Lacrosse Coach of Year Danowski about to leave for Rutgers?!

[laxbluedevil]

HUGE NEWS that ACC Coach of the Year Danowski is being courted by big money from Rutgers AND has stated that he's open to offers from his alma mater Rutgers or anyone else since he has to look out for his family! This hasn't even been mentioned anywhere else on Duke sites. Can someone that's on other Duke boards like Rivals or Scout post this stuff and get the Duke Chronicle and other local papers to write about this so fans know. We need to make it clear to Duke and AD Kevin White that we can't lose Danowski to an inferior school the way we lost Goestenkors. By the way, Duke just lost its top womens basketball assistant that just brought in the nation's #1 recruiting class to an assistants job with lowly Louisville! This is ridiculous. Duke is the best lacrosse school and program in the nation, best academics while offering athletic scholarships and winning the best conference.

Duke has to pay Danowski whatever he needs and lock him up with long term contracts with big buyouts because he's the best coach in the country. 5 final fours in all 5 years at Duke, and the next 3 years and beyond will be even better as long as he sticks around. It's been in the news that from a week ago or longer that Rutgers has been going after Danowski. By contrast, the day after it was in the news that Navy was going after Maryland's coach Tillman, the terps and Tillman both announced he is staying and has a big $500,000 buyout. The twerps can do this but Duke's lacrosse coach is still on the market for the likes of Rutgers? What is Danowski's salary and buyout and contract terms? Duke needs to announce immediately that Danowski is staying and give him a long term contract extension. Was this done after last year's championship like it should have been? Again, spread the news and pressure Duke Athletics to do the obvious thing and keep Danowski at the best lacrosse school where he belongs!

[laxbluedevil]

From the Rutgers rivals board:

"Latest is a 4 hour meeting between TP and Dino in the end Dino was offered the job and it is his if he wants it. the issue will be the package if it is close to what he makes at Duke we are good to go...

..Just to add to the speculation I was told that his decision will be soon and that we have a good chance to get him...

...heard the same. You hearing anything on assistants?...

...Only one and it would be someone he is very familar with

...Awesome. Pretty sure you're hearing the same thing I am."

Danowski might leave soon if nobody at Duke is able to know about this, there will be no pressure to keep him, and he'll leave just like Goestenkors did. Apparently Danowski's wife and family still lives in the NY/NJ area. People at Duke, Chronicle, local papers, etc., aren't answering their phones or don't care. Will Duke fans please help get the word out, and get Duke athletics to do the right thing?

[uh_no]

First: calm down.

We all appreciate what coach D has done for this program, and would like him to stay. It would be a huge hit for the team if he left. But in the end, its unlikely that Dr. White would offer him money at the bidding of a bunch of fans on a message board (money talks well though....). The best thing to do in this situation is to let Coach D know how much he is appreciated here at Duke (which is the same think K claims kept him here....along with a raise)

Unfortunately, though, despite its huge success, Duke lacrosse may not have the resources available to offer coach danowski a larger contract.

If duke cannot hang on to him, and he chooses to leave, I wish him the best and assume he has made the best decision for himself and his family.

[laxbluedevil]

Duke has ten times the endowment of Rutgers at a tiny fraction of its size and the gap is rapidly growing. Duke is considered by many to be the best combo of academics and Big time athletics anywhere in the nation, or world. Rutgers hasn't stood out in any sport in recent memory, probably since Danowski was playing for a top 20 team almost 40 years ago. In team sports, Duke excels at basketball and lacrosse. Duke already fired national coach of the year Pressler. Duke lost national coach of the year Goestenkors and recently the #1 class recruiting assistant in womens basketball to lesser programs and schools. I'm pretty sure nobody's gone after Duke's womens lacrosse coach since schools like Maryland, Northwestern, UVA, UNC, have won all the titles or dominated recently. Again as for resources, aren't all the Duke mens basketball assistants paid over $1 million, along with Cutcliffe's $1.5 million? How does the mens hoops assistants salaries compare to others nationally? Danowski has been to 5 final fours, every year at Duke, and could have the #1 or 2 team each of the next 3 years and beyond. He is the best coach in the nation along with UVA's Starsia whom he has dominated.

