Leaving after 13 years as president of a major university is pretty standard, if not a little long. Nan did 11 years before him. He will be 70 at the time he retires. Usually they try to align the retirement of a president with the end of a capital campaign - I have lost track of how the current campaign is doing (it seems like it is going on forever, though it has slowed after a very enthusiastic start). Nothing at all unusual in this announcement.
Someone will have to start a "2017 President Carousel thread" to post thoughts on potential replacements - Brad Stevens or Jeff Capel?
Brodhead was born April 17, 1947 and will be 70 at the end of the next academic year, his date of departure. This all makes sense.
I saw Dick Brodhead at the Duke Forward event in DC last night, and he was highly animated -- much more even than usual -- and I had seen him at a similar event back in Denver a few months ago. Hmmm,... I said to myself, what's going on? Well, we found out today.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Good times,
Bad times,
You know I've had my share. . . .
How about Bilas? Surely he's grown tired of railing against the NCAA, and I think a few here might not mind seeing him apply his talents in a different role. I bet he could really raise funds. Duke could use a legal mind at the top, too, given some of the missteps of the last 10 years.
Haven't been a big fan of Brodhead since the spring of 2006 (no need to recount the reasons for my distaste) ... so I can't say I'm sorry to see him, leave.
On the other hand, every time we change Presidents, Coach K makes us sweat out a very public flirtation with the NBA ... not looking forward to going through that again.
Condoleezza Rice.
A Duke farewell: Aaah... See ya!
-jk