Blue Devil Nation :: ACC Football

This article was written prior to the finale agaisnt UNC by Jim Sumner , author of Tales From The Hardwood -Duke Blue Devils which is now out in paperback, just in time for Christmas. We will reviews the book and talk to the author in the coming weeks.

What to do about Duke football? The question has vexed the university and its supporters for more than four decades. The currently dismal state of the program demonstrates that not all of the answers have been on target.

There is no denying that Duke has some structural problems. The recent college-football-landscape hasn’t exactly been good for small, academically-elite, private universities. Duke’s fan base is small and scattered, the recruiting options are limited, and Duke is not going to get into a facilities arm race. This may explain why Duke can’t regularly defeat the state-school, football factories that dominate college football. But it doesn’t explain why Duke can’t compete with Wake Forest, Navy, or Vanderbilt, all of whom have long winning streaks against Duke.

Is Ted Roof the answer? I think the best that can be said at this point is that the jury is still out. Carl Franks left a pretty bare cupboard. Roof has elevated recruiting, at least according to the internet websites that specialize in rating high school football players. Roof is a class act and his players continue to graduate and represent well a great university. Roof deserves at least another year and he apparently will get it. But, in my opinion, Duke needs to show demonstrable on-field improvement next season. That means wins. Not moral victories, not vaguely-defined improvements but actually going out and beating people. Multiple times.

The ACC can be a pretty unforgiving place for novices. There are no entry-level positions here. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Roof is learning lessons—program management, hiring assistant coaches, game strategy, in-game adjustments--that other coaches learn at entry-level jobs. Maybe he’s learned them well enough to make Duke a winner on the field. It would be a shame to give up on him before knowing the answer to the question. Duke has lost games under Roof because of a lack of experience or talent but it also has lost winnable games when it looked like his team simply wasn’t prepared. I refuse to believe that Duke shouldn’t be able to beat Navy or Vanderbilt.

It’s easy to lay the blame on the head coach. He’s the public name on the franchise. But Duke is careening towards its fourth winless season in 11 years under three different coaches. Sixteen losing seasons in seventeen years, under four coaches. That suggests that some blame should go higher. Duke’s share of the ACC’s bowl and television revenues insures that the program will make money. Is there incentive to do better? Does anyone in the Allen Building or on the Board of Trustees actually care about Duke football? If so, it’s time to start showing it. If not, it’s hard to see how Duke finds its way out of this swamp.

Duke football fans tend to look at UNC, Wake Forest, etc. as the school’s rivals. Duke isn’t doing well on the field against these rivals and that’s an understatement. But it goes further than that. Like it or not, when Duke sends a football team out on an ACC field, it is in the entertainment business. We would all love to see a rockin’ Wade full of enthusiastic Duke fans. But Duke isn’t going to be able to fill Wade Stadium on a regular basis with hard-core Duke fans. There aren’t that many, at least not within easy driving distance of Durham. Casual fans will fill Wade. It happened under Spurrier, it happened in 1994.

But Duke has to give them a reason. People have a finite amount of disposable income and a finite amount of discretionary leisure time. In this sense, Duke’s rivals are a weekend at the beach, a Saturday at the multiplex, Judy’s new soccer shoes, Billy’s college fund. Duke isn’t putting out a product of sufficient quality to induce these people to invest their time and money. Wade badly needs refurbishing. Parking is inadequate, there aren’t enough ticket takers to efficiently process 15,000 fans let alone 30,000, and food choices are limited. The public restrooms? Think small tactical nukes and go from there.

Wallace Wade needs some off season improvements to make it a pleasant experience on gameday.

Okay, it’s easier to diagnose this problem than to prescribe a sure-fire cure. But Wake’s success over the last few years pretty much shreds the excuses Duke has used for years to rationalize its continued lack of success on the gridiron. Hire the right coach, give him the resources he needs, and stick by him. Maybe it’s that simple. Does Duke have the right coach? What are the right resources? Can and should academic standards be tweaked? How long is long enough? Okay, maybe it’s not that simple. The devil (no pun intended) is in the details.

Duke has done some good things, the Yoh Building for one. But the Yoh Building has to be the beginning not the end of facilities upgrades. Assistant salaries are still at the lower end of the ACC scale but they are competitive. The promotions staff tries but they’re promoting a flawed product. There’s only so much they can do.

More can be done and has to be done and it has to start at the highest levels. Duke claims to desire excellence in all that it undertakes. It’s time to see if that’s just window dressing or not. I just don’t see Duke football winning on a regular basis without the commitment of the entire university. Is that forthcoming? We’ll see.

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