Duke should simply pay Danowski what he's worth and most importantly, give him a long term contract with big buyout just like Maryland did with their new young coach Tillmann. Maryland took one day to quash rumors of Tillman going to Navy, Duke's letting this drag on for over a week without one mention of it anywhere, just like Rutgers wants it. Duke has more resources than any other lacrosse program, and the best program for coaches and players. Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the nation with the biggest athletic programs all over the nation throwing huge money into new programs. Also one of the most prestigious of sports with the Ivies, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and others excelling at it. If Duke loses yet another top coach of the year to a lesser program and school, many would have to wonder if Duke can hang on to any top coach except in mens basketball, or cares about any other sport. Duke's administrators and AD and even media and fans would have a lot to answer for.

[J.Blink]

Duke is considered by many to be the best combo of academics and Big time athletics anywhere in the nation, or world

I thought that was Stanford? </duck>

But seriously, your posts are slightly histrionic. While I can't say I'm a big lax fan, I'm _hugely_ appreciative of Coach Danowski's amazing achievements since he took over at a very a bad spot, and his role in restoring (and improving!) Duke lax's status. I hope he stays and his and Duke's successes continue! However, you can't underestimate the role of family in people's decisions. This goes for coaches as well as everybody else. I've always heard that a very large part of Coach G's decision to leave was based on personal life events. Can't blame her for making decisions that worked for me. Likewise with Danowski--if his family is living in NJ, and he wants to leave to be closer to them, I can't blame the guy.

Please don't sound so hysterical when you're talking about real people making personal decisions! It's hardly an earthshaking disaster for a university if an employee wants to be with their family. May be sad, may be a setback, and may directly impact some students more than others. I wonder how many people were calling for Stanley Fish to be given huge raises (500k for a faculty member? preposterous!!) so the Duke English department didn't lose him and be relegated to second tier status. Did the Duke administrators have "a lot to answer for" there?

[uh_no]

Duke has ten times the endowment of Rutgers at a tiny fraction of its size and the gap is rapidly growing.

Rutgers is also a public university, and thus has the benefit of state funds instead of an endowment for funds. Also consider that the athletic department is not the beneficiary of endowment funds less the 16 million stipend they get each year. The faculty balks at that amount. Departments are being forced to cut budgets and professors haven't had a raise in 3 years. What makes you think it would be prudent to further drain funds from academics to increase the athletics stipend?

Now since the funds would have to come from within the athletics department, where do you suggest we cut them? perhaps the basketball team's trip to china? perhaps we should cut the mens cross country team? maybe we don't need to get rid of the 'ridiculous track' (as one fan put it) and spend a bunch to build a new stadium?

I'm all for figuring out how to keep our coach, I'm just pointing out that its not as simple as you make it. The money has to come from somewhere, and Kevin White can't simply walk over to the atm and withdraw from the endowment. The athletics department is a business. There is a decision here: either pay D more money to keep him, or end up finding a new coach. The question becomes whether the value that D brings to the athletics department (value=revenue...which is undoubtedly tied to team performance) over the value that another coach would bring is more or less than the increase in revenue. With the fact that LAX is not a huge revenue bringer anyway (wish I had hard numbers), I doubt that the team would earn significantly less money without D as the coach. The same was true with G 5 years ago (or whatever it was), and the duke women have been very successful. Judging by the fact that Lax has had 2 coaches in the past 10 years both of whom have been very successful at recruiting and performing, I would think that the Lax team would be able to survive his departure, as hard as it would be emotionally.

Again this is a simple cost/value analysis, and is not representative of what I would WANT to happen.

