(03-16-2013 10:09 PM)He1nousOne Wrote: http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?D...EM_ID=4200
This is an amazing opinion piece. This man understands what is really going on and he does not wish to see Duke riding along. I could pull quote after quote from this piece but folks need to just read it from start to finish.
What I Will say is that HIS words about the ACC being solid means more to me than many of the empty open ended comments I have seen before. Count this one as a +1 in the ACC column.
How in bloody hell did you get the ACC is secure from reading that article? You might want to read this part again.
THE FUTURE FOR DUKE
As long as the ACC remains one of the major players in the college sports world, Duke’s position is likely to be secure.
But White is not to content to rely on the conference to protect Duke’s status as one of the nation’s elite athletic institutions.
And while the Blue Devils were once one of the nation’s elite football programs, that was long ago. When White arrived in Durham in 2008, he inherited a struggling football team with a poor record in recent years and a weak foundation.
Coach David Cutcliffe, his staff – along with White and the athletics administrative team – have worked diligently since then to revitalize Duke Football.
“Duke must continue to reinvest in football, we’ve got to get back to a place wherein we are very competitive,” he said. “That’s why we’re working like hell to resuscitate the Blue Devil football program. In addition, everything else needs to be highly competitive.”
There has been progress. The football team has steadily improved under Cutcliffe, qualifying for a bowl last season — Duke’s first bowl since 1994. Facilities have improved and will continue to improve. Duke announced a $250 million athletic fund-raising campaign last fall and a significant portion of that money will go towards rebuilding historic Wallace Wade Stadium.
The improvements included in the so-called Bostock plan will have other benefits.
“To create amenity laden facilities and provide hospitality in Cameron and Wallace Wade creates a residual effect for Olympic Sports, as well as the entire campus community, notwithstanding campus recreation,” White said.
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Once again, we need to invest. There are no free lunches. Our constituents need to understand that there are consequences. As of late, we’ve moved from absolutely off the radar – wherein Duke football was irrelevant – to now folks across the country are talking about Blue Devil football. We’re now relevant.”
He points to Duke's bowl appearance against Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl.
“We had 20,000 people in Charlotte,” White said. “Any Dukie I talked to when David and I got here said that one of the worst things [that we had] to face is that when we do qualify for a bowl, if that were to ever happen, we’ll have 2,500 fans and we’ll embarrass ourselves. Again, we had some 20,000 Duke fans at the Belk Bowl.
“Did you see the TV ratings? There were 35 bowls and we were 15th in bowl ratings. We played on a week night, a work night and we kicked off at 6:30, so we didn’t have the West Coast at 3:30 in the afternoon. And we still had the 15th best rating.
“So when Duke is relevant … we can be highly impactful.”
Of course, Duke is always impactful on the basketball court. The Blue Devils have one of the best – if not THE best – basketball programs in the country. Duke basketball is a nationally recognized brand name and is a fixture on TV sports. The Duke-UNC rivalry games are the most valuable regular season TV properties in college basketball.
But could basketball carry Duke if the school was somehow lost in the shuffle of realignment?
“To that end, I’ve long said we can’t allow that to become Duke’s scenario,” White responded.
But he concedes that the danger is there. Along with the rest of the country, he saw how close Kansas – another great basketball power – came to losing its BCS status in 2011, when the Big 12 almost collapsed. The big football schools looked like they were going to split for the Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC, leaving Kansas to join perhaps Conference USA.
Even more frightening – if the top 60 or 70 football programs leave the NCAA to form their own parent organization, what happens to the schools that get left behind? There are some famous basketball programs at schools that don’t have big-time football – think Georgetown, Butler, Marquette, St. John’s, Villanova and Gonzaga.
Can those schools continue to compete at the highest levels in basketball when so many national powers have left them to compete in a football-driven organization?
Could Duke be in that position?
“That scenario should get the full attention of the entire Duke family,” White said. “Part of me doesn’t know how that would eventually play out. However, you can look at this through many prisms. Do I lay in bed and say ‘Oh my goodness, are we going to eventually become a mid-major?’
“No, I don’t. Because I firmly think that our brand is way too strong. We have so many wonderful assets.”
Still, he points out that things do change. The University of Chicago was a charter member of the Big Ten, coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg. Santa Clara, Fordham, Marquette were all football powers before World War II. Then there are the great women’s basketball champions such as Immaculata and Old Dominion, programs that were eclipsed when the AIAW, which organized the first women’s national championships, were replaced by the NCAA.
“What happened? The world changed – at least for them,” White said.
The danger is that the schools getting flush on the massive football money would be able to outspend the schools that don’t share in that largess. So what if traditional powers and TV favorites such as Georgetown and Butler and Gonzaga and Villanova are left out? The football schools will have significant media, and other, advantages on the basketball side.
“Without question, I think that football television will rebrand those institutions,” White warned. “They are going to be so dramatically rebranded, and that will carry the day. You are not only competing for resources, you are competing for media platforms as well as financial resources, if not for marketing/advertising impressions. It’s simple marketing theory! That’s what this game is – this is branding, and/or re-branding at its basic level. We will rebrand the properties that define tomorrow’s universe within elite college athletics.”