They say that every man has his price. I guess Joe Alleva's is $1 million.
Not a bad price to have. Personally, I'll do anything for $20. But when I streak naked across the quad for a $10 bill, I only compromise myself. What Alleva did for $1 million compromised the integrity of Duke and its athletic department.
Last winter, Alleva (who had Carl Frank's consent) sold this week's home Florida State game and moved it to Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The football program stands to make around $1 million from this deal, but when Alleva signed on the dotted line he let down the program and deserted its fans.
The department came up with a bunch of reasons trying to explain why it did what it did. It pointed out the advantage that Franks will now have recruiting Floridian high school players. Now, I'm no expert on the recruiting process, but I find it hard to believe that playing one game in Jacksonville will help us recruit better players.
Picture this scenario:
Jacksonville H.S. coach: Johnny, you're the top quarterback in all the land. Where do you want to go to school?
Johnny: Well, Coach, remember that time three years ago when I saw Duke lose to Florida State by 45 points at Alltel Stadium? Ever since then, all I've wanted to do is become a Blue Devil.
I agree that additional exposure is important to lesser-name schools. But people in Florida know Duke. And even if they are unfamiliar with Duke football, one extra game in Jacksonville will not make a difference in our ability to get players. I do think, however, a packed Wallace Wade would be pretty appealing to a high schooler visiting campus.
But Wallace Wade is never packed, and why should it be? Alleva has to first prove to the students and fans that he is committed to them. He must build up excitement for the program and give people an incentive to come to games.
But this decision was a step in the wrong direction. If I were a season ticket holder, I'd be outraged at the thought of being robbed of the opportunity to see Florida State play. The fans that have supported Duke in these tough times should be shown some respect and rewarded for their loyalty.
The athletic department also justified its decision by saying that a game in Alltel Stadium will be exciting for the players because it is a professional stadium that holds 73,000. Granted, every other year they play in FSU's Doak S. Campbell Stadium, which actually holds 7,000 more than Alltel, but let's not get bogged down in numbers.
At least not these numbers.
The numbers that matter are the number of dollars. I've been at this school long enough to know that Duke cares about money... a lot. And I'll be the first to say that Duke athletics needs more money.
Its football facilities are among the worst in the ACC, if not the worst. If this has not seriously hurt recruiting by now, it will soon enough. Certainly this money will go a long way in helping build new facilities, but to do all that needs to be done will take a lot more than a mere $1 million.
And Joe, this is not the way to get all the money the program needs.
The best way to make money is to continually build a strong fan base.
When you hired Franks, you were supposedly ushering in a new era of Duke football. But when you sell away the second biggest home game in the two-year ACC rotation (behind UNC) soon afterwards, what kind of message does that send? It says that this is the same old Duke football team, and that it is not a program to be taken seriously.
I know you would never consider selling an ACC men's basketball game. Surely if you sold the home N.C. State game to Charlotte you would get more than the 9,314 fans that would fill Cameron and probably make a nice little profit. But you would never dream of doing that. You respect the basketball program too much and you recognize its value to the school.
By selling a football game, you are telling the team that at this school, football fans are an afterthought. And while football may be of a lesser priority in the minds of students and fans, this is not an image you should encourage.
That is an image I would have thought you would try to fight.
I am not blind. I have seen the pitiful attendance at the last two games. I was embarrassed to walk into Wallace Wade for Franks' home debut two weeks ago and see so many empty bleachers. If Saturday's game were in Durham, no doubt many a Duke student would choose sleep over an all unavoidable massacre.
But every game, no matter how bad the team looks and no matter how good the opponent looks, there are always some 15,000 fans who want to see the Blue Devils take the field.
They have been through too much to be treated this way.
If this disrespect continues, these 15,000 will start to realize that Duke football doesn't matter-not to the athletic department, not to them. October will not mean college football Saturdays; it will simply mean there's that much less time until basketball season.
As Duke has struggled over the past few seasons, the Blue Devils have been the butt of many jokes. But this latest one is the biggest of them all. Too bad it was told by the people who are supposed to be saving the program.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW is a weekly column written by a Chronicle sports columnist. It appears every Wednesday.
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