[shoutingncu]

I thought that was Stanford? </duck>

Not only that, but the "lesser program" that Coach G chose may have some "big time athletics" of their own.

[laxbluedevil]

Isn't Stan Fish viewed more negatively than positively by most people? Last things we should do is compare Fish to Danowski who's been to 5 final fours every year at Duke and completely turned Duke lacrosse around to make it into a great feelgood story about Duke. Stanford hasn't won a national title anyone cares about in recent memory. 50,000 fans go to the lacrosse final four and its the fastest growing sport. I prefer Duke for its hoops and lax. Take lax away and Duke becomes far less interesting.

Every athletic department has to pay their top coaches what they're worth and most have far less than Duke. Danowski has dominated 4 time national champ and alltime wins leader Starsia of UVA who's only been to 1 final four since 2007 while Danowski's been to 5 with a program that's only getting better. Duke has tons of athletics money, paying mens hoops assistants 7 figures each Womens hoops just lost its #1 recruiting class assistant to an assistants job with lowly Louisville. I'm not saying Duke should pay mens hoops assistants less at all. Obviously Duke has plenty of money if they can afford to do that.

State schools shouldn't be able to pay as much as wealthy private schools with ten times the endowment, NJ has huge deficits. Rutgers has been raising lots of money for a lacrosse coach though, and it would be an outstanding investment.

uh no, I have to say I'm a little disturbed about you mentioning a specific $16 million that Dr. White has to work with. Are you implying you're connected enough to know what's going on and Duke aint gonna pay to keep Danowski and preemptively defending pennypinchers or Dr. White? Most athletic departments lose money and rely on mens hoops and football to pay for other sports. We saw this same logic from people who seemed to be totally fine with Goestenkors leaving. Yet we offered her $1 million to stay, too late. Duke's going to spend money on nonrevenue sports anyway but will lose revenue, donations, exposure, and prestige if they don't keep top coaches. So it makes no financial sense to pay less for an inferior coach. Keeping the #1 dominant coach is always the obvious right thing, for accountants and fans.

Of the 3 responders, are you specifically fans of lacrosse or preemptive apologists for pennypinching who don't think Duke's that great or should try to be or even maintain its status, with the exception of mens hoops? Lacrosse leads to school pride and positive exposure and donations, and the lack of same if top coaches and championships are lost.

Duke's whole reason for being is prestige, the billions in endowment exist to ENHANCE not decrease prestige. Duke shouldn't get rid of reasons for students to choose Duke. With all that money it should use it to only get better not worse, right?

Instead of dropping sports, Duke should add more, like softball which it should excel at. And why was rowing added instead of a team sport like softball? Let's think about the fans and donations for once.

Does Duke still fund the fewest athletic scholarships in the ACC, while UNC funds the most? Why is that, if Duke has the most money and most TV exposure? Is Duke still trying to spend $1 million per athlete to endow all scholarships before paying top coaches or thinking about adding sports? Hopefully a hundred years from now all Duke's many athletic scholarships will be endowed at a $1 million each, but it isn't URGENTLY necessary now instead of winning and keeping top coaches, students, and alumni happy.

[burnspbesq]

Coach Dano has lived hundreds of miles from his family for five years. I did it for two years. It sucks, every day, no matter how rewarding and fulfilling your job is.

Coach Dano is a Jersey native and a Rutgers grad.

Look at all the Jersey guys on the Duke roster, and tell me why Rutgers can't be a power with the right coach.

The only accomplishment that Dano hasn't done in his career is bring a program back from rock bottom to national relevance. Rutgers offers an opportunity to do that. In addition, if Rutgers becomes relevant, the additional by-product is that the Big East becomes the best conference in college lax.

I hate it, but Dano to Rutgers makes a huge amount of sense. Anyone who doesn't get that is delusional.

[burnspbesq]

I assume that if Dano leaves, White will move heaven and earth to get Joe Alberici back to Duke, this time as head coach. If that doesn't work, other names that would come up would include Mike Murphy of Penn, Duke assistant Chris Gabrielli, and Andy Shay of Yale.

