A great testimonial, plus it never hurts to say nice things about your boss.
A nice feature article on Duke AD Nina King.
https://theundefeated.com/features/d...spnw:ncw:index“The future is bright for our department because I know we have the right person to represent us in every way,” Duke women’s basketball coach and Olympic gold medalist Kara Lawson said of King’s promotion. “One of the main reasons I chose to come to Duke was because of the diversity that exists at every level.”
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
A great testimonial, plus it never hurts to say nice things about your boss.
Well that's true, no doubt about it - but she, being new, will either be seen to "win or lose the press conference" - in the short run.
To be clear, I was NOT making a judgment call myself...but this hire will totally redefine her reputation in the short run. The only comment I would make is that she should've been planning for this for 5-6-7 weeks and have a hire ready. I mean, was she really naive enough to think that "waiting until after the season to evaluate" was how this is done???????
I thought we put that one to rest. She has been evaluating coaching talent since the beginning of the season. So to answer your question, no, she was not that naive. Having said that, Duke is not the kind of job where everyone is looking to sign on. Discussions need to be had, and are being had.
I go back to - Duke is NOT a football school. I don’t see how this defines her or will redefine her. She will hire a coach. That coach will have some probability of future success based on past success at some lower division school or some affiliation with a winning program. The rest is on the coach.
Yea, I was sort of kidding. Obviously, I have no clue what goes on inside the athletic department (and I'm not sure anyone else on DBR does?) but I'm sure they realized this was a "make or break" season for Cut and, when the season started out poorly, I would assume the AD, and everyone else at a high level in the department, went into a higher gear (with the search firms, etc) to have some sort of plan in place, if necessary, for a replacement at season's end. It's possible a deal is already in place with someone but won't be announced until that person's current regular season ends? Or maybe there are still ongoing negotiations with a few final candidates? Who knows? As has been discussed ad nauseum on this thread already, there are many variables and choices that have to be made in the hire. It's also possible Duke has already been turned down by a few of their top choices (Freeman?) and they're now moving down the list of other choices. I'd also like to think Nina is getting some advice and assistance from Kevin White and President Price and others. It's a lot to throw at her in her first year as AD.
But you're assuming and speculating just as much as the people you're arguing against at that point. It is fine to be all in on 'In Nina we trust' and I am still confident she will land a good hire too, but you don't know things are going well any more than someone expressing pessimism knows things are going poorly. Hence, overstating your case. No news isn't bad news, but it certainly isn't good news either.
Nina will have no shortage of opportunities to prove her coach-picking acumen. Look at the ages of some of our high-achieving coaches; she’s likely to need replacements for Brooks, Danowski, and Church.
That would seem to be the logical selection, at this time. But who knows?
And Duke should pretty much have the "pick of the litter" when it comes to replacing coaches in almost ALL of the other sports. When you consider the totality of everything Duke has to offer, there are not many other better places to coach (in almost any sport). Football may be the most problematical, frankly.