Duke Enrolls 50 New Students 2 Weeks Before Orientation Class of 2029

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

Looks like they need to spend more money on academics and less money on sports.

Sports generates a fortune for the university.

They have 27 varsity teams.

Aside from football and basketball (maybe lacrosse), I don't think they generate a fortune.

Former Duke scholarship athlete. Football (tv contract) and men’s basketball make money. Everything else loses money. Athletics however adds to the cachet of the school and helps them raise money - terrifically - their brand is spread through athletics. There are only two Power 4 schools ranked in the top 10, and if you are an athlete, and you want to be on the East Coast, Duke looms as a very good choice. The guy who drove the endowment to its current state, chosen by Terry Sanford in the 70’s, very much believed in athletics being part of the Duke brand. His son was my classmate. Of course it is in hindsight easy to look brilliant when a Coach K shows up.

The football environment is threatening though. Experts see a move to just two conferences, or a league apart from the NCAA with 40 or so teams. Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UVA, Boston College and Northwestern likely won’t be in that select group, and if the revenue driver goes away, non revenue sports will suffer. New NIL rules are already having an impact.

Athletics play a large role in US major universities. Plenty of arguments against this model. But university presidents instantly become sports fans, persuaded it is a conduit for alumni support.

By the way at a school like Duke the non revenue sport athletes are great students. As in really really good. They compete well with the student body.

Disagree with your list of teams. Georgia Tech, Northwestern, and, maybe, U Virginia will be fine. However, Duke, Stanford, BC, Va Tech, UC-Berkeley (Cal), and NC State may not be.

Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten located in a major media market (Chicagoland area) and Georgia Tech is a target for the Big Ten Conference due to the Atlanta media market and as a gateway to recruiting football players in the South. The University of Virginia stands a chance since it is the state flagship school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

Looks like they need to spend more money on academics and less money on sports.

Sports generates a fortune for the university.

They have 27 varsity teams.

Aside from football and basketball (maybe lacrosse), I don't think they generate a fortune.

Former Duke scholarship athlete. Football (tv contract) and men’s basketball make money. Everything else loses money. Athletics however adds to the cachet of the school and helps them raise money - terrifically - their brand is spread through athletics. There are only two Power 4 schools ranked in the top 10, and if you are an athlete, and you want to be on the East Coast, Duke looms as a very good choice. The guy who drove the endowment to its current state, chosen by Terry Sanford in the 70’s, very much believed in athletics being part of the Duke brand. His son was my classmate. Of course it is in hindsight easy to look brilliant when a Coach K shows up.

The football environment is threatening though. Experts see a move to just two conferences, or a league apart from the NCAA with 40 or so teams. Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UVA, Boston College and Northwestern likely won’t be in that select group, and if the revenue driver goes away, non revenue sports will suffer. New NIL rules are already having an impact.

Athletics play a large role in US major universities. Plenty of arguments against this model. But university presidents instantly become sports fans, persuaded it is a conduit for alumni support.

By the way at a school like Duke the non revenue sport athletes are great students. As in really really good. They compete well with the student body.

Disagree with your list of teams. Georgia Tech, Northwestern, and, maybe, U Virginia will be fine. However, Duke, Stanford, BC, Va Tech, UC-Berkeley (Cal), and NC State may not be.

Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten located in a major media market (Chicagoland area) and Georgia Tech is a target for the Big Ten Conference due to the Atlanta media market and as a gateway to recruiting football players in the South. The University of Virginia stands a chance since it is the state flagship school.

I was raised 10 miles from NU and know it well. College football in Chicago is all about Notre Dame. Not NU. My late twin was an All American D1 athlete and a tenure track professor at UVA. These schools simply won't be able to spend the NIL money to compete at a top 40 level. Their stadiums are small and revenue just isn't impressive. To their credit, I don't see either NU or UVa or the other schools I mentioned selling their souls to the levels of NIL required. As the U of Tenn mess this year reflects, a QB ranked in the middle of the SEC commands 3/4 million dollars. Prices will only increase if a single power league emerges. Heck, UVa and NU and Duke would rather hit rich alums up for basketball players than for guys on a 4-7 football team. But basketball doesn't pay the freight. Football destroyed the best entertainment college sports product in the Big East, and I would not underestimate its power to destroy. rr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

Looks like they need to spend more money on academics and less money on sports.

Sports generates a fortune for the university.

They have 27 varsity teams.

Aside from football and basketball (maybe lacrosse), I don't think they generate a fortune.

