Its Kevin White

[Bluedawg]

Duke University introduced Kevin White, who has been at Notre Dame University, as its new vice president and director of athletics at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

"Simply stated, I am thrilled to be coming to Duke," White said. "I have the highest regard for the institution, and I'm excited about the opportunities in front of us."

http://wral.com/sports/story/2969179/

Personally I like the hire.

[Truth]

Just watched the press conference. I'm still digesting the content, but there were no glaring gotchas. Seemed like he was genuinely happy to be in this position at Duke.

He was frank in the sense that he openly admitted as to not yet having much knowledge about the "unique challenges" that Duke faces. That said, he did come across well overall. Curious to hear others first impressions..

Also, there were a few interesting remarks about him not having been a candidate a few days ago. Not terribly sure what, if anything, to read into that...

[laxbluedevil]

Kevin White still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees and White hired George O'Leary right before firing him, so it's not a done deal thankfully. White also hired Willingham who was fired after 3 years. After only half of Weis' first year ever as a head coach White gave him a 10 year contract for $30-40 million. Then under no pressure Weis just had perhaps the worst season in ND history, 3-9. ND fans wanted White gone like Duke fans wanted Alleva gone.

Why didn't Duke just hire Ron Wellman from Wake Forest who did the impossible by making the worst program in the nation ACC football champs? He was named the best AD in the nation multiple times including just a few days ago.

An even better choice might be Debbie Yow at Maryland, who hired Frese who turned losers into national champs in 4 years, and Friedgen who won an ACC title his first year with a perennial loser football program. She also hired great coaches for lacrosse and other sports, and doesn't seem to have made any bad hires or bad moves at all.

Those are just 2 superior choices in the ACC, undoubtedly there are dozens more around the country. Why hire someone ND didn't even want who was responsible for so many high profile failures?

White has not been hired yet by Duke and still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees. There hasn't been any real discussion of the top candidates especially White so the search should only be starting.

Forget White, let Duke know it's clearly the wrong choice. Everyone should get behind Yow, or Wellman, or another good AD.

[DukeVu]

It appears from Coach K's glowing remarks that he and Brey could have had a big hand in this hire.

[devilirium]

^Good thought on Wellman, but he's not leaving Wake to come to Duke. Laugh all you want, but Wake would match anything we could financially to keep him in Winston. He's also got Wake's football team rolling. Not sure he'd want to embrace that challenge again, but I like your thinking about that.

I don't have anything against Yow, but a ton of Maryland alums would help her pack. She's not well received up there.

I'm just glad that we didn't go with Mike Cragg. Every Duke insider and media person that I've spoken with has said that this guy is as arrogant as they come. I think Leo could've been a good hire, but on the other hand, it's also nice to see Duke go outside of the family. Also, I agree with DBR, the athletic program will be run like a business. Not like the type of operation from a guy who got his MBA in 1 year at Lehigh University and who headed up some pharmacy department at Duke.

[OldPhiKap]

ND tries to lead the big boys in hoops and pigskin. You can't blame the AD every time they do not reach the pinnacle, but he would not have had/kept the job there if he wasn't committed to those programs.

Good hire. GTHC.

[Bluedawg]

Dave Nathan's analysis of Duke's new AD

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Don't know anything about the man. I am, of course, disappointed that it isn't me and/or DukeTaylor. But we've got to give him a chance and support him. I have changed my signature and location accordingly.

His biggest challenge is to not screw up the many many things that are right with Duke Athletics. And as a friend of mine said to me, maybe he can get the new bathrooms built at Wallace Wade sooner rather than later.

[Jarhead]

Kevin White still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees and White hired George O'Leary right before firing him, so it's not a done deal thankfully. White also hired Willingham who was fired after 3 years. After only half of Weis' first year ever as a head coach White gave him a 10 year contract for $30-40 million. Then under no pressure Weis just had perhaps the worst season in ND history, 3-9. ND fans wanted White gone like Duke fans wanted Alleva gone.

Why didn't Duke just hire Ron Wellman from Wake Forest who did the impossible by making the worst program in the nation ACC football champs? He was named the best AD in the nation multiple times including just a few days ago.

An even better choice might be Debbie Yow at Maryland, who hired Frese who turned losers into national champs in 4 years, and Friedgen who won an ACC title his first year with a perennial loser football program. She also hired great coaches for lacrosse and other sports, and doesn't seem to have made any bad hires or bad moves at all.

