Dukies find niche in broadcasting

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski stresses the importance of family, and his values have been transferred to his players over the years. Many of them have taken Krzyzewski's family-first model to heart and have chosen to join another type of network after graduation.

"There is a definite Duke mafia in the broadcasting world," said Mike Gminski, a CBS Sports analyst.

There is the godfather, Jay Bilas, Trinity '86 and Law '92, who was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Performance by a Studio Analyst in 2007 and 2008. Then there are the captains, people like Jim Spanarkel, Trinity '79, Gminski, Trinity '80 and Jay Williams, Trinity '02.

"Maybe we just don't want to work," Bilas said with a laugh. "I think the truth is there are so many media outlets now that media companies are crying loudly for content. And college, even high school now, is covered more extensively than ever. This would not have happened 30 years ago. You would not have seen all these people in the same industry because the industry has grown so much."

After all, each member of the family took a different route to the booth, but their time in a Duke uniform has helped inform all of their reporting-even if they have to consciously avoid having a bias toward their alma mater.

'A natural segue'

The four broadcasters with Duke ties reached by The Chronicle all started as members of the basketball team. From there, each carved out his own niche.

Bilas did more than think about law school-he actually went. While in school, he served as an assistant coach under Krzyzewski from 1990 until 1992, one of the most successful stretches in school history. Three Final Fours and two National Championships later, Bilas graduated from law school, and he and his wife decided that the life of a coach would not be the best for their family. He figured he would practice law and put his basketball past behind him.

But broadcasting got in the way.

Like Gminski, Bilas got his start by way of an old contact, George Habel, who ran the company that did the Duke radio broadcasts. He worked as the color commentator with Bob Harris from 1993 until 1995. Bilas lived in Charlotte at the time and would drive to Durham for the home games and fly to the away games.

"I don't even remember what I made," said Bilas, an ESPN analyst who works for CBS during the NCAA Tournament. "I think it was a couple of hundred bucks a game, hardly worth it from a money standpoint. But I just thought it would be fun, get me out of the office and be something I might enjoy. I really had a blast."

At 27, Williams thought he would be in the midst of a successful NBA career. A serious motorcycle accident in 2003, however, ended that dream, and while he was still trying to rehab his way back into the NBA, Williams had a trial stint with ESPN. The Worldwide Leader liked him enough to hire him on a full-time basis, and he now works primarily in the studio.

Preparation at Duke

Williams and the rest of Duke's broadcasters had plenty of preparation for their life in the Fourth Estate from their time at Duke. Turning their shoes and sweatbands in for suits and microphones was second nature.

"I always felt somewhat comfortable in college being interviewed so much at Duke," Williams said. "It was pretty much like being a rock star, to tell you the truth. It was a natural progression."

Both Bilas and Gminski agreed that their playing days in Durham help them now, but none of them said playing for Duke made them a better analyst than someone who did not play or played at a school with less media attention.

"When you are a color analyst, your basketball experience is everything," Bilas said. "If I was just a player, my experience would be one thing, but after having been an assistant coach for three years, I really learned a lot about the game in a different way.

"I don't think anyone has cornered the market on their understanding of the game. I do tend to think that the people who spend the most time in and around the game know the most about it, or are more likely to know about it. If I want to find out about a car, I'm not going to talk to a guy who drives a cab. I'm going to talk to a mechanic."

Not all broadcasters are created equal-there is a difference between broadcasting games live and sitting in a studio and offering analysis and commentary. Spanarkel thinks that previous playing experience helps, but that any journalist knowledgeable about basketball can offer quality analysis and commentary in the studio or in a magazine.

Gminski said his NBA experience does not help him with his college broadcasting-he called the two "almost two different sports" and said the difference was like the "separation between church and state"-but his experience in both worlds gives him a leg up as an analyst with viewers because it gives him credibility with his audience, he said.

Being at a national program like Duke did help prepare Gminski on the other side of the microphone. But when he stepped into the booth, he had to go from defense to offense.

"As a player, you are being reactive instead of proactive," Gminski said. "The hardest thing was being the interviewer instead of the interviewee."

Williams echoed the other three's thoughts, saying that viewers relish the different points of view that everyone on the air brings. In particular, he cited the need to analyze situations on the fly as the biggest difference from broadcasting and addressing the media as a player.

Williams, though, credits his classroom experience with helping to prepare him for life as a media member.

"I still go to political debates now and I tell people all the time, because they find it very interesting that I love to have strong opinions," Williams said. "That's what happens when you go to school with people who were scoring 1560s on their SATs. Everyone is quick-witted, and it always makes you be on your toes and ready to answer something."

Objectivity in the family

All the members of the Duke family keep in touch with each other. Gminski and Bilas both live in Charlotte, and they catch up whenever their busy schedules allow. Gminski also keeps in touch with Spanarkel, who was his former teammate and fellow CBS co-worker.

Williams reached out to Bilas when he was getting his start, and specifically asked how to be objective and check his Blue Devil pride at the door.

"Over the past two years, the guys in Bristol [at ESPN headquarters] have called me 'Dukie,'" said Williams, who spoke to the Cameron Crazies Jan. 15 on Sixth Man Night. "I am a Duke alum and I love my school, but I need to be objective. It is a difficult thing to do, especially when people associate my name with Duke."

Gminski feels the same way about his alma mater, but also agreed that objectivity was the name of the broadcasting game.

"I want them to do well, but there has to be separation there," Gminski said. "As a broadcaster, I want my viewers to learn. My teams were 30 years ago. It's not about me."

Even though the broadcasters are no longer suiting up in uniform, they are far from removed from the Duke Basketball scene.

Gminski and Williams have their numbers hanging in the rafters, and all four are around throughout the season, sometimes to call games from the crow's nest. After all, once you are in the family, you are in for life.