Former Duke scholarship athlete. Football (tv contract) and men’s basketball make money. Everything else loses money. Athletics however adds to the cachet of the school and helps them raise money - terrifically - their brand is spread through athletics. There are only two Power 4 schools ranked in the top 10, and if you are an athlete, and you want to be on the East Coast, Duke looms as a very good choice. The guy who drove the endowment to its current state, chosen by Terry Sanford in the 70’s, very much believed in athletics being part of the Duke brand. His son was my classmate. Of course it is in hindsight easy to look brilliant when a Coach K shows up.

The football environment is threatening though. Experts see a move to just two conferences, or a league apart from the NCAA with 40 or so teams. Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UVA, Boston College and Northwestern likely won’t be in that select group, and if the revenue driver goes away, non revenue sports will suffer. New NIL rules are already having an impact.

Athletics play a large role in US major universities. Plenty of arguments against this model. But university presidents instantly become sports fans, persuaded it is a conduit for alumni support.

By the way at a school like Duke the non revenue sport athletes are great students. As in really really good. They compete well with the student body.

Disagree with your list of teams. Georgia Tech, Northwestern, and, maybe, U Virginia will be fine. However, Duke, Stanford, BC, Va Tech, UC-Berkeley (Cal), and NC State may not be.

Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten located in a major media market (Chicagoland area) and Georgia Tech is a target for the Big Ten Conference due to the Atlanta media market and as a gateway to recruiting football players in the South. The University of Virginia stands a chance since it is the state flagship school.

I was raised 10 miles from NU and know it well. College football in Chicago is all about Notre Dame. Not NU. My late twin was an All American D1 athlete and a tenure track professor at UVA. These schools simply won't be able to spend the NIL money to compete at a top 40 level. Their stadiums are small and revenue just isn't impressive. To their credit, I don't see either NU or UVa or the other schools I mentioned selling their souls to the levels of NIL required. As the U of Tenn mess this year reflects, a QB ranked in the middle of the SEC commands 3/4 million dollars. Prices will only increase if a single power league emerges. Heck, UVa and NU and Duke would rather hit rich alums up for basketball players than for guys on a 4-7 football team. But basketball doesn't pay the freight. Football destroyed the best entertainment college sports product in the Big East, and I would not underestimate its power to destroy. rr

NP. About stadium size, as a matter of timing, NU will have the newest big 10 stadium in one more year, though I wouldn't expect that to have much impact on recruiting and performance. I also doubt the size of a mid-size private university's stadium will ever be able to rival the size of public university stadiums when public universities typically have 4x the undergrad enrollment of mid size privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

Looks like they need to spend more money on academics and less money on sports.

Sports generates a fortune for the university.

They have 27 varsity teams.

Aside from football and basketball (maybe lacrosse), I don't think they generate a fortune.

Former Duke scholarship athlete. Football (tv contract) and men’s basketball make money. Everything else loses money. Athletics however adds to the cachet of the school and helps them raise money - terrifically - their brand is spread through athletics. There are only two Power 4 schools ranked in the top 10, and if you are an athlete, and you want to be on the East Coast, Duke looms as a very good choice. The guy who drove the endowment to its current state, chosen by Terry Sanford in the 70’s, very much believed in athletics being part of the Duke brand. His son was my classmate. Of course it is in hindsight easy to look brilliant when a Coach K shows up.

The football environment is threatening though. Experts see a move to just two conferences, or a league apart from the NCAA with 40 or so teams. Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UVA, Boston College and Northwestern likely won’t be in that select group, and if the revenue driver goes away, non revenue sports will suffer. New NIL rules are already having an impact.

Athletics play a large role in US major universities. Plenty of arguments against this model. But university presidents instantly become sports fans, persuaded it is a conduit for alumni support.

By the way at a school like Duke the non revenue sport athletes are great students. As in really really good. They compete well with the student body.

Agree that athletics drive a huge amount of fund raising. Not just to Iron Dukes but also to the university. They do a ton of events and fund raising around games, trotting our former athletes, etc.

Non-rev athletes are a mixed bag. Most are quite smart. But there are a number who have no business being at Duke. I had a few in classes who were embarrassing. This is the exception, not the rule, but is worth noting.

All that being said, Duke, like most other schools, is going to have to seriously reconsider the roles of non-rev sports. Some have a rich sugar daddy who will keep them going. But many don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

Looks like they need to spend more money on academics and less money on sports.

Sports generates a fortune for the university.

They have 27 varsity teams.

