What do you want in your next Duke AD?

[Classof06]

I want AD who actually acts like football exists. Say what you want about academics, there is absolutely no excuse for Alleva letting Duke become the laughing stock of Division 1 football. It was an embarrassment to the university and the administration watched losing season after losing season without lifting a finger. Simply pathetic.

And don't tell me Duke can't realistically compete in the ACC when Wake Forest just won the conference in football 2 seasons ago. Their academic requirements are barely discernable from Duke's and they're a smaller school.

[Surfsideron]

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...for a number of reasons,in addition to those mentioned by Stray.
Friends at the companion sports publication which covered FSU sports(The Osceola) noted that Hart says next to nothing when he speaks(15 minutes in conversation yields about 1 paragraph of usable material).
He insulates himself and divided the FSU alumns into pro-con camps.

Hart is a football man ,period.The overall sports program,despite a great population base in FL and GA, underperformed in terms of dollars spent using the Directors' Cup as a criterion.

IMHO,Hart is not a heavyweight.
In one of his first speeches, Dave said he wanted FSU athletics to model itself on Disney Corporation.Yet he knew little about Disney,including the fact that about 85% of employees were extremely low-payed ,while the top person earned about 60 millions a year( I like profit).Disney was one of 300 participating companies in my 3 year study that led to writing a couple books.Disney was having a great number of HBO problems--- frankly,he was very shallow in his reasoning.

IIRC,Dave was a Teaching English ,as opposed to an English , major at Alabama.Yet he always projected his major as English.Huge difference.

In addition, he said he played on the bball team.Efforts in calling Alabama to get details about that "playing" by a very prominent alumnus who was preparing a detailed intro of Hart at an important big giver event led to no info which confirmed his assertion of having "played." Dave may have played...

Dave was the vanguard for ACC expansion to include Miami,BC,and VT----replete with the unbalanced bball schedule.

I do not believe he would be a good fit at Duke,although he is smart and attracted highly competent people as associate ADs ,who helped insulate him from the rabble.

Best regards.

Obviously your fact finding needs work.

A lightweight? He was voted the best AD in the country by his peers.

He went to Alabama on a basketball scholarship. He may not have played significantly but he had a basketball scholarship.

The FSU sports program declined? Before he got there FSU was not in the top 100 in the Sears Cup, now they are in the top 20. The Women's Soccer program is contender for FF in that sport on a continuous basis.

Who cares what his major was? The AD at Oregon didn't even go to college!

The vanguard for ACC expansion, yes. The ACC needed a football boost and they got it. Do you think he might be able to give Duke a football boost? Did the vote to expand include anyone else's vote other than FSU's? Did maybe other people see the need to expand? I think the basketball thing will work out. The Big East has, what 16?, teams and they are making it work.

Your Disney analogy makes no sense at all. What is your point?

He says next to nothing when making statements. Hmmm, did Aleva say much when the lacrosse team was under the gun? Did he say much when Duke lost its women's basketball coach?

He insulated himself and divided alums into pro/con camps.
More so than did Aleva!! Give me a break. Every AD at every school can't please all of the people all of the time.

As for the NCAA "infraction" that players were receiving answers to tests....A tudor gave answers to the players. As soon as Hart found out it was reported to the NCAA. Tell me how an AD can be held responsible not only for 1200+ athletes but also for their tudors!

although he is smart and attracted highly competent people as associate ADs ,who helped insulate him from the rabble.

I'm not sure you are trying to turn this into a negative or not but based on the rest of your post I'll assume you are. Now I was in management all my life and I found that the best way to be successful was to "insulate" myself with the best people possible. This helped me and my company to be successful. I would assume you would want the same for Duke and whomever they hire as AD.

[Devil07]

As for the NCAA "infraction" that players were receiving answers to tests....A tudor gave answers to the players.

Which one? I've always been partial to Henry VIII, but that's just me...

[Stray Gator]

Obviously your fact finding needs work.

A lightweight? He was voted the best AD in the country by his peers.

He went to Alabama on a basketball scholarship. He may not have played significantly but he had a basketball scholarship.

The FSU sports program declined? Before he got there FSU was not in the top 100 in the Sears Cup, now they are in the top 20. The Women's Soccer program is contender for FF in that sport on a continuous basis.

Who cares what his major was? The AD at Oregon didn't even go to college!

The vanguard for ACC expansion, yes. The ACC needed a football boost and they got it. Do you think he might be able to give Duke a football boost? Did the vote to expand include anyone else's vote other than FSU's? Did maybe other people see the need to expand? I think the basketball thing will work out. The Big East has, what 16?, teams and they are making it work.

Your Disney analogy makes no sense at all. What is your point?

He says next to nothing when making statements. Hmmm, did Aleva say much when the lacrosse team was under the gun? Did he say much when Duke lost its women's basketball coach?

