Its Kevin White

[Bluedawg]

You're correct about the unwritten rule about coaches moving to other ACC institutions. Off the top of my head, I can think of only a few HC moves:

1) Jim Tatum (Maryland to UNC)
2) Bobby Ross (Maryland to GA Tech)
3) Tom O'Brien (BC to NC State)

Also, I'm not sure what softball has to do with Duke. Just another sport to appease some Title IX dork.

As far as AD's are concerned, I can't think of a single instance. It's just not done in the ACC like it is in the SEC and a few other leagues.

And State did not go after Tom O'Brien. Tom O'Brien contacted State. They would have been stupid to pass that up.

[formerdukeathlete]

Duke has $8.2 billion in endowment and assets managed by its investment company DUMAC as of Feb 2008, which is about $7 billion more than it had a decade ago. Duke's investment returns routinely lead the nation, earning over 25% in one year. How is it possible that Duke still funds the fewest scholarships in the ACC with 250 or so? Duke could endow 350 scholarships like Stanford today if it wanted to but where's the rush and what's the point? Recruits don't care if Stanford has 350 endowed scholarships or Duke gives out 350 unendowed scholarships.

Funding 100 extra scholarships per year would cost $5 million, or one half of one percent of the at least $1 billion Duke makes in investment returns every year. That money isn't going anywhere or doing anything, it's just sitting in the bank growing. Duke had none of that just 10 years ago but Duke is still acting like a pauper instead of the multibillionaire it is.

Stanford had already endowed all 350 or so of its scholarships a decade ago and was winning every Sears Cup when it may have been worth $8 billion or so. In fact they might have done it 15-20 years ago when they were worth far less than Duke has now. So what's the excuse for Duke not doing the same or even coming close to that?

Just add sports and scholarships and top coaches. Right now Duke has so much cash it wouldn't know what the hell to do with it all after endowing all scholarships and funding everything imaginable. Imagine what it will be in 10 years. At a minimum Duke could fund 100 extra scholarships per year now. Later when it has a few spare trillions lying around it can endow them all, whatever. Harvard has at least $35 billion and terrible sports. If Duke keeps holding back on adding sports like softball and insisting on having the fewest scholarships in the ACC, the commitment to athletics really has to be questioned.

Maybe Kevin White can get Duke its own basketball contract like ND had its own NBC football deal. No way Duke should be giving Clemson as much basketball TV revenue as it gets from ESPN, while Clemson and the football schools get to keep their stadium revenues away from Duke. The ACC is a trainwreck with 12 schools anyway, they can be 11 without Duke. That's one good thing that might come from the Kevin White hiring.

are some of the assets managed by DUMAC pension assets of Duke employees? because if these are, these do not count as endowment funds.

Duke is under-endowed, from the standpoint of the percentage of its annual operating budget which is covered by endowment income. This we have heard for years, and it continues to be true / the case.

One of the things brought brightly to the attention of the Duke admin. and Trustees in the strategic plan process was that athletic departments cost money to run. 3 Ivy league schools athletic departments require subsidies of at least $20 million. And, the deficits at such schools do not take into account financial aid/scholarship costs for recruited student athletes. At harvard, 18% of the undergrad student body are recruited student athletes. It is safe to say that most of these student athletes would not have been assured admission to Harvard, Penn, Cornell but for their recruitment. For an apples to apples comparison, one needs to add financial aid costs to the $20 million subsidy. Perhaps the real number is $40 million per year.

Contrast this with Duke, where the current subsidy, decucting all expenses including all athletic scholarship costs, is $5 million.

We have a real bargain being a member of the ACC and playing big time. I believe this is not lost on the admin and Trustees at this point.

Stanford's A Dept endowed its athletic scholarships, and continues to raise (separately from the University) additional endowment funds. Duke was late to make athletic department fundraising a priority. Nan did not make it a priority. So we are way behind.

With the above, Duke could offer the NCAA full allotment of scholarships in every sport, right now, for an additional cost of about $4 million per year. This would bring up our subsidy to $9 million.