Aside from football and basketball (maybe lacrosse), I don't think they generate a fortune.

Former Duke scholarship athlete. Football (tv contract) and men’s basketball make money. Everything else loses money. Athletics however adds to the cachet of the school and helps them raise money - terrifically - their brand is spread through athletics. There are only two Power 4 schools ranked in the top 10, and if you are an athlete, and you want to be on the East Coast, Duke looms as a very good choice. The guy who drove the endowment to its current state, chosen by Terry Sanford in the 70’s, very much believed in athletics being part of the Duke brand. His son was my classmate. Of course it is in hindsight easy to look brilliant when a Coach K shows up.

The football environment is threatening though. Experts see a move to just two conferences, or a league apart from the NCAA with 40 or so teams. Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UVA, Boston College and Northwestern likely won’t be in that select group, and if the revenue driver goes away, non revenue sports will suffer. New NIL rules are already having an impact.

Athletics play a large role in US major universities. Plenty of arguments against this model. But university presidents instantly become sports fans, persuaded it is a conduit for alumni support.

By the way at a school like Duke the non revenue sport athletes are great students. As in really really good. They compete well with the student body.

Everything besides football and basketball loses money. And there have been huge changes this year that impact D1 schools. If you are counting on a track or swimming scholarship - don't.

And conferences do matter. Vanderbilt in the SEC is generating over a billion over ten years. Whereas Duke is stuck. Basketball will be a good generator for them, but football is in a difficult position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting... Vandy and Emory are full

Not true. Nephew got notified yesterday from Vandy. He was on the waitlist. But he turned it down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting... Vandy and Emory are full

Not true. Nephew got notified yesterday from Vandy. He was on the waitlist. But he turned it down.

Interesting. Where is he going?

[Anonymous]

The BIG10 and SEC would love to have Duke as a member. The Duke name is platinum all over the country plus it has always been a ratings tiger. UNC and UVA are regional plays with national pull-Michael Jordan hasn’t played in Chapel Hill for over 40 years. Duke also has one of the wealthiest alumni networks in The country. The SEC should make a run at Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The BIG10 and SEC would love to have Duke as a member. The Duke name is platinum all over the country plus it has always been a ratings tiger. UNC and UVA are regional plays with national pull-Michael Jordan hasn’t played in Chapel Hill for over 40 years. Duke also has one of the wealthiest alumni networks in The country. The SEC should make a run at Duke.

SEC doesnt need another sports bottom dweller…..they can only compete in Basketball….then they will be destroyed everywhere else….PASS…

I will take FSU, Miami and Clemson…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting... Vandy and Emory are full

Not true. Nephew got notified yesterday from Vandy. He was on the waitlist. But he turned it down.

Interesting. Where is he going?

Oxford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting... Vandy and Emory are full

Not true. Nephew got notified yesterday from Vandy. He was on the waitlist. But he turned it down.

Interesting. Where is he going?

Oxford.

And he was waitlisted at Vanderbilt? Good grief. I am so nervous for my rising senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Duke and I'm a very loyal alum. I know a few kids in the entering class. This is embarrassing. They could have figured most of this out a long time ago.

I know this year is a bit wonky with the international students but 50 students at the 11th hour is a lot, and it seems to show incompetence and desperation. And the mass layoffs they just had also were not a good look for a school with an $8Bn endowment.

$12B

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the new kid quoted in the article got generous financial aid. So this wasn't solely for money, or they would have taken all full pay kids.

The former Dean of Admissions who had been there for 30+ years just retired. The transition clearly did not go well (and it is a lousy year to be starting new given all of the chaos).

I wonder where these kids were supposed to be going and what the trickle down effect will be. At this point, how much do they owe the schools they were leaving?

“Owe the schools”? They may forfeit their deposits, but they don’t “owe” the other schools a damn thing.

By late July, tuition payments have been made at many schools. We got our bill for our college kid in early July, and it was due by early August. They don’t give those back, I’m pretty sure.

[Anonymous]

Toured with our kids. Whole family came away with the same impression. A place full of soulless strivers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The BIG10 and SEC would love to have Duke as a member. The Duke name is platinum all over the country plus it has always been a ratings tiger. UNC and UVA are regional plays with national pull-Michael Jordan hasn’t played in Chapel Hill for over 40 years. Duke also has one of the wealthiest alumni networks in The country. The SEC should make a run at Duke.

LOL. Tell me you know nothing about college football money without telling me you know nothing about college football money. I’m dying laughing.