For a lot of Blue Devil fans, basketball started in 1980 when Duke hired Mike Krzyzewski. That’s not true, obviously. The late Al Featherston was a real historian of Duke Basketball, and basketball in Durham, too. He wrote a lot of wonderful pieces for us about both.
One of the great, if brief, eras of Duke Basketball was that of Bill Foster.
Hired in 1974 after a bizarre attempt to lure former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp out of retirement failed, Foster patiently built a great team, and by 1978, the Blue Devils were ready.
In this conversation with former Blue Devil Andre Dawkins, former Duke forward Kenny Dennard talks about the rise of Duke under Foster, the fall in 1979, and the redemptive 1980 season. He also talks about how Foster treated his players and what he expected out of them. There are some interesting insights about a number of things. Definitely worth your time to watch.
