Stanford has hired former Duke player and assistant coach Johnny Dawkins as head coach of the men’s basketball team, the University announced Saturday.

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Johnny Dawkins, an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski for 11 years, will replace Trent Johnson as the head coach for the Stanford men’s basketball team. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/9060
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Johnny Dawkins, an assistant coach at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski for 11 years, will replace Trent Johnson as the head coach for the Stanford men’s basketball team.

The 44-year-old Dawkins comes to the Farm after 11 years at Duke, the past nine as associate head coach to Mike Krzyzewski. The former All-American lacks head coaching experience but won out over two other finalists with Stanford ties — current Cardinal assistant and former Idaho State head coach Doug Oliver and Portland head coach Eric Reveno, a former Stanford player and assistant.

Dawkins replaces Pac-10 Coach of the Year Trent Johnson, who took the head coaching position at Louisiana State on April 10. Dawkins will be formally introduced at a press conference Monday.

“We are thrilled to welcome Johnny and his family to Stanford,” Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby said. “His credentials as a player, combined with his coaching experience gained mentoring under a Hall of Fame coach at a university such as Duke, made him a perfect fit for Stanford.”

Many speculated that the soft-spoken Dawkins would be the eventual replacement for Krzyzewski. Both at Duke and the U.S. Olympic team under Krzyzewski, Dawkins was primarily responsible for player development, an important trait for a Stanford program faced with rigorous recruiting standards.

“The philosophies of the two programs both on the court and in the classroom are very similar,” Bowlsby said. “I am confident Johnny’s leadership skills, coaching ability and commitment to attract top-flight student-athletes will be a driving force in continuing Stanford’s tradition of basketball excellence.”

During his 11 years on the sidelines at Duke, the Blue Devils were 330-60, winning seven ACC Tournament titles, six ACC regular season championships and the national championship in 2001. Nine Duke players were drafted in the NBA lottery, and four were national players of the year.

Dawkins inherits a Stanford team that reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2001. But the Cardinal’s top scorers from last season, seven-foot twins Brook and Robin Lopez, both declared for the NBA draft. Stanford’s strength next season will likely be on the perimeter, around seniors-to-be Mitch Johnson, Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill.

Such a style would not mark a major departure for Dawkins, whose Duke teams in recent years have played primarily around the perimeter.

The terms of Dawkins’s deal were not announced, but his contract will likely be for four or five years, worth around $600,000 a year. Johnson, who was seeking a five to six year contract extension at Stanford, will make at least $1.2 million a year for five seasons at LSU, with additional bonuses available if the team meets certain performance and academic standards.

Dawkins is the second high profile hiring in as many years for Bowlsby, who is making his mark after becoming Stanford’s Athletic Director in 2006. The first, head football coach Jim Harbaugh, was largely seen as a success after he led the Cardinal to upset victories over USC and Cal last season.

Like Harbaugh, Dawkins has played professionally. He was the tenth pick overall in the 1986 NBA draft by San Antonio and played nine seasons for the Spurs, 76ers and Pistons. His NBA pedigree, Stanford hopes, should be an asset in the recruiting process.

His first test will be to retain Stanford’s 2008 recruiting class. He received good news when Jarrett Mann, a 6-5 swingman from New Jersey, said Saturday that he would honor his letter of intent to come to Stanford.

“I think it was a good decision,” Mann told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve heard he’s developed a lot of players like Luol Deng and Jay Williams. This is definitely a relief because I didn’t know which way [Stanford] was headed.”

But Miles Plumlee, a 6-9 forward from North Carolina, asked to be released from his letter of intent last week. It was not clear whether Stanford has granted a release, but Plumlee is expected to be courted by several east coast schools, including Duke.