[laxbluedevil]

Maybe I wasn't clear with the thread title, he hasn't decided anything. I and everyone else who follows lacrosse fully expect Danowski to stay. Even most Rutgers folks thinks it's a shot in the dark like their applications to Princeton, which is why this isn't even a story anywhere.

I know this is a basketball board but pretend we're talking about Coach K, I take it you didn't push him out the door to the Lakers or Bulls much less Depaul/Rutgers. Danowski has final fours all 5 years and the future is brighter.

4 for 4, is this the Duke or Rutgers board? Please just stop with the shortlist and think about what you're doing or if you're helping the situation. If Danowski sees this he should know this is a basketball board and thousands of Duke fans appreciate everything he's done. Let's get some Duke lacrosse fans to help the dynasty stays intact. BTW, Rutgers hasn't done anything in any sport in the last 100 years or so. Despite great recruits from NJ in every sport, like Hurley, JWill, Kyrie, few have ever gone to Rutgers. Going to NJ never makes any sense, Rutgers for lacrosse? Even less. Even Princeton sucked this year and no lax star would turn down any Ivy or Duke for Rutgers.

I wrote earlier I wasn't saying we should cut mens hoops assistants salaries from 7 figures but then I thought about it. I appreciate these guys and want them to make tons of money but Durham's cheap and they've already made enough for a lifetime. Duke wants these guys to get HC experience to expand the pool of K successors. But why should they take a pay cut and give up 100% job security leaving a place thats easy to recruit to and win championships at? Most head coaches don't last longer than a few years and Duke's assistants are young. They owe it to their families to stay, and that's not ideal for Duke or their careers. It's sensible to pay assistants big and market value IF others are trying to hire them away AND the school desperately needs them and wants them to stay. Like a top coordinator in football who might make a few hundred thousand. What do other hoops assistants at other top programs make? There's more than enough money right there to pay for Danowski, the best coach in the nation. Again, we don't have to cut anyone's salary to pay Danowski. It just proves Duke can afford to pay huge for top coaches, especially if Duke needs to and they deserve it.

Someone also brought up Goestenkors leaving as no big deal or financially reasonable. Only UConn and Tenn make money off womens hoops so there goes the finances part. Duke was a legit contender with GG. Undefeated regular season, #1 recruiting classes almost every year. Great offense and defense, and final fours even without star players. Beatdowns of Tenn and UConn. McCallie's great with defense, but offense struggles and historically not a good recruiter. She loses by 30 every time UConn shows up, didn't GG have a winning record against them?

It's kind of like Kimel in womens lax. She's good enough to have Duke in the top 5 often, but has she ever beaten Northwestern? Not in the last dozen or so meetings at least. What are the odds of beating Maryland or another top program, maybe 10-20% lately. UNC and UVA have been better too. So even if Duke manages to make a final four, that's like a 1-2% chance or less of beating both NU and MD to win it all. Not a legit contender.

Duke can be THE dominant program in mens lax. Danowski could win the next 3+ titles in a row, especially the way Duke dominates UVA who probably has the second best coach. Thinking special coaches grow on trees is naive. Just look at womens hoops and lax and football and most other teams around the world. There's a world of difference between good-great (assuming its great to have a top 10 program no matter where you are for recruiting, and who's above you) and special. Its the difference between championships or contending every year, or no hope or interest.

[sagegrouse]

Isn't Stan Fish viewed more negatively than positively by most people? Last things we should do is compare Fish to Danowski who's been to 5 final fours every year at Duke and completely turned Duke lacrosse around to make it into a great feelgood story about Duke. Stanford hasn't won a national title anyone cares about in recent memory. 50,000 fans go to the lacrosse final four and its the fastest growing sport. I prefer Duke for its hoops and lax. Take lax away and Duke becomes far less interesting.

