Duke Basketball Makes Addition as Season Begins

The Duke Blue Devils' 2026-27 season is officially underway. On Monday night, Duke opened up the new season with a big win over Army. It was an impressive start to the season for Jon Scheyer's team. 

As they enter this campaign, the expectations are sky high once again for the Blue Devils, and rightfully so. This Duke roster is loaded once again and they are among the favorites to cut down the nets come April. With Scheyer and his staff embarking on the new campaign, they did make one move to add to their staff.

The program has added former wing Rodney Hood to Scheyer's staff as a coaching intern ahead of the season. Hood is coming off an eight-year career in the NBA, spending time with the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Memphis Hustle.

His last stop was with Memphis' G League team in 2024 before taking some time off. But now, he's found himself interested in coaching and is getting into the ranks. The former Duke standout will work alongside a really talented coaching staff headlined by Scheyer.

The staff also features Chris Carrawell, Emanuel Dildy, Tyler Thornton, KJ Conklin, Jayce McCain, Mike Schrage, and Alexander Powell. This staff has a good mix of experience heading into this year. 

After the exhibition win over Army, Scheyer spoke on the addition of Hood. Scheyer shared that in his first year back as an assistant under Coach K, he coached Rodney, calling him a great player in college and a great pro player. 

Scheyer seemed very welcoming to helping him with the next step in his life as he begins his coaching career. Hood will work closely with others on the staff and hopefully this will progress over time and he can move up the ranks. 

In one season with Duke, Hood averaged 16.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.7 steals. From there, he was selected No. 23 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by Utah. In 448 NBA games, he averaged 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.7 steals.

Duke's coaching staff is now set for the season as they continue on with their pursuit of adding another national championship.

The Blue Devils will host Coastal Carolina on Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium as they look to move to 2-0 on the season.