DURHAM - New Duke athletic director Kevin White was almost stunningly candid Monday in his assessment of the school's football facility at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Duke's strategic plan for athletics, released in May, already has called for renovations at Wallace Wade. White said those renovations need to be so extensive that he doesn't even know where to start in talking about them.

He wants to consult with architects about possibilities and prices before getting specific.

"We need to do an awful lot at Wallace Wade," White said. "This facility is antiquated at best, and we just have got to come in here and do a pretty significant makeover. Not a facelift, but a makeover."

On Monday, White held an introductory luncheon with local reporters and answered questions afterward. Thirty-eight days earlier, Duke announced that White had been lured from Notre Dame to replace departed athletic director Joe Alleva, who left for LSU.

Since then, White has spent a lot of time meeting individually with Duke's athletic officials, campus administrators and head coaches. He said the Duke employees' affection for the school and desire to excel have been obvious.

So are the school's facilities shortcomings. As he did at Notre Dame, White wants to get a national sporting architectural firm to build a master facilities plan for Duke.

He said fundraising is easier when supporters know how their donations will contribute to the plan.

"It would be really important to show people exactly what we're going to do and present a timetable and know what we're going to do when we get to that point," White said.

Duke's previous plans for Wallace Wade include:

* Renovations of rest rooms, concessions and ticket booths.

* Remodeling the concourse.

* Replacing the president's box and adding suites.

* Updating the north end scoreboard.

White talked about possibly relocating the track that rings the football field to a another location on campus. He mentioned expanding the stadium capacity to 40,000 but isn't sure how prudent that would be because Duke isn't close to selling out the 33,941 existing seats. Average attendance last season was only 20,064.

The new athletic director's facilities concerns also extend to Duke's baseball stadium, which he said is in dire need of a makeover. Duke's strategic plan also mentions the possibility of adding suites to the basketball arena at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I don't know how that would even begin to work within that existing structure," White said. "I haven't had a chance to come to grips with that. But in terms of Wallace Wade, we need to do an awful lot in Wallace Wade."

White said Duke is fortunate to have a seasoned leader, first-year coach David Cutcliffe, as it seeks to improve a football program that is 4-42 over the past four seasons.

He said Duke's recently completed Yoh Center, which houses the football coaches' offices, is a "great facility." But Wallace Wade has so many needs that White isn't sure where to start.

"I really want to hear from the experts," he said. " ... I would really like the professionals to come in here and get a good, hard look at it."