Every athletic department has to pay their top coaches what they're worth and most have far less than Duke. Danowski has dominated 4 time national champ and alltime wins leader Starsia of UVA who's only been to 1 final four since 2007 while Danowski's been to 5 with a program that's only getting better. Duke has tons of athletics money, paying mens hoops assistants 7 figures each Womens hoops just lost its #1 recruiting class assistant to an assistants job with lowly Louisville. I'm not saying Duke should pay mens hoops assistants less at all. Obviously Duke has plenty of money if they can afford to do that.

State schools shouldn't be able to pay as much as wealthy private schools with ten times the endowment, NJ has huge deficits. Rutgers has been raising lots of money for a lacrosse coach though, and it would be an outstanding investment.

uh no, I have to say I'm a little disturbed about you mentioning a specific $16 million that Dr. White has to work with. Are you implying you're connected enough to know what's going on and Duke aint gonna pay to keep Danowski and preemptively defending pennypinchers or Dr. White? Most athletic departments lose money and rely on mens hoops and football to pay for other sports. We saw this same logic from people who seemed to be totally fine with Goestenkors leaving. Yet we offered her $1 million to stay, too late. Duke's going to spend money on nonrevenue sports anyway but will lose revenue, donations, exposure, and prestige if they don't keep top coaches. So it makes no financial sense to pay less for an inferior coach. Keeping the #1 dominant coach is always the obvious right thing, for accountants and fans.

Of the 3 responders, are you specifically fans of lacrosse or preemptive apologists for pennypinching who don't think Duke's that great or should try to be or even maintain its status, with the exception of mens hoops? Lacrosse leads to school pride and positive exposure and donations, and the lack of same if top coaches and championships are lost.

Duke's whole reason for being is prestige, the billions in endowment exist to ENHANCE not decrease prestige. Duke shouldn't get rid of reasons for students to choose Duke. With all that money it should use it to only get better not worse, right?

Instead of dropping sports, Duke should add more, like softball which it should excel at. And why was rowing added instead of a team sport like softball? Let's think about the fans and donations for once.

Does Duke still fund the fewest athletic scholarships in the ACC, while UNC funds the most? Why is that, if Duke has the most money and most TV exposure? Is Duke still trying to spend $1 million per athlete to endow all scholarships before paying top coaches or thinking about adding sports? Hopefully a hundred years from now all Duke's many athletic scholarships will be endowed at a $1 million each, but it isn't URGENTLY necessary now instead of winning and keeping top coaches, students, and alumni happy.

This posts reads like the response of a man, surrounded by well wishers whom he chooses to view as enemies, lashing out left and right.

Public schools have a lot of money, too, and they are often more willing to throw it at athletics than their comparably well off private brethren ("The Eyes of Texas," "Hail to the Victor," etc.).

If Danowski has spent five years (has it really been five years?) away from his family, I could certainly understand why he might accept a comparable offer from his alma mater. And I doubt that Duke would pay 1.5 times the Rutgers offer to keep him in Durham.

WRT the preferejnce of funding scholarships vs. paying coaches, does the $4.7 million K earned in 2010 answer your question, or are you thinking of something else?

sagegrouse

[killerleft]

I thought that was Stanford? </duck>

But seriously, your posts are slightly histrionic. While I can't say I'm a big lax fan, I'm _hugely_ appreciative of Coach Danowski's amazing achievements since he took over at a very a bad spot, and his role in restoring (and improving!) Duke lax's status. I hope he stays and his and Duke's successes continue! However, you can't underestimate the role of family in people's decisions. This goes for coaches as well as everybody else. I've always heard that a very large part of Coach G's decision to leave was based on personal life events. Can't blame her for making decisions that worked for me. Likewise with Danowski--if his family is living in NJ, and he wants to leave to be closer to them, I can't blame the guy.

