Marquette Reportedly Hires Wojciechowski as Head Coach

According to reports from ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, the Marquette Golden Eagles have hired Duke associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski as their 17th head basketball coach in program history.

Wojciechowski, who interviewed for the position on Monday, spent 15 years as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski. He played four years as a guard for the Blue Devils and was named the national defensive player of the year in 1998.

Since joining Coach K’s staff in 1999, Wojciechowski has been a part of six Sweet Sixteen appearances, three trips to the Final Four and two national championships coming in the 2000-01 and 2009-10 seasons.

The Golden Eagles were reportedly interested in both Wojciechowski and Tennessee head coach Cuonzo Martin. CBSSports.com’s Gary Parrish reported late Sunday night that Martin had taken his name out of the running for the Marquette job.

Wojciechowski doesn’t bring any experience as a head coach, but he has been instrumental in recruiting for the Blue Devils. He is another branch of the Krzyzewski coaching tree, which includes Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Northwestern’s Chris Collins and Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins as some of the more prolific members.

This isn’t Marquette’s first rodeo with a novice head coach. The Golden Eagles hired former Michigan State assistant Tom Crean in 1999 and replaced him with an assistant from Crean’s staff, Buzz Williams, in 2008.

ESPN.com ranked Wojciechowski as the 17th-best recruiter among assistant coaches, and the Marquette staff was impressed by his interview on Monday, a source told the website Paint Touches.

Wojciechowski will have some relatively big shoes to fill. Before jumping to Virginia Tech, Williams led the Golden Eagles to five NCAA tournament appearances, including three consecutive trips to the Sweet Sixteen and an Elite Eight appearance in the 2012-13 season.