The Capel brothers, Jeff and Jason, suited up on totally different sides of the rivalry, whereas actor and comic Ken Jeong attended Duke as an undergraduate scholar and UNC medical faculty. However there could also be no one who has such a definite connection to the top coaches main these applications into Saturday’s Ultimate 4 as Bob Seigle.

When Chicago native Mike Krzyzewski was a plebe at West Level, he practiced alongside Seigle.

“He was a freshman after I was a senior, and freshmen weren’t allowed to play that yr. So I joke with him, if he would have performed, I would not have,” joked Seigle.

Almost a decade later, it was Seigle who was a part of a gaggle on the athletic board that really helpful Krzyzewski for the then-vacant head teaching job at Military.

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“The three of us stood up and stated look, that is actually a great child,” stated Seigle, referring to himself, Col. Tom Rogers and normal officer Richard “Dick” Chilcoat. “We managed to cobble (his credentials) collectively and get these grizzled O6s (colonels) to sit down nonetheless and to incorporate Mike within the (search).”

That enter performed a task in Krzyzewski touchdown the job, his first as a head coach.

“None of them may pronounce his title. It was similar to the remainder of the world on the time when the announcement was made. ‘Krazewski,’ simply every part,” Seigle recalled.

His time at Military, the place he compiled a 73-59 document, helped put together him to grow to be Duke’s head coach in 1980; Rogers joined Krzyzewski’s employees at Duke as an assistant the place he served for seven seasons earlier than transitioning to a task of particular assistant to the athletics director.

In fact, now Krzyzewski is a family title, one which individuals can pronounce.

“I congratulated Mike on attending to the Ultimate 4 once more. And that is after I reminded him of us portray the locker rooms at West Level. I stated, ‘you’ve got come a great distance, buddy,’” Seigle stated of a current dialog.

Nonetheless, as UNC completed off its win this previous Sunday towards St. Peter’s to clinch its spot within the Ultimate 4, Seigle felt conflicted.

“Properly, my preliminary response is ‘oh no, I do not like this,’” Seigle stated.

That is as a result of his daughter Leslie is married to UNC’s first-year head coach, Hubert Davis.

“He has been nothing in need of being only a nice man, a great father, and a great Christian man,” stated Seigle.

Davis grew up simply a few blocks away from Seigle’s household, and the pair each attended UNC, the place Davis was a star below Dean Smith earlier than embarking on a profession within the NBA.

He would return to UNC as an assistant coach below Roy Williams in 2012, earlier than being tapped to exchange Williams as head coach final April. The announcement made Davis, who had beforehand by no means been a head coach, the chief of the third-winningest program in NCAA historical past.

“We’re simply extraordinarily happy with every part they’ve put up with. As a result of we acquired a little bit glimpse within how big-time school athletics work. Not everybody was as thrilled with Hubert being chosen to be the coach of Carolina as we have been. However we have been very happy with him. I talked to Mike about that, and Mike stated ‘he is an effective man,’” stated Seigle.

Seigle will probably be watching Saturday’s showdown from his house.

So, who do you root for?

“All of our household may be very a lot in favor of only a good school basketball recreation. We hate to see video games that I describe as a observe meet, the place one workforce is operating, and the opposite workforce is simply holding rating,” Seigle stated.

Krzyzewski has lengthy been happy with his ties to West Level, the place he married his spouse, Mickie, on the day he graduated in 1969. Previous to coming into teaching, Krzyzewski served as an officer within the US Military. His first teaching job was as an assistant for Bobby Knight, his head coach when he performed for Military. In 2009, he was inducted into the Military Sports activities Corridor of Fame.

After a embellished navy profession, Seigle retired with the rank of colonel from the Military in 1993. Throughout his service, he commanded fight forces abroad in Vietnam and through Desert Storm. In 2000, he co-founded Capital Consulting Group Corp.

Seigle’s eldest daughter attended Duke and labored within the athletics division, whereas two different daughters attended UNC. His son Bobby, who now works for CCGC, attended the College of South Carolina as an undergraduate and Texas Tech College as a graduate scholar. Whereas in Lubbock, he served as a graduate assistant on Bobby Knight’s employees.