Those are just 2 superior choices in the ACC, undoubtedly there are dozens more around the country. Why hire someone ND didn't even want who was responsible for so many high profile failures?

White has not been hired yet by Duke and still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees. There hasn't been any real discussion of the top candidates especially White so the search should only be starting.

Forget White, let Duke know it's clearly the wrong choice. Everyone should get behind Yow, or Wellman, or another good AD.

Trust me. It's a done deal. The Trustee vote will be by acclamation. The search is over, and it isn't going to restart. Any way you look at it, it would have been bad form to go after Wellman or Yow, unless they had applied for the job. There is no indication that they did, and if they did, they did not make the cut. The search committee did a good job, in my view. Anyhow welcome to the DBR. Too bad your first shot missed the backboard.

[SMO]

Kevin White still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees and White hired George O'Leary right before firing him, so it's not a done deal thankfully. White also hired Willingham who was fired after 3 years. After only half of Weis' first year ever as a head coach White gave him a 10 year contract for $30-40 million. Then under no pressure Weis just had perhaps the worst season in ND history, 3-9. ND fans wanted White gone like Duke fans wanted Alleva gone.

Why didn't Duke just hire Ron Wellman from Wake Forest who did the impossible by making the worst program in the nation ACC football champs? He was named the best AD in the nation multiple times including just a few days ago.

An even better choice might be Debbie Yow at Maryland, who hired Frese who turned losers into national champs in 4 years, and Friedgen who won an ACC title his first year with a perennial loser football program. She also hired great coaches for lacrosse and other sports, and doesn't seem to have made any bad hires or bad moves at all.

Those are just 2 superior choices in the ACC, undoubtedly there are dozens more around the country. Why hire someone ND didn't even want who was responsible for so many high profile failures?

White has not been hired yet by Duke and still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees. There hasn't been any real discussion of the top candidates especially White so the search should only be starting.

Forget White, let Duke know it's clearly the wrong choice. Everyone should get behind Yow, or Wellman, or another good AD.

I clicked on this thread wondering how many posts it would take for someone to say something negative about this hire. My guess was 5. I totally underestimated the critical tone of the DBR posters! It only took 3!

[ehdg]

Okay so this pick caught me totally off guard. I didn't see this one coming at all. I hope he's the right guy for the job. Sounds like he know's how to handle it from a business side so that should help us. As for the complaints folks had about him I bet he's learned and won't be handing out huge extensions so fast this time around. I think we need to give him our full support and see how things develop. Least we know he's not Joe Alleva and for that alone it's a huge improvement!!

[OldPhiKap]

K likes him.

Cut's son played for him at Ol' Miss.

He has worked with small private schools competing in big leagues.



Good enough for me.

[laxbluedevil]

Forgot to mention White also extended Bob Davie's contract then fired him the next season, so he hired/rehired 4 bad football coaches at Notre Dame in 5 years. Is that an NCAA record? Seems that most people who wanted a proven AD wanted Wellman or Yow or someone similar. Who were the candidates that were interviewed?

Duke has won 3 of 14 mens basketball final fours, and 1 of 21 final fours in other team sports (mens soccer in 1986). And that doesn't count when Duke was #1 and didn't even make the final four like 98, 02, 06, in mens basketball, and 04, 05, 07 in womens basketball. Surely there must be others. So 10% winning percentage instead of 25-50% considering Duke is often #1 and not just top 4. Less than 5% for Duke coaches not named Krzyzewski.

It seems to me that isn't "good enough". Duke's prestige has gotten amazing players for the same reason as perennial #1 Stanford, heck even better without the tough admissions of Stanford. But then Duke often gets outcoached in the postseason. Womens golf has 4 national titles to equal all other sports combined because Duke's great golfers don't really need coaching or even heavy recruiting to flock to Duke and dominate. Former AD Butters hired some great coaches including all 3 that won national titles for Duke. Alleva hired some bad ones. I think Yow or Wellman would get winners that could win 25-50% of the final fours instead of 4-10%. Maryland has 17 national titles since Yow took over in the 90s, despite rarely having the best players.

Don't Duke's best players and best fans deserve great coaches and ADs, even the best? Duke athletics isn't acting like it wants to be #1 as they claim. White was the Alleva of ND and their fans seem pleased he left kind of like Mich St fans when McCallie left. How is that good enough?

I just think Duke can do better with Yow or Wellman or maybe the AD of SMU, Florida, Kansas, or Louisville. Duke is one of the top athletic programs and easiest to win at along with perennial #1 Stanford.