He insulated himself and divided alums into pro/con camps.
More so than did Aleva!! Give me a break. Every AD at every school can't please all of the people all of the time.

As for the NCAA "infraction" that players were receiving answers to tests....A tudor gave answers to the players. As soon as Hart found out it was reported to the NCAA. Tell me how an AD can be held responsible not only for 1200+ athletes but also for their tudors!

although he is smart and attracted highly competent people as associate ADs ,who helped insulate him from the rabble.

I'm not sure you are trying to turn this into a negative or not but based on the rest of your post I'll assume you are. Now I was in management all my life and I found that the best way to be successful was to "insulate" myself with the best people possible. This helped me and my company to be successful. I would assume you would want the same for Duke and whomever they hire as AD.

First of all, I don't know the basis for your vigorous advocacy on behalf of Dave Hart. Regarding your statement that blueprofessor's "fact finding needs work," however, you should understand that blueprofessor not only resides in Tallahassee (as I did for 26 years before moving to Tampa in 2003), but I believe he has been for at least the last 15 years a member of the faculty at FSU who is both involved with and supportive of FSU athletics. I think his sources and credibility are pretty reliable.

Second, you suggest that Hart is no less articulate than Alleva, and that he deserves substantial credit for the ACC expansion. I submit that neither of these attributes are likely to be deemed particularly laudable by those charged with responsibility for hiring Duke's next athletic director, and certainly won't win him much support among the Iron Dukes.

You speak of expansion giving ACC football a "boost"? Did you happen to see the laughable turnout for the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville? And did you notice how many ACC teams appeared in BCS or New Year's Day bowl games? Unless I'm mistaken, since the last expansion in 2004, the ACC has had only one team--the automatic qualifier--in a BCS bowl each year; and for those keeping score, all 4 of those BCS appearances by ACC teams were losses. That's a "boost"?

Third, if the AD is not responsible for the proper administration of a tutoring program provided by the university's athletics department for the benefit of the university's athletes, who should be held accountable? Do you believe the tutor who was going to be scapegoated before the attempted internal cover-up collapsed should still be held solely at fault? You can bet your sweet bippy that Ole T.K. ain't gonna accept any blame.

Finally, I think that when blueprofessor mentioned that Hart was smart and surrounded himself with competent assistants who insulated him from the rabble, he was trying to be kind more than complimentary. Duke already has a number of superb administrators in the athletic department, and I hope the candidate who is selected to be the next AD will not need those individuals to "insulate" him, but will be able through astute and imaginative and forceful leadership to marshal their talents and energy to build an even better athletic program at Duke.

Like I said, I don't really have anything against Hart; I just don't see anything special that qualifies him as a desirable candidate for the AD position at Duke, when I think we can do far better.

[Surfsideron]

Which one? I've always been partial to Henry VIII, but that's just me...

Good gosh did I say tudor instead of tutor....thanks for embarrassing me, as I embarrassed myself!!!!

[blueprofessor]

Obviously your fact finding needs work.

A lightweight? He was voted the best AD in the country by his peers.

He went to Alabama on a basketball scholarship. He may not have played significantly but he had a basketball scholarship.

The FSU sports program declined? Before he got there FSU was not in the top 100 in the Sears Cup, now they are in the top 20. The Women's Soccer uprogram is contender for FF in that sport on a continuous basis.

Who cares what his major was? The AD at Oregon didn't even go to college!

The vanguard for ACC expansion, yes. The ACC needed a football boost and they got it. Do you think he might be able to give Duke a football boost? Did the vote to expand include anyone else's vote other than FSU's? Did maybe other people see the need to expand? I think the basketball thing will work out. The Big East has, what 16?, teams and they are making it work.

Your Disney analogy makes no sense at all. What is your point?

He says next to nothing when making statements. Hmmm, did Aleva say much when the lacrosse team was under the gun? Did he say much when Duke lost its women's basketball coach?

He insulated himself and divided alums into pro/con camps.
More so than did Aleva!! Give me a break. Every AD at every school can't please all of the people all of the time.

As for the NCAA "infraction" that players were receiving answers to tests....A tudor gave answers to the players. As soon as Hart found out it was reported to the NCAA. Tell me how an AD can be held responsible not only for 1200+ athletes but also for their tudors!

although he is smart and attracted highly competent people as associate ADs ,who helped insulate him from the rabble.

I'm not sure you are trying to turn this into a negative or not but based on the rest of your post I'll assume you are. Now I was in management all my life and I found that the best way to be successful was to "insulate" myself with the best people possible. This helped me and my company to be successful. I would assume you would want the same for Duke and whomever they hire as AD.

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...noted. Stray certainly hit some essential points in his rebuttal.

I will attempt to address other matters you raised .