Please don't sound so hysterical when you're talking about real people making personal decisions! It's hardly an earthshaking disaster for a university if an employee wants to be with their family. May be sad, may be a setback, and may directly impact some students more than others. I wonder how many people were calling for Stanley Fish to be given huge raises (500k for a faculty member? preposterous!!) so the Duke English department didn't lose him and be relegated to second tier status. Did the Duke administrators have "a lot to answer for" there?

Please, don't run Danowski off by mentioning Stanley Fish! Sure, some folks loved him, but look how Vanderbilt reached into the Duke Pie with their thumb and pulled out Houston Baker. Sometimes there is addition by subtraction. Losing Danowski is in no way a positive outcome.

[laxbluedevil]

First of all, I have no idea where Danowski's family lives and I shouldn't have even brought it up. I just repeated a message board rumor and we all know how those are, trying to add some potential urgency for Duke fans to make sure Duke does whatever it can to keep a dominant #1 coach. It spun out of control with guys talking about if they were away from their family, when we don't know what's going on with Danowski's family or where they are or why. Matt Danowski would be a great addition to Duke athletics, and isn't it standard practice to find jobs for spouses of coaches or recruited professors? Honestly, we don't really know about family stuff so let's stop dwelling on it like it's all that matters, it's none of our business. John Danowski's been at Duke for 5 years and final fours for a reason and he says the future is even brighter.

If Coach K makes $4.7 million that's great, I read he makes even more from other sources. But if we need money for Danowski, the mens hoops assistants making 7 figures each seems high, since I've never heard of any other assistants making anywhere near that. Especially since most at Duke want them to get head coaching jobs ASAP and prove themselves to take over for Coach K who could retire any year now. Tough for assistants to take a pay cut to leave 100% job security since most head coaches don't last past a few years. That would work out well for Duke in many ways. Advancing Duke coaching careers and enhancing the pool of possible replacements with Duke ties to join Brey, and paying for coaches like Danowski. Duke doesn't need to cut salaries though to do what's right, we all know that. It's just proof that Duke has more than enough money to pay more than enough, so obviously they have enough to pay enough when needed.

Almost all athletic programs lose money and Duke has billions, let's not pretend a few extra bucks for one of the best legendary coaches of all time is going to break the bank because it's not even close. It's lacrosse for crying out loud. We'd get more than enough from holding off on endowing a few scholarships, since it costs $250 million to endow Duke's 250 athletic scholarships. Many seem hellbent on spending all our millions on endowing scholarships ASAP as if there's some sort of time limit or total Duke revenues and donations might be zero someday.

The FIRST priority should be paying market value to the best coaches who ARE the program because without them you have nothing. This is done by constantly extending contracts every year. Job security, big buyouts, stabilizing dynasties, and winning. Then with whatever's left over, endow scholarships or do anything else for athletics. That's just AD 101.

I think everyone in lacrosse agrees Duke is ten times the program Rutgers is from a standpoint of desirability for coaches or recruits. It's why nobody is paying any attention to this and considers it a nonstory. If he left it would one of the biggest shocks in lacrosse history. Some think he just wants a raise which he surely deserves. This kind of thing happens all the time, top coaches need to be kept happy with at least market value. As Duke fans, please stop listing reasons he should go or potential replacements, that's just counterproductive. Let's just be unified in trying to keep Danowski here, as fans of Duke. Rutgers has been pursuing lots of donations to hire a coach.

One thing we can do is get the word out to fans and potential donors, maybe with a front page story on DBR, Duke Chronicle, and elsewhere, reaching out to big donors like Koskinen or others. Duke fans deserve to know what's been going on for over a week. Let's try to be as productive as the Rutgers fans and donors.

[J.Blink]

Isn't Stan Fish viewed more negatively than positively by most people? Last things we should do is compare Fish to Danowski who's been to 5 final fours every year at Duke and completely turned Duke lacrosse around to make it into a great feelgood story about Duke. Stanford hasn't won a national title anyone cares about in recent memory. 50,000 fans go to the lacrosse final four and its the fastest growing sport. I prefer Duke for its hoops and lax. Take lax away and Duke becomes far less interesting.

