The women's basketball team's loss to Rutgers Saturday was heart-breaking, but no single loss could possibly hurt as much as losing head coach Gail Goestenkors to another university.
Amid an unprecedented seven straight 30-win seasons that have included three trips to the Final Four, Goestenkors has demonstrated class and courage-turning foes to fans as she recently did against Holy Cross and suspending her team's only point guard in what could have been another Final Four season. She also has graduated players to NASA and medical school and fostered important ties to local schools and the Ronald McDonald House of Durham.
Athletics Director Joe Alleva's statements last week ("Would Coach G leave Duke?," March 20) sadly indicated that Duke could lose Goestenkors to schools willing to offer "significantly" more money for her services. Although Alleva fairly contrasted the program's current (lack of) profitability to its rivals at Connecticut and Tennessee, he did not explain how at least four Big Twelve schools-Baylor, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma-guaranteed their coaches total compensation between $540,000 and $800,000 this season.
Fifteen years ago, after wrangling over salaries and a $10,000 recruiting budget led to the ouster of the longtime women's basketball coach, Alleva's predecessor promised the University's financial support to Goestenkors.
Is Duke prepared for Joe Alleva to break that promise?
Brody Greenwald
Trinity '01
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