Dave should not have used Disney as an organization he wished FSU's athletic department to emulate.Disney was a very selfish company with little expressed concern for its employees.It was led by an egocentric CEO who made certain he received enormous benefits (up to 90 millions a year) even when Disney underperformed.I am certainly a capitalist, but this remuneration circumstance is offensive. There were many other systemic deficiencies in the company that rendered it a very poor model for any athletic dept.Dave did not analyze the company before running his mouth.

I do not care what his Alabama major was,but he should not have allowed it to be embellished as it was metamorphosed from Teaching English to English.
I assume you fathom the difficulty of securing an English degree from any school.
Dave was a divider,regardless of Alleva's actions in the same regard.I am not an admirer of Alleva,but he was better than Hart for Duke.

Hart did not like to interact with the alumni and did insulate himself to an extreme.

The awards for outstanding admins are heavily politicked : he was talented at
getting his way.I do not like the outcomes for FSU or for the ACC of his judgment.It is debatable whether we academically(certainly not) or athletically upgraded the ACC by adding the 3 expansion schools.

IIRC, FSU's highest Directors' Cup rankings ever have been 15,17,22 and 24,in spite of a huge budget.In fact, FSU was as high as 49,46,39,46 again,39 again,35,and 30 under Hart.Duke,UNC,and occasionally Wake Forest are higher,and UNC and Duke have a much higher average finish over the last 15 years.In fact Duke has been higher for the last 11 years---sometimes by staggering margins . Duke has finished #7,16,21,18,5,8,and 11 in those years,and is on target for a top 10 finish this year.If one considers the cost/benefit analysis, that FSU performance is decidedly disappointing.Duke does not have a budget that compares to FSU's.

Hart might be a decent fit somewhere(footballcentric state school with a huge budget).

I hope I have adequately explained some of the matters you raised.Except for 3 years at British universities, I have been a professor at this school since 1985---perhaps not a great length for a longitudinal study,but not insignificant either.I have also served on a number of booster appointed committees and helped establish a national position award in college football named after an FSU player who had to clean his hands with turpentine after games!I have a certain affection for the school,turning down professorships at universities in Britain,as well as another school with which most on this board are intimately familiar, that rank considerably higher .I say that because I want to stress my commitment to this school is long lasting. I have no animus regarding Dave,but he is not Duke material.

Best regards.

[pratt '04]

Great quote from interim AD Chris Kennedy in today's Chronicle:

The role is to keep things together, keep things moving forward and beat the snot out of Carolina every time we play them.

link

[Lotus000]

I would like a Duke person--yeah, I like inside hires. Somebody with some prior Duke experience. Why? It's important to me.

I want somebody who takes the Carlyle Cup seriously--making sure every major sport is on an elite level is important to this goal, and an end that will justify the means.

And on a PC note...when will everybody realize that in a general comment 'guy' or 'gentleman' is pretty much gender neutral. We'd all be fine with a woman at the helm of Duke athletics.

On a second aside, Coach K will have a GIGANTIC say in whomever Duke hires. More so than Brodhead.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I would like a Duke person--yeah, I like inside hires. Somebody with some prior Duke experience. Why? It's important to me.

I want somebody who takes the Carlyle Cup seriously--making sure every major sport is on an elite level is important to this goal, and an end that will justify the means.

And on a PC note...when will everybody realize that in a general comment 'guy' or 'gentleman' is pretty much gender neutral. We'd all be fine with a woman at the helm of Duke athletics.

On a second aside, Coach K will have a GIGANTIC say in whomever Duke hires. More so than Brodhead.

Mr. Brodhead is appointing the search committee.

[Devil07]

I recall that during the most recent football search the school hired a consultant to help. His name escapes me, but I remember reading about how well regarded he was. And I think most of us would agree that the search ended with a great fit. Does anyone know whether or not we plan on using his or a comparable service this go round? I don't know who will be on the search committee, but I for one would really like to see them take this as seriously as they took the football search. Spending the extra money to bring in an outside consultant would be a wise move in my opinion.

[Bluedawg]

Interesting comments from Greg Beaton

Where Duke goes from here is now the most important question-one which I'd imagine President Richard Brodhead and his administration have been considering for quite some time. There are two strong internal candidates: Senior Associate Director of Athletics Chris Kennedy, Associate Director of Athletics Jacki Silar and Associate Director of Athletics Mike Cragg, although Kennedy told The Chronicle Monday that he would not seek the position. Cragg has compiled an impressive resume during his 21 years at Duke and will likely receive internal support, particularly considering his closeness to the men's basketball program.

If Brodhead wants to cement his legacy in terms of athletics, however, he'll look outside the walls of the Gothic Wonderland to find an innovative leader with a strong academic profile. Given its combination of athletic and academic prowess, Duke should be the type of place that would attract a long list of impressive candidates that fit this billing.

And maybe, with a new athletic director, the type of place where a fan can see a few football wins, too.