New Duke AD will face big issues

Hoops, football questions at Duke

Whomever replaces Joe Alleva as the next Duke athletic director will oversee a $50 million department that faces a big, looming issue: When will Hall of Fame men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski retire and how will he be replaced?

With Alleva accepting the athletic director's job at LSU, Duke President Richard Brodhead said this week that Chris Kennedy, Duke's senior associate AD, will act as the interim AD.

Brodhead also appointed new Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, a former football player at Duke, to lead a search committee. Bostock recently served on the committee that brought David Cutcliffe to Duke to coach football.

Brodhead and Bostock, with formal input from a full search committee and probable input from Krzyzewski, have to find a person who must be capable of figuring out the post-Krzyzewski future of Duke athletics -- whenever it arrives.

Why worry? Because the men's basketball program is the biggest part of Duke athletics in terms of fundraising because of its three NCAA titles, national visibility and the respect Krzyzewski attracts as a Duke figurehead, national team coach and national pitchman.

Krzyzewski, 61, doesn't know when he'll retire. In 2008-09, he'll serve his 29th season at Duke and his 34th in college coaching.

He won his 800th game as a college coach this past season and will conclude a three-year stint as the United States men's national basketball team coach at the Beijing Olympics in August.

Krzyzewski doesn't look to be losing his fire, and it might not seem pressing to come up with a succession plan at the moment. But ADs typically serve long-enough tenures -- Alleva served 10 years -- that figuring out the next step will have to be a priority for Alleva's successor.

Football will also be a high priority for the new boss. The football program had already taken a downward turn when Alleva took the Duke AD job in 1998, but his first two football coach hires -- Carl Franks and Ted Roof -- went 13-89 from 1999-2007.

Alleva hired Cutcliffe after the 2007 season, hoping the longtime Southeastern Conference coach can turn the football program into a winner 14 years since its last winning season.

To keep Duke moving forward off the field, the new AD will also have to guide the implementation of a strategic plan for the athletic department.

The plan, which could be approved by the Duke Board of Trustees in May, includes a number of important directives about the football program from admissions practices to recruiting philosophy and facilities upgrades.

For decades, Wallace Wade Stadium has desperately needed basic upgrades to its restrooms and concessions areas. Work on those areas has already been approved.

Larger plans to remodel the stadium and take out the existing track to bring fans closer to the field are part of the strategic plan awaiting approval from the Duke Board of Trustees in May.

Since Duke's last bowl appearance in 1994, the Duke administration has been slow to act to help the football program, but Brodhead has repeatedly said that making it as successful as other Duke sports is a priority for him -- so it will be a priority for the new AD.

The ultimate goal for the Duke athletic department is to endow all of its scholarships. Currently, 61 Duke athletic scholarships, across all sports, are endowed.

In 2007-08, Duke gave out 245.2 athletics scholarships. Those supported 328 of Duke's 620 athletes, according to the Duke athletics department.

The Iron Dukes are the fundraising arm at Duke responsible for coming up with the money to pay for the remaining 184.2 scholarships.

At nearly $48,000 each, Duke's scholarship bill alone in 2007-08 is expected to be near $11 million.

If all scholarships were endowed, the funds raised through the Iron Dukes could pay for other needs like other capital improvements, coaches' salaries or department operating costs.

Duke could consider adding more scholarships. Right now, roughly 10 percent of the student body participates in intercollegiate athletics.

The Duke athletic department already has experienced administrators working at the top. Kennedy and Jacki Silar, associate AD and senior women's administrator, have been at Duke for 31 and 27 years, respectively.

Associate AD Mike Cragg, who came to Duke in 1987, also would likely get consideration. A former Duke sports information director, he currently serves as director of the Legacy Fund, the autonomous fundraising arm for the men's basketball program.

Externally, former Florida State AD Dave Hart is currently unemployed after being let go at FSU. Hart has extensive ACC experience and ties to the state as the former AD at East Carolina. He was a finalist for the LSU job before Alleva was hired.

The Duke AD job will provide big challenges to whomever Brodhead chooses.

"My take on that is we need to continue the progress made in the football program and with the new facilities and maintain the balance among the minor and major sports," said Jack McMillan, a member of the Iron Dukes. "That's something Duke has done a good job on in the past. That's a hard job these days. It'll be a tough job but a good job for whoever takes it."