If you check the NCAA allotted schollies in each sport, you will find that limits are slanted toward equalization outside of Football. Women's b-ball gets more than men, women's track more, women's swimming more. At Duke presently, wrestling gets none, men's track virtually none, men's swimming none, fencing none. Before adding softball or other sports, Duke might just bring all sports up to the NCAA allowable limits. Women would still be awarded more schollies a year than men (even counting Football) and we would be way in compliance with Title IX. I am all for adding sports, but right now we are in need of many more scholarships for what we offer, and our football and basketball venues are slated for some major redos.

All that said, I am not so sure that we needed a White to get done what Duke needs to get done. I listened to the press conference. When he emphasized as the 3 most important things compliance, I thought, "What did we need to hire this guy for?" We have a great compliance function. What we do need is tremendous fundraising, and I am not convinced he was the best person, under the circumstances.

[Dopeshop]

The AD search committee hired Gene Corrigan as a consultant.(Duke grad and former ND ADGene's son Kevin is LAX coach at ND.When Pressler was fired ,Kevin was a candidate for the Duke job. I understand Gene counseled his son to stay at ND and I believe Joe Aleva was the primary basis . With Aleva gone ,I think Gene was more than happy to make the pitch for Kevin White. By the way, I expect Kevin Corrigan to get a serious look from UNC.
I ,for one, applaud the hire .I remember the angst we went through after Butters left. We couldn't even get the guy from Iowa State to come for an interview! No one, it seems , was high on becoming Coach K's boss.Kevin White has the maturity and experience to help Duke.

[Inonehand]

The AD search committee hired Gene Corrigan as a consultant.(Duke grad and former ND ADGene's son Kevin is LAX coach at ND.When Pressler was fired ,Kevin was a candidate for the Duke job. I understand Gene counseled his son to stay at ND and I believe Joe Aleva was the primary basis . With Aleva gone ,I think Gene was more than happy to make the pitch for Kevin White. By the way, I expect Kevin Corrigan to get a serious look from UNC.
I ,for one, applaud the hire .I remember the angst we went through after Butters left. We couldn't even get the guy from Iowa State to come for an interview! No one, it seems , was high on becoming Coach K's boss.Kevin White has the maturity and experience to help Duke.

The statement about Gene Corrigan telling his son to stay at ND because of Joe Alleva is simply false. Kevin did not get the job. Plain and simple. Doesn't make him a bad coach. He just didn't get it.

[roywhite]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colum...t&lid=tab3pos2

From the article:
Notre Dame is looking for a new athletic director today because it neutered the previous one.

The surgical procedure, done without the benefit of privacy or anesthesia, was performed on Kevin White on Nov. 30, 2004 -- the day the school's president and board of trustees ignored White's objections and fired football coach Tyrone Willingham. ...

Kevin White said he was "euphoric" to land the athletic director's job at Duke.
Last Friday, White found his landing zone in Durham, N.C.: Duke University. And when he got there, White said he was "euphoric" to leave Notre Dame for the Blue Devils. I repeat, "euphoric."

[Thurber Whyte]

The statement about Gene Corrigan telling his son to stay at ND because of Joe Alleva is simply false. Kevin did not get the job. Plain and simple. Doesn't make him a bad coach. He just didn't get it.

I do not know what if anything Gene Corrigan said to Kevin, but Kevin withdrew his name from consideration after his interview saying that he wanted to stay at Notre Dame.

[Inonehand]

I do not know what if anything Gene Corrigan said to Kevin, but Kevin withdrew his name from consideration after his interview saying that he wanted to stay at Notre Dame.

Most coaches pull out of searches when it is evident they are not getting the job. Either way, he has a good job and is a good coach.

[devilirium]

Judging from the Alleva update provided by DBR, he still has problems with truth telling.

1) As DBR pointed out, Bayou Joe said that Nifong suspended his credibility with being so convincing (?)...Huh? You couldn't convince Adam's housecat with that argument.

