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Duke University's 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The name comes from the French Chasseurs Alpins soldiers in World War I that wore a distinctive blue uniforms with flowing capes and berets. For this reason, they were nicknamed "les Diables Bleus" or "Blue Devils." Duke's teams have won eight NCAA team national championships. The women's golf team has won four (1999, 2002, 2005 and 2006), the men's basketball team has won three (1991, 1992, and 2001), and the men's soccer team won a championship in 1986. Duke's major historic rival has been the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, especially in basketball (see "UNC-Duke rivalry"). In the past ten years, Duke has finished in the top 30 every year in the NACDA Director's Cup, an overall measure of an institution's athletic success. Most recently, Duke finished eighth in 2006 and fifth in 2005. Duke has the smallest undergraduate enrollment of any institution that has been in the top 35 the past two years. Furthermore, Duke is the only school besides Stanford that has finished in the top ten in the past two years that has fewer than 15,000 undergraduates. Duke teams that have been ranked in the top ten nationally in the 2000's include men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's lacrosse, women's field hockey, and men's and women's golf. Eight of these teams were ranked either first or second in the country during 2004-5. Overall, 94% of Duke's varsity athletes graduate, the highest percentage of any Division I school.
History of the mascot
Men’s basketball Duke men's basketball is one of the best-known teams in college sports, and its rivalry with North Carolina is similarly praised. The fourth winningest college basketball program of all-time, the team has had great success over the past 25 years under coach Mike Krzyzewski (often simply called 'Coach K'). Duke has won three NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships and been in 14 Final Fours. Seventy-one players have been drafted in the NBA Draft. Additionally, Duke has had an Academic All-American on the team fourteen years. Duke has 16 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships (1960, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006), the most of any team in the ACC. Duke also has won the regular season 18 times (1954, 1958, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006). Duke is second, behind only UCLA, in total weeks ranked as the number one team in the nation with 110 weeks. Coaches
Players National players of the year honors include Art Heyman (1963), Johnny Dawkins (1986), Danny Ferry (1989), Christian Laettner (1992), Elton Brand (1999), Shane Battier (2001), Jason Williams (2001, 2002), and J.J. Redick (2006). ACC players of the year include Art Heyman (1963), Jeff Mullins (1964), Steve Vacendak (1966), Mike Gminski (1979), Danny Ferry (1988, 1989), Christian Laettner (1992), Grant Hill (1994), Elton Brand (1999), Shane Battier (2001), and J.J. Redick (2005, 2006). ACC rookies of the year include Jim Spanarkel (1976), Mike Gminski (1977), Gene Banks (1978), and Chris Duhon (2001). Chronological History
Coach K era Coach K has had unprecedented success since obtaining the coaching reign in 1981. His leadership has propelled the Duke Men’s Basketball team into the national spotlight and proved vital as he was selected to coach the United States national basketball team, which includes the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Some of his Duke teams’ accomplishments include: the only team to win three national championships since the NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985; ten Final Fours in the last 20 years as well as five in a row from 1988 to 1992; ACC Tournament Championships five years in a row from 1999 to 2003; twenty 20-win seasons in the past 22 years; number 1 rankings in 13 of the past 20 seasons; nine straight Sweet 16 appearances (ongoing); seven players named Naismith College Player of the Year in the last 20 years; eight National Defensive Players of the Year; twenty AP All-Americans. Former Duke stars such as Grant Hill, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon, Mike Dunleavy and Jason Williams have gone on to play in the NBA after Coach K’s tutelage. Many of Coach K's assistants, such as Mike Brey, Tommy Amaker, Quin Snyder, and Jeff Capel, have become head basketball coaches at major universities. Coach K Results By Season (1980-2006) Note: Year-by-Year; Record Books; ACC tournament champions; ACC regular season champions Football The football team has been one of the least successful football programs in Division I-A over the past ten years, and was unable to beat any other ACC team in 2005. However, it has not always been this way. The most famous Duke football season came in 1938, when Wallace Wade was head coach and the "Iron Dukes" were born. Wade shocked the college football world by leaving Alabama for Duke in 1930, later rationalizing the move by saying that Duke shared his belief that a school should provide its athletes with a strong academic background. Wade's success at Alabama (three national championships) translated well to Duke's program, most notably in 1938, when his "Iron Dukes" went unscored upon the entire regular season. Duke reached the national championship game, their first Rose Bowl appearance, where they lost 7-3 when University of Southern California scored a touchdown in the final minute of the game on a pass from a second string quarterback to a third string tight end. Wade's Blue Devils lost another Rose Bowl to Oregon State in 1942, this one held at Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina due to Pearl Harbor. The football program also had a string of successful years in the late 1980's when the team was coached by the now legendary Steve Spurrier. Spurrier lead the Blue Devils to three consecutive winning seasons from 1987-1989, culminating with the Blue Devils sharing the ACC title in 1989 and playing in the All-American Bowl, where the Blue Devils lost to Texas Tech. The team also rose to prominence in 1994, the first season under coach Fred Goldsmith. The team raced out to an 8-1 record, and was briefly ranked as high as Duke is consistently ranked at or near the top of the list of Division I-A schools which graduate nearly all of their football players. Duke has topped the list 12 years, earning it the most Academic Achievement Awards of any university. Notre Dame has been honored six times, while Boston College and Northwestern have won the award four times each. Womens Golf While the men's basketball team gets the most press, the women's golf team has recently been the most successful team on campus. In the 2000-2005 seasons, Duke's head-to-head record was 796-45-3, a winning percentage of .945. The team won national championships in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2006, as well as 10 consecutive ACC championships from 1995-2005. A number of successful professional golfers have gone through Duke's program. Jenny Chuasiriporn and Brittany Lang finished as runner-ups in the U.S. Women's Open while still undergraduates in 1998 and 2006, respectively. ACC Athletes of the Year The following Duke athletes have been honored as ACC Athletes of the Year. The men’s award, the Anthony J. McKelvin Award, began in 1954. The women’s award, the Mary Garber Award, began in 1980. All-Americans There have been numerous All-Americans in Duke University history. As of March 2006, 307 athletes have been honored 469 times as All-Americans. In men's sports, this status has been achieved 297 times by 204 athletes. In women's sports, it has occurred 172 times by 103 athletes. The breakdown for men's sports is as follows (times, number of different athletes): baseball (13, 8); basketball (55, 31); cross country (3, 2); fencing (9, 5); football (60, 53); golf (12, 9); lacrosse (57, 37); soccer (42, 28); swimming and diving (3, 3); tennis (26, 15); track and field (17, 13). The breakdown for women's sports is as follows (times, number of different athletes): basketball (14, 8); cross country (8, 6); fencing (3, 2); field hockey (19, 12); golf (31, 16); lacrosse (23, 11); rowing (5, 3); soccer (10, 8); swimming and diving (1, 1); tennis (36, 22); track and field (15, 9); volleyball (7, 5). Olympians Note: Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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