Fire Joe Alleva dot com

[A-Tex Devil]

Unlike many folks on this board, I would guess, I can live with a Duke University that either (A) goes a Vandy route and subsumes the administration of athletics into the rest of the University administration or (B) gradually de-emphasizes sports to the point that we withdraw from the ACC and go a UChicago or WashU sort of route. (A) would be the responsible way to do things on the cheap but maintain some sort of I-A/major conference status. (B) would be, to me, an acceptable reformulation of our institutional mission. Most sports fans would prefer (C) an approach of more commitment to winning in the rev and semi-rev sports and not relying on women's golf and women's LAX for our good pub. I'm cool with that too.

We need to either poo or get off the pot.

Count me in the group that thinks we better poo.

I'd more or less stop following Duke athletics if option (B) above ever happened - and that'd be heartbreaking for me. I'm simply not close enough to N.C. to be able to do it in a meaningful way (TV, etc.). I don't know any U of C or WashU grads (or heck, even Ivy grads) down here (of which there are a lot) that are able to, or try to, follow their schools. I chose Duke over schools like those partly because the experience I'd have as a student and an alumnus following D1 big time athletics. Sounds shallow, but I'm not alone.

The attempt to improve is not that hard, though. We just gotta show the effort, which we haven't.

Football: If Roof shows improvement on the field, stand by him. If not, hire an up and coming D-1AA headcoach with some post season chops. We'd get one. And we may lose him after any success, but so what, get another one.

Baseball: Must admit, I'm not sure how the new guy is working out. Again, though, if he doesn't, there are a ton of small D1 head coaches in small conferences that would kill to get a chance at the ACC.

WBB: Boyle sounds good to me. If not, again, go for a young up and comer with head coaching and post season experience. They are out there.

MBB: When K retires we just gotta keep an open mind - but again - head coaching experience. (I'd love a Billy Gillespie type, whoever that may be in 2015 or whenever K retires).

Some of these moves may not work out. And we have to be willing to hire, and not shy away from, coaches who may leave upon any success. But if Alleva and Co. continue to settle for former assistants and unproven alumni, instead of showing some creativity and some willingness to shake things up, then, yeah, we need to clean house.

[throatybeard]

And we have to be willing to hire, and not shy away from, coaches who may leave upon any success.

Concur 10000%.

Even if someone uses you as a stepping stone, they have to succeed to do that, and then you're at the level where they left you, instead of in the toilet like you were before they came. You keep hearing from informed people that almost no one of stature other than [very old] Bobby Ross was interested in the Duke job during the Roof search. But that was not the case during the Franks search, and we seem to have hired him partly out of a desire to do things on the cheap, and partly out of a fear that if we hired someone more qualified, who wasn't an alumnus, they'd leave after three years. If that's accurate, it's an asinine, defeatist approach.

Let me put this in a very shallow analogy. Would you rather be with Reese Witherspoon for 3 years and then she leaves you, or be with Tori Spelling for 3 years and then you reluctantly decide you have to dump her? I don't see how there's even a choice to make. The difficulty is in convincing Reese to get with you in the first place. So you bring your game, instead of insisting on going on dates armed with a $5 and a defeatist attitude.

To make it all come together, we just lost a future HOF coach who also happens to be an attractive woman. But I'm sure glad we got to date her for 14 years.

[hughgs]

Count me in the group that thinks we better poo.


Baseball: Must admit, I'm not sure how the new guy is working out. Again, though, if he doesn't, there are a ton of small D1 head coaches in small conferences that would kill to get a chance at the ACC.

Baseball has made a rapid improvement this year. They have lost only one non-conference game, something unheard of the last few years. And, in-conference they beat #1 FSU. They need to win a few more in-conference games, but considering what they did previously, they are definitely rising.

That being said, baseball at Duke will always have a hard time. Between the number of scholarships available and the cost of tuition it will be a tough road to hoe. If you look at the rosters of the visiting team you will be shocked by the difference between the number of players.

[Exiled_Devil]

Concur 10000%.

Even if someone uses you as a stepping stone, they have to succeed to do that, and then you're at the level where they left you, instead of in the toilet like you were before they came. You keep hearing from informed people that almost no one of stature other than [very old] Bobby Ross was interested in the Duke job during the Roof search. But that was not the case during the Franks search, and we seem to have hired him partly out of a desire to do things on the cheap, and partly out of a fear that if we hired someone more qualified, who wasn't an alumnus, they'd leave after three years. If that's accurate, it's an asinine, defeatist approach.

Let me put this in a very shallow analogy. Would you rather be with Reese Witherspoon for 3 years and then she leaves you, or be with Tori Spelling for 3 years and then you reluctantly decide you have to dump her? I don't see how there's even a choice to make. The difficulty is in convincing Reese to get with you in the first place. So you bring your game, instead of insisting on going on dates armed with a $5 and a defeatist attitude.

To make it all come together, we just lost a future HOF coach who also happens to be an attractive woman. But I'm sure glad we got to date her for 14 years.

Umm..Reese Witherspoon? Did I get the right answer?

Actually, I am right there with you on the non-metaphor. I think we need to think of Duke football like a mid-major in Bball - get a good coach and expect him to jump to a better job when he succeeds. Until we go thorugh 2 or 3 of those, we won't be able to attract anyone with a track record.

Exiled