2) Three weeks ago, Joe granted an interview to Adam Gold and was asked about improvements for Wallace Wade and whether or not Coach Cutcliffe's predecessors suggested improvements to the stadium. Gold asked him twice and I'll give credit to Alleva for being a consistent liar--in both cases he said that neither coach had made recommendations. While I can't speak for Carl...I saw the model of the new stadium with Watzone in Ted's office--it was a rendering that appeared on the press guide this past year. It had colonnades, a new scoreboard, etc.

I'm sure that Joe did some good while he was here, but honesty wasn't his strong suit. And you wonder why he wasn't nationally connected like Kevin White? Hmmmm...

Small wonder that Joe was asked to look for a job a year ago...he wasn't credible. He had lost whatever base he had.

Kevin White: You're arrival to Duke couldn't come sooner.

[Inonehand]

Judging from the Alleva update provided by DBR, he still has problems with truth telling.

1) As DBR pointed out, Bayou Joe said that Nifong suspended his credibility with being so convincing (?)...Huh? You couldn't convince Adam's housecat with that argument.

2) Three weeks ago, Joe granted an interview to Adam Gold and was asked about improvements for Wallace Wade and whether or not Coach Cutcliffe's predecessors suggested improvements to the stadium. Gold asked him twice and I'll give credit to Alleva for being a consistent liar--in both cases he said that neither coach had made recommendations. While I can't speak for Carl...I saw the model of the new stadium with Watzone in Ted's office--it was a rendering that appeared on the press guide this past year. It had colonnades, a new scoreboard, etc.

I'm sure that Joe did some good while he was here, but honesty wasn't his strong suit. And you wonder why he wasn't nationally connected like Kevin White? Hmmmm...

Small wonder that Joe was asked to look for a job a year ago...he wasn't credible. He had lost whatever base he had.

Kevin White: You're arrival to Duke couldn't come sooner.

No doubt, both of those statements are complete bull. However, I'm afraid we just got rid of an AD with no power and hired one that is used to having no power. You think ND's trustees and president ran athletics up there...we have our own issues with that down here.

[devilirium]

^agree...I'm going to assume that there's a bit of difference in degree. It seemed that Tom Butters made me so many good and lasting hires (certainly he had some gaffes, too) that the folks in the administration assumed that Joe could do the same thing, initially. In the non-revenue hiring arena, Joe did a pretty good job. There's no reason to think that the committee and he did a poor job with the Cutcliffe hiring.

With White getting the VP title (something different than Joe)...how does that impact his "powers" ?Obviously, it impacts his chain of command. He doesn't report to Tallman--he reports to Brodhead.

[gep]

With White getting the VP title (something different than Joe)...how does that impact his "powers" ?Obviously, it impacts his chain of command. He doesn't report to Tallman--he reports to Brodhead.

I was also wondering about the title. And, is Coach K still "special assistant to the president" or something like that?

[Inonehand]

I was also wondering about the title. And, is Coach K still "special assistant to the president" or something like that?

I don't read too much into the title but I do believe it was at least a statement by the president that White would have a bigger say down here than at Notre Dame. There are other EVP/VP types in the administration that have had their powers lessened over the last couple of years. That said, maybe he will have more power than Joe...don't know. However, I believe, Joe lost power the day he took the AD job, not just later in his tenure. Quite honestly, the administration was about tired of Butters and the weight he carried.

[devilirium]

^that makes perfect sense. Bill Brill suggested that Nan Keohane didn't want someone as powerful as Butters--hence the Alleva hire. With Joe's reign coming to end, there was more of a feeling to go back to a candidate that was a sitting AD--thus ruling out Leo Hart and Mike Cragg.

[RPS]

A bit off-topic, but...

Cal was said to be working with Kevin White re a home-and-home football series with ND. Some Cal insiders (and even more not-so-insiders) are speculating that Sandy Barbour (a terrific AD in my view) will now look to put such a series together with Duke. Is there any talk like that coming out of Durham?

I'm not anything approaching a disinterested observer, but I'd love to see it...