Citadel coach Duggar Baucom hospitalized after scary collapse at Duke game
The early minutes of The Citadel's road game against Duke turned into a scary scene on Monday.
Citadel head coach Duggar Baucom collapsed next to the Bulldogs bench 63 seconds in the game, creating a rare silence in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Baucom was immediately treated by medical personnel and eventually taken to the hospital after being helped off the court.
Here is the video of Duggar Baucom after collapsing on the court... It's not graphic, just shows how sudden it was. He is walking off, with assistance, under his own power. Such a scary situation. He's a wonderful man, truly hope everything OK with him. pic.twitter.com/gyV8fIIHtw
— Scott Eisberg (@SEisbergWCIV) November 23, 2021
Citadel associate head coach Jack Castleberry took over in Baucom's place, leading the team in a 107-81 loss to the Blue Devils.
After the game, Castleberry provided a positive update on his boss while also providing some perspective on what must have been a surreal situation, via the Post and Courier:
“From our understanding, it’s as good a situation as it can be given the circumstances,” he said. “Everything that we’ve heard so far report-wise has been positive, and we’re super thankful about that.”
In his post-game press conference, Castleberry said, “He’s as good as he can be. He’s in good spirits.”
Castleberry described the scene when Baucom collapsed.
“We talked and he was coherent the whole time,” Castleberry said. “He just said that he was in pain, and immediately you could tell from the look in his eyes that it was very, very genuine.”
The 61-year-old Baucom has been the head coach at The Citadel since 2015, with previous stops at VMI and Tusculum. He holds a 67-120 record in seven seasons at the program.
The collapse was a cruel twist of fate for a North Carolina native who made no attempt how excited he was to play against the winningest coach in the history of college basketball.
From The Post and Courier:
Before the game, Baucom talked about how much it meant to coach against Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski at Cameron Indoor. Baucom was working as a state trooper in North Carolina from 1988-91, when Coach K was winning the first of five national titles in 1991.
“I never, ever imagined back then that I’d be in coaching box down the court from him,” Baucom said. “That would have been a pipe dream.”
Unfortunately, the pipe dream could only be realized for a little more than a minute.
