13, 7-12 ACC | T-11th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 35/126/77th overall.

*****

Wake Forest

Head coach: Steve Forbes (third season at WF, 13th* as a head coach).

Assistant/associate coaches: BJ McKie, Brooks Savage, Matt Woodley.

Traditional or coordinators: Coordinators.

Current record, ACC standing: 18-12, 10-9 ACC | 8th.

KenPom offensive/defensive/overall rankings: 38/162/86th overall.

* includes five seasons on the junior college level.