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Before talking about his basketball team Thursday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer paused for a few moments to talk about the loss of a close friend, Chris Spatola.
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Spatola, the son-in-law of former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and once a member of the Blue Devils basketball staff, died suddenly this week at 47. He is survived by his wife, Jamie, and three children.
“We’ve lost a great member of our Duke family,” Scheyer said. “If you asked anybody over the last 20 years who has touched our program, they’d tell you what a smart, brilliant actually, what a smart, funny, charismatic person that Chris was.
“For me, I’m heartbroken for our Duke family and most importantly his family, the Krzyzewski family, the Spatola family.”
Scheyer, who played at Duke and succeeded Krzyzewski, said he had known Spatola for about 20 years, first meeting him when Scheyer was a freshman.
Scheyer said it was Spatola that was quick to hug Scheyer after the Blue Devils were beaten by Villanova in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
“He told me, ‘We’ll be back and we’ll win the whole thing,’ and we did the next year,” Scheyer said.
Scheyer also recalled a text he received from Spatola after it was announced he had been chosen to replace Krzyzewski, who retired after the 2022 NCAA Final Four.
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“He told me I was built for this,” Scheyer said.
After leaving Duke, Spatola spent 11 years as a basketball analyst for ESPN and SiriusXM. He would often drop by to watch preseason practices at Duke, Scheyer said.
“Afterward he’d talk about the concerns he saw from the team, what surprised him, what impressed him,” Scheyer said. “I always looked forward to those conversations.”
Spatola played college basketball at West Point, scoring more than 1,500 points in his four years and being named to the All-Patriot League team. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army for five years, earning commendation for his service in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spatola first met Jamie Krzyzewski while he was a teenager attending the Duke basketball camp. The two were married in 2004 at Duke Chapel.
After his decorated career as an Army officer, Spatola first joined the Duke basketball staff in 2007 as a graduate assistant, then was director of basketball operations.
“Everybody associated with our program, our hearts and minds are on Jamie and the kids, Coach K and his entire family and obviously the amazing person that Chris was,” Scheyer said.
A memorial service for Spatola is scheduled for Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. at Duke Chapel.
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This story was originally published September 24, 2026 at 4:48 PM.