[gotham devil]

Forgot to mention White also extended Bob Davie's contract then fired him the next season, so he hired/rehired 4 bad football coaches at Notre Dame in 5 years. Is that an NCAA record? Seems that most people who wanted a proven AD wanted Wellman or Yow or someone similar. Who were the candidates that were interviewed?

Duke has won 3 of 14 mens basketball final fours, and 1 of 21 final fours in other team sports (mens soccer in 1986). And that doesn't count when Duke was #1 and didn't even make the final four like 98, 02, 06, in mens basketball, and 04, 05, 07 in womens basketball. Surely there must be others. So 10% winning percentage instead of 25-50% considering Duke is often #1 and not just top 4. Less than 5% for Duke coaches not named Krzyzewski.

It seems to me that isn't "good enough". Duke's prestige has gotten amazing players for the same reason as perennial #1 Stanford, heck even better without the tough admissions of Stanford. But then Duke often gets outcoached in the postseason. Womens golf has 4 national titles to equal all other sports combined because Duke's great golfers don't really need coaching or even heavy recruiting to flock to Duke and dominate. Former AD Butters hired some great coaches including all 3 that won national titles for Duke. Alleva hired some bad ones. I think Yow or Wellman would get winners that could win 25-50% of the final fours instead of 4-10%. Maryland has 17 national titles since Yow took over in the 90s, despite rarely having the best players.

Don't Duke's best players and best fans deserve great coaches and ADs, even the best? Duke athletics isn't acting like it wants to be #1 as they claim. White was the Alleva of ND and their fans seem pleased he left kind of like Mich St fans when McCallie left. How is that good enough?

I just think Duke can do better with Yow or Wellman or maybe the AD of SMU, Florida, Kansas, or Louisville. Duke is one of the top athletic programs and easiest to win at along with perennial #1 Stanford.

You'd be hard pressed to find ND fans that regard Coach Weis as a "bad hire."
A more apt point would have been to what degree was Kevin White involved in the hiring of Charlie Weis. It is widely perceived that he was told this (Weis) would be the successor by the BOT, after a botched run at Urban Meyer.

Your whining about performances at a single elimination Final Four comes across as ungrateful for even being put in the enviable position of competing for championships.

[laxbluedevil]

Actually, White hired/rehired 4 bad football coaches in 4 years at Notre Dame, wow. How is that supposed to help Duke football more than say Wellman or Yow or ADs at SMU, Florida, Kansas?

Weis just had perhaps the worst season in ND's long football history, and White gave him a $30-40 million 10 year contract extension SIX GAMES into the first head coaching job of his life. If White wasn't very involved in hiring coaches, could Duke be better served with an AD respected enough at his institution to be more involved in hiring coaches, like Wellman or Yow?

Actually the 1 of 21 final fours "whining" as you call it came from other fans on another site. Consider this, could it be that Duke with its prestige like perennial #1 Stanford is able to get phenomenal players that can make any coach's job easier to get to the final four? And could Duke then be outcoached to win only 1 of those 21 final fours? Possible? Impossible? Plausible?

How did Northwestern win 4 straight women's lacrosse titles when there are no recruits anywhere near the midwest and its freezing cold out there? Shouldn't Duke be better than Northwestern in that and other sports, like softball?

One thing White should do immediately is add womens softball as a scholarship sport and hire a great coach. That's long overdue at Duke with 8 ACC schools already playing a sport that schools like Stanford and Northwestern dominate. That would be starting things off on the right foot.

[Jarhead]

Take a look at this article linked by the DBR front page in the article on White's appointment. It gives a different slant on ND football and its travails over the last several years. It must have been exasperating for White getting so much interference in football matters from the trustees and the president who were mostly responsible for the bad moves you attribute to White. I can't imagine being an Irish Catholic as a reason for hiring a football coach. Well, that was why White was directed to hire O'Leary. It appears that White's job was to stand out there, make the announcements, and suffer the slings and arrows of the media and fans. Overall his tenure shows plenty of success at Notre Dame. I look forward to his leadership at Duke.

[laxbluedevil]

Isn't that what people said about Alleva, that he had no real power and was there to take the blame for coaching failures? Alleva was said to be shut out of the hiring of the latest football and baseball coaches. If that's the case does it matter who Duke's AD is? I just hope whoever hires coaches for Duke hires the best in the country. There have been too many that were never head coaches before Duke, or never won much if they were. Duke's athletes and fans are the best and deserve nothing but the best coaches and administrators.