Wow, this paragraph is just chock full of irony.

1 - Getting far afield but yes today Fish's legacy I think could be called mixed at best (that's being kind). At the time he was a superstar who catapulted a good if not great department into national fame, brought in grad students, money, many faculty members, and prestige! I imagine you didn't come to Duke because of Fish's legacy, nor did I. Since apparently you believe that Duke's "whole reason for being is prestige," Fish sounds like the ideal guy??

p.s. for anyone generally interested, there is a fantastic article about the history of the Duke English department here: http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9902/yaffe.html

2 - Ironic that you would insult Stanford for not winning "a national title anyone cares about in recent memory." You do realize that the vast majority of the country would probably say the same thing about lax? (and I'm not trying to insult lax, I get that it's growing in popularity as you say)

3 - Not everybody has the same priorities. In my freshman dorm the same year we won a national championship were a handful of students who could not tell you a single basketball player's name. Change something at Duke and Duke may become less interesting FOR YOU and be irrelevant to some number of others. I went to Duke in part because of some faculty members most Duke students will never have and never even hear of. They certainly brought Duke prestige in their academic circles, I would have viewed losing them (especially while I was taking classes with them) as a great tragedy too. I'm sure they weren't making 500k. Should Duke do whatever it takes to keep every single faculty member who brings "prestige?" I know they brought Duke some pretty good money in the form of grants and endowments..maybe on par with what lax brings in? (I have no idea)


We saw this same logic from people who seemed to be totally fine with Goestenkors leaving. Yet we offered her $1 million to stay, too late.

Someone also brought up Goestenkors leaving as no big deal or financially reasonable.

Since you keep harping on Coach G (and I assume you're referring to me in one post) let me reiterate--everything I've always heard said that Coach G's decision was not based on financial reasons but personal. Have you heard it was all about the money?

I liked Coach G and was sad to see her go. I really don't think you should be attacking McCallie (or slandering through comparison) when she's been winning 30+ games and brought in the #1 recruiting class in 2010.


Duke's going to spend money on nonrevenue sports anyway but will lose revenue, donations, exposure, and prestige if they don't keep top coaches.

Disagree.


Of the 3 responders, are you specifically fans of lacrosse or preemptive apologists for pennypinching who don't think Duke's that great or should try to be or even maintain its status, with the exception of mens hoops?

Yes, clearly the 3 responders (myself included) all secretly hate Duke and think Duke is not great and should just give up.


Instead of dropping sports, Duke should add more, like softball which it should excel at. And why was rowing added instead of a team sport like softball? Let's think about the fans and donations for once.

I think Duke is doing fine in the donations department, whether academic or sports linked. You do realize that schools can do very well and get plenty of donations without any sports, right? You do realize that a lot (the majority?) of people who donate aren't linked to athletics? That's the Chicago way. UChicago is obviously one end of the spectrum, but there's a lot of middle ground.

I'm going to make a leap and assume you're either a current or formerly player, and I really do hope Danowski stays. It's rough on any student to have a mentor/teacher/coach leave. I hope Duke keeps Danowski. I hope Duke lax continues to do very well. I also hope Danowski makes a decision that works for him... Like sagegrouse said, nobody here is your enemy! I don't think you're being very well served by either your arguments or your tone though.

[J.Blink]

Please, don't run Danowski off by mentioning Stanley Fish! Sure, some folks loved him, but look how Vanderbilt reached into the Duke Pie with their thumb and pulled out Houston Baker. Sometimes there is addition by subtraction. Losing Danowski is in no way a positive outcome.

I'm no Stanley Fish fan (to be fair, I do enjoy some of his columns, but as an English academic--bleh) and you're right it was an unjust comparison. Fish and his ilk came to mind merely as examples of faculty who arrived with high praise, brought a department to preeminence, brought in prestige, and then by and by left, with some being critical of Duke at each departure. And of course there's the fact that how many people outside of English/Literature academics care at all?

