Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski will return to the sidelines on Saturday against Pittsburgh, the school announced on Thursday.
Coach K has missed a month of action after undergoing a successful back surgery, which removed a fragment of a herniated disk. Associate head coach Jeff Capel replaced him during his absence. The Blue Devils were 4-3 without the Hall of Fame coach.
Despite not being on the bench, Krzyzewski still controlled the program. He recently made headlines when word got out that he called for a team meeting in which he banned the team from the locker room and barred them from wearing any Duke apparel, “until they start living up to the standards of the Duke program.”
Duke entered the season as the overwhelming favorite to win the national championship. However, the Blue Devils’ season has been plagued by a host of reasons: injuries, suspensions and trouble establishing roles. With Coach K back on the sidelines, one of the most intriguing storylines for the remainder of the season will be if Duke can turn into the contender it looked like on paper back in November.