In reappointing Joe Alleva to a five-year term as Duke's athletics director this summer, President Richard Brodhead did so with one string attached: that in the next year, Alleva would craft a strategic plan mapping the future of his department.
Though strategic plans do not guarantee action, (Exhibit A being the dismissal of most of the recommendations from Brodhead's Campus Culture Initiative), there seems to be some value in having one for Duke Athletics given what has happened over the past few years. So I've decided to throw my two cents in with a couple of recommendations to jump-start this discussion. We're talking big ideas here, not short-term fixes like revoking Joe Surgan's scholarship.
Duke should make a concerted effort to better integrate athletes and non-athletes in campus culture.
It's no secret around here that there is a significant divide between the undergraduate community at Duke and the subculture of varsity athletics. Sure we've all had classes or interacted with athletes (what senior can't remember Chris Duhon's legendary beer pong performance at Tailgate freshman year?). But by and large, athletes take different classes, live in different places, and operate in a different social environment than the majority of the Duke student body.
This is not to say that it's the athletes' fault-indeed, that's far from the truth. Beginning freshman year, Duke systematically enables this self-segregation when it allows most varsity athletes to room together in Blackwell or Randolph, and when varsity coaches require that athletes spend so much time with their team that they're hardly able to be flexible in their class choices or enjoy any type of outside social life.
It's natural for people who work together in extra-curricular activities to be friends outside of that activity, especially people with a high level of shared interests like in athletics. But the extent to which this is true at Duke has polarized the student body, and athletes and non-athletes are not as understanding as they should be about the other group. This has bred contempt and jealousy from areas of the community and it certainly does nothing positive to boost attendance at games and support for teams.
There are a number of ways this could be addressed, but adding on a huge athletic-academic center within the Michael K. Krzyzewski Center for Athletic Excellence is not the right answer. Doing this will further isolate athletes from the rest of the student body. Instead, potential solutions could range from eliminating class preferences for athletes to requiring that there be athletic representation in student government.
What I propose is a simpler, if more uncomfortable, solution: make every recruited varsity athlete room with a non-athlete freshmen year. There might be some conflicts as athletes and non-athletes get used to each other's schedules (I know I wouldn't want a football player roommate waking me up at 6 a.m.), but that's the point.
A bold move like this would foster greater understanding within the undergraduate population, and a side effect might be a boost in attendance for non-revenue sports. Perhaps Duke would even decide to finally air condition the main East quad dorms, which are currently inhumane to live in for the first month of the year.
Duke needs to do a better job of supporting non-revenue sports.
What if I told you that the women's basketball team charters flights to destinations as close as Charlottesville (a three-hour bus ride away)? And what if I told you that the track team has been known to drive as many as 12 hours to meets as far away as Boston?
That doesn't seem fair, does it?
With the exception of men's basketball, Duke's varsity teams lose money. And if Duke believes in the spirit of intercollegiate athletics at the Division I level, that should be OK.
But it's completely inexcusable the way the football and women's basketball teams are pampered in comparison to the so-called "non-rev" teams, especially considering the football and women's basketball teams lost around two million dollars each last season.
Duke enables this attitude when it engages in the arms races associated with these two sports to the extent that it currently does. This is evident on a day-to-day basis with the level of academic support they provide to revenue teams in comparison to non-revenue teams, and it was painfully obvious last spring when Duke was this close to caving to Coach G's demands to do things like charter flights even more often than the team does currently.
Duke needs to find more of a happy medium in terms of supporting the non-revenue athletes who work just as hard as their "revenue" counterparts. This should include, but not be limited to, paying for all athletes to fly (commercial) to any venue more than five hours away; actively trying to recruit fans to games with similar efforts to the ones seen over the past year for women's basketball and men's lacrosse games; and fully funding scholarships in all sports (like men's track and swimming and diving) so that Duke can have a chance to compete with its ACC rivals.
These initiatives would cost more money to be sure, but if Duke believes in its athletics programs, it should be willing to bear an operating loss on an annual basis if fundraising needs can't be met.
These are just a couple ideas, but it's time for Duke to start thinking more outside the box when it comes to athletics. The problems facing the athletics department are not unique to Duke, but that does not mean Duke should not be a leader in creating change.
Here's to starting the discussion for Duke's strategic plan leading a new, progressive movement in intercollegiate athletics.
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