[laxbluedevil]

I agree let's stop arguing and just figure out what we are unified in as Duke fans. First, let's try to get the word out to fans and donors who have no idea this has been going on for over a week. It would be great to have front page articles in DBR, Duke Chronicle, and elsewhere. Let's try to reach out to donors and fans like Rutgers did. Let's make Danowski feel appreciated with a nice contract extension and raise like he deserves. With the young roster and recruits it's looking like 8 straight final fours and beyond is likely. I think he's 57 so a "lifetime" contract could be in order, or at least 7 years or so, we recently gave McCallie a 7 year extension. Maybe Matt Danowski could take over eventually, he'd make a good assistant coach, is there a limit to the number on staff? Stabilizing a dynasty would be outstanding.

[devil84]

This thread is predicated entirely on a rumor. From our Decorum and Posting Guidelines (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?21833-Decorum-amp-Posting-Guidelines-%28Please-read-before-posting%21%29)thread:
Rumor mongering. We're not a tabloid and we're not going to be a party to spreading or propagating rumors. If you can't find a legitimate, mainstream media outlet with the information, it's likely a rumor. Don't post it. Asking about it, stating that it's a rumor, or linking to another message board's post is still rumor mongering.
With no other mainstream media outlet reporting this, this is a rumor and not a topic for discussion on DBR.

[laxbluedevil]

Danowski Would Entertain Rutgers Offer; A Scarlet Knight?


http://www.laxmagazine.com/blogs/author/dasilva/05.29.2011_at_2.18_a.m._by_Matt_DaSilva


http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/lacrosse/blog/2011/05/a_scarlet_knight.html


Sorry I didn't post the links to Baltimore Sun or laxmagazine earlier, I thought the recent Rutgers message board posts were more timely. Lacrosse is not a sport that's covered closely in the offseason so it's not exactly going to be front page of ESPN unfortunately. I bet most fans and donors have no idea what's going on.

Anyway, please spread the news that Danowski could be leaving so that we can get fans and donors involved. When Coach K was wooed by various teams, Duke's administration and fans really made their appreciation known. Or when Goestenkors was wooed by Texas, students and fans went all out and Duke offered her $1 million. It's gestures like this as fans that keep Duke the best. Thanks everyone and let's let's get it done for Duke!

[DevilWearsPrada]

When the Rutgers Lax coach resigned a few weeks ago, that Coach Dano would be on their radar; especially since he is a Rutgers alum. And after the exit, of the Final 4 last Saturday, Rutgers is knocking on Coach Danowski's door.

I appreciate everything Coach D has done for Duke mens Lacrosse in restoring Order, Respect and Faith into the Team, and bringing home the National Championship 2010.

Coach D has spoken at our Blue Devil Club meetings, and you see him at the Duke Basketball games. Since wifey stayed behind with the Daughter, and they never moved to Durham; that certainly would be a large factor in moving back to the North.

I personally hope that Coach Danowski stays at Duke, until he retires. But understand if he takes the job at Rutgers.

[devil84]

Both blogs post speculation that because Danowski is a Rutgers grad, he could be pursued by Rutgers. And the quote that Danowski would be interested is this:
Danowski played for Hayes at Rutgers. Asked how he would respond if Rutgers called on him as a potential candidate, he replied, "None of us got into this business to achieve financial security. We all got into this business because we couldn't play anymore. You can't play anymore, so you coach. Or you love teaching. But I think everybody's got to listen, because you have an opportunity to put your family in a better position. It's not going to be surprising with a lot of [searches] going forward with a lot of guys. It's just how it is."

Given that these two blogs are purely speculation, even with a quote from Danowski that "he'd listen," this is still really a rumor. I'm merging the two threads and leaving it closed.