Alleva contract renewed

When Joe Alleva came to Duke University in 1976 fresh off earning his Master's of Business Administration from Lehigh, he expected to begin a career as an administrator in Duke Hospital. Twenty-seven years later, after dramatic change in career plans, he now holds one of the most powerful positions at Duke and one of the most prestigious in all of college athletics.

Alleva left the hospital in 1980 and held various posts in the athletic department for six years. He was associate athletic director from 1987 to 1998 under Tom Butters and was promoted to athletics director in 1998 when his predecessor retired.

Alleva's first five years at the helm of one of the largest athletic departments in the country have been highly successful, and as a result, he was recently granted an additional five-year term by President Nan Keohane.

"Joe has been a strong athletic director in many ways, standing up for integrity in Duke athletics," Keohane wrote in an e-mail. "He has collaborated closely with Student Affairs and been a valued member of my top administrative team. I count on his advice and counsel on all athletics issues."

Perhaps Alleva's greatest accomplishment has been his extensive fundraising, which has enabled Duke to provide some of the finest facilities in the nation for many of its sports.

"Fundraising is something that is very necessary for us to do, but it's also probably the most challenging part of my job," Alleva said. "Fundraising is mainly about relationships, so you have to build those relationships with people in the hope that they will see the needs of what you're trying to do and then help you do it. All of the facilities that have been put up are the result of fundraising."

The most prominent upgrade has been the $20 million Yoh Football Center, a 70,000-square foot project that was completed in the summer of 2002. The hallowed Cameron Indoor Stadium has also undergone recent renovations--including a new air-conditioning system, a renovated concourse and a new roof--without compromising its historic aura.

In addition to football and basketball, facilities for non-revenue sports have received a significant boost under Alleva. The opening of the Yoh Center has allowed the men's and women's soccer and lacrosse programs to move into the state-of-the-art facilities in the Murray Building; the recently completed Sheffield Tennis Center and Ambler Tennis Stadium have provided Duke with one of the top training grounds in the nation; the field hockey team has a new turf for its field; and renovations are planned for the rowing and golf facilities.

"For us to have our offices, weight room, training room, team room and locker room all in the [Murray Building] has been fantastic, and Joe has been great in that area," women's head soccer coach Robbie Church said. "We've had the seventh- and eighth-best recruiting classes the last two years, and I think that our facilities are an important part of that."

Another major accomplishment under Alleva's tenure is the growth of women's athletics. Of the 45 new scholarships added in the last five years, 42 have been in women's sports, allowing Duke to develop one of the strongest women's programs in the country.

"Joe has been a strong supporter of women's sports and our women's coaches and athletes," Keohane wrote.

Under Alleva's leadership, Duke has just recently come into compliance with Title IX, the controversial portion of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive any federal funds.

And, unlike many other athletic directors throughout the country trying to comply with Title IX, Alleva has been able to avoid dropping any men's programs and to recognize the needs of non-scholarship sports.

"The most dramatic thing that Mr. Alleva has brought is true interest in each program and all of the athletes," said Bob Thompson, head men's and women's swimming coach for 26 years. "Anytime I've needed anything, he has been more than generous. I was never able to get an assistant coach until he became athletic director. The only thing that we lack is scholarships, but we are still well funded by the department. He never let Title IX concerns hurt us."

While the success of Duke's women's teams has been unquestionable--soccer, field hockey, tennis, basketball, lacrosse and golf are all ranked in the top 10 in the nation--Alleva wants to increase fan support for some of these programs, especially women's basketball.

Head coach Gail Goestenkors has made the Final Four three of the last four years, but students have yet to embrace the team on a consistent basis.

"[Attendance] is an area of concern for us, but Joe has been supportive of our program in all aspects, and he has recognized this problem," Goestenkors said. "He allowed me to hire [former Duke player] Shaeeta Williams, someone who knows our program very well, to go out into the community and work to increase our popularity. We're always trying to get the students excited about us, and we took some great strides last year."

With the help of women's basketball, Duke teams have captured a total of 26 ACC titles since 1998, second only to North Carolina during that time and the most ever in a five-year span at Duke.

Alleva's glittering resume, though, has been consistently marred by a lack of success in two high-profile scholarship sports: baseball and football.

At the beginning of his tenure, Alleva chose Bill Hillier as baseball's new head coach, but the results have been lacking. Since 1999, the squad has gone a collective 106-175, although 91 of those losses have come in the ultra-competitive ACC. From 1992 to 1998, Duke won at least 30 games every year--since then, Duke is yet to even post a winning record.

Alleva also hired Carl Franks to head the gridiron program after the 1998 season, but he has since seen the 42-year-old Garner, N.C. native collect only seven wins while racking up 43 losses, including an embarrassing 23-game winless streak that spanned two seasons. Although a victory over East Carolina in the opening game of the 2002 season snapped the streak of futility, the Blue Devils still have not won an ACC game since defeating Wake Forest 48-35 in November of 1999.

"One of the things we have got to continue to work on is our football program," Alleva said. "Football is one of the few things we're not as competitive in as we'd like to be. We've got to win more games, and we've got to be more competitive."

Given the football program's struggles over the past five years, many called for Franks to be replaced at the end of the 2002 season. Instead, Alleva extended his contract through 2006.

"This year's team has a lot of seniors on it, and I felt that [Franks] had earned the right to coach these kids," Alleva said. "We'll see what happens as the season progresses, but I wanted to let him see what he could do with an experienced team, so that's why I gave him another chance."

Whether or not Alleva decides to retain Franks next year, he realizes that football must to do a better job with its recruiting.

However, attracting academically qualified high school prospects to a program with such little success in recent years is a significant challenge, even with the new Yoh Center. A recent study by the NCAA found that over 95 percent of current collegiate football players chose their respective schools based on the athletic program, not the academic merits of the school itself.

"It all comes down to recruiting," Alleva said. "I'm not going to use academics as an excuse, because I'm proud of our academics and we need to use that to our advantage. Half of a percent of all football players in the country go on to play professional football, so they've got to be able to do something. We think that we prepare them as well as anyone for the real world, and that's something we have to sell."

In addition to improving the football program, Alleva hopes to make significant progress toward endowing all of the athletic department's 235 scholarships. Approximately 45 scholarships are currently fully funded, and, at $750,000 per endowment, the entire process will take many years.

"Someday I'd like to be able to give scholarships to all of our sports, but our number one focus right now is to endow scholarships," he said. "It will take a lot of money, but that's the future of our athletic department."

Despite the hefty responsibilities that Alleva has to ensure the continued success of one of the most high profile athletic programs in the country, he still thoroughly enjoys his work. He has been able to watch his two sons--J.D., 24 and Jeff, 22--play baseball at Duke and get drafted by the Kansas City Royals, and his daughter Jenny is currently a freshman on the 10th-ranked women's soccer team.

Alleva realizes that he will have to adjust to a new president after Keohane steps down in 2004, but after 27 years at Duke, he is unlikely to be bothered by further change.

"I look forward to working with a new president, but I am going to miss Nan," he said. "But I just really, really like my job, and I love Duke University. I never thought I'd be here this long, but it's a really special place."