Q: Duke is known for its men’s basketball program. Not so much football. A decade ago, I asked Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, as the school suffered through a few mediocre seasons, whether academically selective private schools could still compete with major public universities on the football field. He was adamant they could, and in fact the following season Notre Dame made it to the championship game. But I’m curious, especially since you worked at Notre Dame, whether you think Duke can or should aspire to be a top-10 football program, competing with the likes of Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State.
A: One hundred percent yes. We’ve seen Notre Dame, obviously. But we’ve also seen Northwestern and Stanford succeed. It can be done. I understand where we are in our season and where the program is right now. [At the time of our interview, Duke was 3-4 and 0-3 in conference games.] We’re working on identifying how we get there, to be the top of the ACC and a great program in the country.
Sure, we have our challenges, but everyone has challenges. A lot of it is financial for us. We’re paying $80,000 per scholarship per year here. You look at state schools and it’s maybe a fourth of that. It’s expensive here. We know what our challenges are, we know we need to get better, and we will.