Johnny Dawkins:
Johnny Dawkins’ College Career With Duke Blue Devils
Dawkins was one of the best players in Duke history and during his time playing under Coach K, proceeded to become the team’s all-time scoring leader with 2,556 points, per Duke Report. That record stood until JJ Redick topped it during the 2006 season. Dawkins had multiple impressive seasons with the Blue Devils, but his senior year was a memorable one.
Duke posted a 37-3 record during Dawkins’ final year (1985-86), and the guard won the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. The talented group which also featured the likes of Mark Alarie, Dave Henderson, Jay Bilas, Tommy Amaker, and Danny Ferry fell just short of a national title, losing to the Louisville Cardinals in the NCAA Championship Game.
The Blue Devils have retired Dawkins’ No. 24 jersey and after a nine-year NBA career, he returned to the school in 1998 as an assistant under Krzyzewski. He remained at Duke from 1998 to 2008 before accepting the job with Stanford.
Coaching Career of Johnny Dawkins & Overall Record
Over eight seasons at Stanford, Dawkins posted a 156-115 record while making the 2014 NCAA Tournament. His team finished .500 or better in six of those seasons, but he was fired by the school following season No. 8. Almost immediately after, Dawkins was hired as the head coach for Central Florida.
Through the first two seasons with the current coach at the helm, the Knights went 24-12 and 19-13. They enter the final stretch of the 2018-19 season with just six total losses and two games remaining. The school received its first top-25 ranking since 2010-11 and only the second in 35 seasons.
UCF has quickly become a team to monitor and Dawkins has the program trending upwards at an impressive rate. They’ll be worth watching in March Madness both during the 2018-19 season and likely for many years to come beyond that.