IAppreciateIt
no bunting allowed
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2011
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IIRC he was rumored to take our DC job before we hired Sawvel.
It's a shame that the "totally legit football national brand" cannot even come close to filling Duke's stadium.From the WRAL article on Elko's press conference:
When asked to compare the challenges at Duke to the ones at Wake Forest — both small, private schools that struggle to compete in the ACC — he bristled at the comparison.
Elko: "We don't want to sell ourselves short. I think we want to have the ability to be a developmental program and take kids and make them everything that they can become. But I also think we have a very strong national brand and I think we want to go beat down doors and knock down doors across this country to find elite level athletes who want elite level academics and they're out there and they exist. And so we'll find a balance between between increasing our recruiting efforts and maybe bringing in some kids that can help right away with bringing in kids that are more developmental. And I think the difference between the two programs honestly is we have a national brand and we can go a lot of places across this country and sell what Duke football stands for."
Also Elko: <hires Wake Forest DC>
Fuck Duke, but it is a top 10 academic school in addition to a basketball blue blood. Every Duke football coach in recent memory has used it’s brand to the fullest extent possible. Ben Bennett was from California. But Duke, like WFU, has had poor facilities until recently and isn’t willing to admit 85 academic risks. Regarding WFU winning 10 or 11 games for a decade, stop dreaming. We’ve won 10 games twice in school history. 6-10 wins a year seems probable with Clawson, but the 10 probably won’t happen very often.Devil's advocate here: Elko has a point, just as UNCCH does on this notion. Elko says Duke has a national brand and he is correct.
WF, on the other hand, has not, up to this point, consistently developed a national "brand" in any sport except historically, golf. Sure, we had our national success with Duncan, Childress and Paul in basketball but then our AD lost it with the awful hires and inability or unwillingness to timely recognize the errors in both instances. Yes, Duke's brand is in basketball but they still have a national brand in a revenue producing sport, and WF does not. And clearly I'm giving Elko his linkage of the national brand of basketball to football at Duke.
With the work of this current athletic department, WF very well may develop a brand with some serious national depth. To develop a national brand in football WF must consistently win at the 10 or 11 plus per year level at least for a decade which is very difficult to do. Count the number of ACC schools that have done that. And WF's mountain is higher than all the rest.
Few programs win 10-11 games a year. Plenty of schools have a "national brand" with little success. Pitt has a national brand and this was their first conference championship in any sport. It's not about success on the field/court. It's about marketing off it.
Pitt has a national title in FB from back in the day. And put some studs into the NFL.
45 years ago running the Veer with TD.
"Dan Marino" still resonates with a lot of people.
I saw so many Marino and Fitzgerald jerseys at the ACC CG
Don’t forget Aaron Donald. But that’s a lot of all time greats for a school with no major success. Like Wake in hoops.
Duke Basketball is a "national brand". Duke University as an "elite" institution is less of a national brand, but assessed as a matter of degree, Duke has a slightly more national academic brand than Wake Forest, but to be honest, the two schools are often mentioned together nationally to HS students that are interested in a smaller private school with strong academics and division one sports. The perceived academic difference between the two schools is not that pronounced on a national level -- they are perceived as similar institutions.
OTOH, Duke football is the opposite of a national brand. It's a national butt of jokes. That was what WF football was like for most of the 70s, 80s and 90s (with some special years mixed in). Understand Elko trying to nudge Duke football into the "national brand" that is Duke basketball to a lesser extent Duke University, but that's easier said than done. The "national" perception of Duke football is a team that is expected to lose in front of 100s of fans. Thanks to Grobe and Clawson, WF Football no longer has that reputation. WF Football now has a national rep as a program that is a step ahead of most of not all FBS programs. Kind of like the Tampa Rays of FBS football. WF football confounds the experts, but WF is now getting begrudging respect nationally. Elko has a LONG way to go to get Duke football anything close to WF's level.
Marino
Fitzgerald
Tony Dorsett
and maybe their 2 best players ever:
Hugh Green (finished second in the Heisman as a D-Lineman)
Mike Ditka
That's stronger than: Duncan and CP3 --- (UNFORTUNATELY). And wrong sport ugh!
Don’t forget Aaron Donald. But that’s a lot of all time greats for a school with no major success. Like Wake in hoops.