I just don't get your comment about "bad form" to go after Yow or Wellman. DBR recommended Wellman right off the bat, so did most everyone else who wanted a proven AD. Bad form? Should Duke only go after coaches or ADs who are unemployed or looking to escape places they're not wanted like Alleva or White and maybe McCallie? Seems like the truly great coaches or ADs are ones Duke has to go after instead of the other way around, like Paul Johnson or Wellman. Who was interviewed?

I can't think of a single better opportunity than Duke for an AD or coach for that matter. Duke is like Stanford before it became a perennial #1 juggernaut, with easier admissions. Only things left is for Duke to get serious about hiring proven coaches. And not have the fewest athletic scholarships in the ACC after explaining why that was ever the case.

Starting a softball program with a top coach is just a first step. Duke should be top 2 in NACDA Cup rankings every year. Stanford's never been challenged for the thing despite making some poor hires. It's not because of CA recruiting or "endowed" scholarships. Duke is within driving distance of half the US population, has lower standards, and if SU has enough cash to endow all their scholarships, Duke has enough to fund a decent number without endowing them until it can afford to.

Some seem to be advocating NO new scholarships (or bathrooms at Wade), until only after HUNDREDS of MILLIONS are spent first to endow the few schollies Duke already has at $1 million each. To stay with the fewest scholarships in the ACC for decades, whose brilliant idea is that? No wonder Duke has little money for coaches, facilities, or more scholarships.

Let's just give out 300-400 schollies per year like every other school, get the best coaches who want the top recruits lining up for a Duke degree, and win everything. Then worry about endowing scholarships later if ever, really don't see the point. Does Duke foresee athletic revenue and overall revenue dropping to zero at some point? I don't think recruits care if recruits 100 years from now already have their scholarship paid for.

[gvtucker]

I'm just glad that we didn't go with Mike Cragg. Every Duke insider and media person that I've spoken with has said that this guy is as arrogant as they come. I think Leo could've been a good hire, but on the other hand, it's also nice to see Duke go outside of the family. Also, I agree with DBR, the athletic program will be run like a business. Not like the type of operation from a guy who got his MBA in 1 year at Lehigh University and who headed up some pharmacy department at Duke.

Regardless of whether or not White was a good hire, the way you're describing Mike Cragg is the complete opposite of my impression. Arrogant is the last word I'd think of to describe him. And in a world of arrogant people, that's a nice change of pace.

[devilirium]

Isn't that what people said about Alleva, that he had no real power and was there to take the blame for coaching failures? Alleva was said to be shut out of the hiring of the latest football and baseball coaches. If that's the case does it matter who Duke's AD is? I just hope whoever hires coaches for Duke hires the best in the country. There have been too many that were never head coaches before Duke, or never won much if they were. Duke's athletes and fans are the best and deserve nothing but the best coaches and administrators.

With regard to Bayou Joe, he made his own bed with the hiring of Carl Franks. Hell, I could do what he did with that search. He made one phone call. One. Uno. That was why the committee was formed for football.

Looking back, the committee made a mistake of hiring Ted Roof, but most people (myself included) thought that this was a good hire at the time. Joe rubberstamped that hire--unlike Franks. But again, Joe really didn't conduct a search, either. Four candidates to interview? Dick Biddle, Bobby Ross, Hue Jackson, and Ted Roof?

And then Joe had the nerve to say at the presser regarding Roof's firing "well because we're Duke then people will flock to this job". Well, yes, this time they did. But it had a lot to do with the commitment from the administration (that Joe should've sought numerous years before) and dollars dangled.

I think the coaches have done a reasonable job given the 50 million budget that Duke has. Stanford has something 6 X that. They should lead the Sears Cup every year...but where are their championships in the revenue sports? LOL, they won their men's basketball championships as a result of the Helms Committee. They've been to one FF in 60 years. They haven't been relevant in football since the early 70's...excluding a freak upset of Southern Cal last year--that same team lost to Notre Dame.

[OldPhiKap]

At the risk of being overly simplistic:

Coach K is happy with the hire. Who here knows more about it than him?

Coach Cut coached White's kid, and no doubt was consulted on the search. Given the commitment Duke is showing to him and his staff, one would assume that he is happy. Who knows more about it than him?

Mike Brey gives big kudos. Mike is the best of the Duke coaching tree so far.



Not to discount all of the naysayers here, but I'll take those three's opinions over mine or anyone here.