Gail loved and loves Duke and her team here. That has been made more than evident during her tenure. People on this thread are complaining about her never having won an NC. Do you remember how long it took Coach K, how many trips to the Final Four he made before he won? This year was obviously a huge disappointment, but Coach G can't go out and hit Lindsay Harding's free throws in the last game... don't you think she was totally and completely devastated by the loss?
I do have some inside information that I cannot share, but let me say this. The decision to go to Texas had very little to do with Duke and a great deal to do with a very personal issue that made it almost a mandatory decision for her. I am confident that had that issue not arisen (and it was not a self-imposed issue), she would still be here.
As to her passion for going to Texas, it may be a little like Lou Holtz writing into his early contracts that, if Notre Dame offered him a job, he was gone. As gadzooks said so eloquently, "OK, to put this into perspective, during the 80s, when she was coming up in college and into coaching, Texas was the premier women's basketball program, the way UT or UConn is today." Gail meant no disrespect for Duke at all, and I think deep down, she is going to miss this program and this school more than she can imagine. But I still wish her the very best of luck and hope that she can make a good situation at Texas.
One more question: Had Coach K decided to go to the Lakers (or the Celtics or anywhere else), would you have bombarded him with the bitter and almost hostile comments that are being posted here by a few of us? Would we have been incredibly unhappy and disappointed? Damn right we would have. But we all would have had to recognize that he needed to follow his heart/dream/whatever. Let's let Gail go after hers with nothing but positive memories of Duke.
By the way, when Texas plays Duke, she is going to be my worst enemy
... but when they play most other places, I'm going to be cheering for her
!