It's mid-March and basketball is over for Duke.
That fact in itself is unusual, considering the streak of NCAA tournament runs the men's basketball team has had over the past few years. This year, the women's basketball team made a rare trip to the NCAAs, only to lose a heartbreaking quadruple-overtime game to Alabama on Saturday.
This year the athletic department will not enjoy the revenue from successful trips to the NCAA tournament as it has in the past. In previous years, the success of the men's basketball team has provided the athletic department with sufficient funds to support the rest of the department, especially the women's sports programs.
This revenue has allowed Duke to become one of the few schools in Division I that is in compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972. Title IX prevents any program which receives federal funds from discriminating on the basis of gender.
Because Duke has consistently built up its women's programs over the years, it passes one of the tests outlined by federal regulations to determine whether an institution meets student interests and abilities with regard to intercollegiate athletics.
The lack of revenue this year will not affect programs scheduled for the next academic year, said Joe Alleva, director of finance and associate director of athletics.
Since 1986, Duke has added five women's sports, most recently women's lacrosse, which will begin varsity competition in the spring of 1996. This growth of women's sports both in number of programs and in scholarship dollars prevents Duke from being held liable in a Title IX lawsuit.
"Over the last three or four years, we have equalized the budget in every sport that's comparable [to men]," Alleva said. "We have greatly improved women's coaches salaries and we've increased the number of women's scholarships."
For the next fiscal year, Duke has budgeted 60 scholarships for females and 129 for males. The disparity exists because of the size of the men's football team. Of the 129 male scholarships, 85 are designated for football.
"The problem is football because there's not a comparable women's sport to it," Alleva said. "In sports that are comparable here, we offer many more scholarships for women than we do for men. As institutions try to comply with Title IX... what a lot of institutions have done--and we've chosen not to do--is to cut other men's programs."
The additional money allocated to women's sports at Duke has directly contributed to the successes that many of these programs have had in recent years. One example is the women's basketball team, which this year earned only its second-ever NCAA bid.
"I feel like [the athletic department has] really made a commitment within the last three years to women's sports here, specifically to women's basketball," women's basketball head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "We have the full complement [of assistant coaches] to the men's program. They've given us a recruiting budget, a travel budget, everything we've needed to be in line with the top 20 programs around the country."
And women's basketball hasn't been the only Duke women's sport that has earned national recognition. The volleyball team recently completed four back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference championships and the tennis team has won seven consecutive ACC titles, advancing to the NCAAs in six out of the last seven years.
And the list goes on. In 1992, the women's soccer team competed in the national championship game, and in October 1994 it achieved a historic victory over North Carolina. Prior to this unforgettable game, the Tar Heels had never lost at home and had never lost to an ACC rival.
In addition, the women's golf team has advanced to the NCAAs three out of the last four years, while the field hockey team achieved its first-ever NCAA bid in 1992.
"By adding another scholarship here and there, various [women's] sports have been able to do a little bit better," said Jacki Silar, the senior women's administrator and head field hockey coach. "Definitely when you add that revenue it does end up in wins that you may not have had before."
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