It is no surprise how great Duke athletics have become since Nina King was promoted from within to athletic director. She had been her mentor Kevin White's senior deputy director after coming over from Notre Dame in 2008. Once White retired, King took over, and the rest is history. She has done remarkable things when it comes to Duke becoming a major player across all six revenue sports.
In Cody Nagel's latest for CBS Sports, he tried to figure out which Power Four schools have the best academic year in 2025-26. Although there were a handful of other schools with better marks than Duke, the Blue Devils more than earned their keep. Just this past year, Duke won ACC Championships in college football, men's basketball, and women's basketball. Nagel definitely took notice of Duke.
Here is the criteria Nagel used to decide which Power Four schools had the best academic years.
- Bowl eligible/NCAA Tournament appearance: 20 points
- Bowl win/Round of 32/Regional Finals: 30 points
- CFP appearance/Sweet 16/Super Regionals: 45 points
- CFP quarterfinals/Elite Eight/CWS: 60 points
- CFP semifinals/Final Four/CWS semifinals: 75 points
- National runner-up: 90 points
- National champion: 100 points
As you can see, Duke finds itself comfortably inside the top 20 across the Power Four conferences.
- Texas Longhorns: 66.73
- Alabama Crimson Tide: 53.27
- Michigan Wolverines: 50.09
- Texas A&M Aggies: 49.80
- Nebraska Cornhuskers: 49.58
- UCLA Bruins: 49.24
- Oklahoma Sooners: 48.73
- Georgia Bulldogs: 47.97
- Tennessee Volunteers: 45.88
- Miami Hurricanes: 45.86
- Texas Tech Red Raiders: 45.38
- Ole Miss Rebels: 42.84
- TCU Horned Frogs: 42.03
- North Carolina Tar Heels: 41.96
- Kentucky Wildcats: 41.43
- Louisville Cardinals: 41.41
- Duke Blue Devils: 40.93
- Oregon Ducks: 39.92
- Indiana Hoosiers: 39.75
- Arizona State Sun Devils: 39.46
As far as where the Blue Devils stack up in the ACC, they are right in the middle of it all at No. 4 overall.
- Miami Hurricanes: 45.86 (No. 10)
- North Carolina Tar Heels: 41.96 (No. 14)
- Louisville Cardinals: 41.41 (No. 16)
- Duke Blue Devils: 40.93 (No. 17)
- Virginia Cavaliers: 38.68 (No. 21)
To be frank, Duke probably had a better year than what Nagel's gave it credit for. Of the six major revenue sports (football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball), how many schools won their conference championships in three of them? Had the new College Football Playoff rules been in effect last season, Duke would have earned its seat at the table by making it in.
To be in the same ACC breath as Miami, North Carolina, Louisville, and Virginia, that speaks volumes.
Nina King has made Duke a place where quality coaches want to win at
Whether it be Manny Diaz in football, Jon Scheyer in men's basketball, or Kara Lawson in women's basketball, King has created an environment that quality coaches will flock to. Scheyer may have his dream job of replacing mentor Mike Krzyzewski at Duke on the hardwood, but he could have left... The Dallas Mavericks really wanted him, but surely, King played a part in convincing Scheyer to stay.
While the men's program towers over the women's basketball team, Lawson has found that she too can have tremendous success coaching up her team. As far as Diaz is concerned, he came into a pretty good situation in Durham. Mike Elko left the football team better than he found it before going back to Texas A&M. Diaz would not have left Penn State to go lead Duke if it did not have a quality AD.
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You see the big picture here, right? King may have inherited Lawson, but she was the one who hired Diaz, Elko, and Scheyer. Let's not overlook the fact that Coach K retired under her watch and Duke moved on from its most successful loyal head football coach in one David Cutcliffe. Clearly, she knows what she is doing when it comes to hiring good people. They all have gone to work for her.
Overall, Duke is playing above what it normally does in major revenue sports. It is a men's basketball power and an academic powerhouse in The Triangle. When the baseball team did not make the NCAA Tournament this year, Duke is in the midst of its best decade as a program. Much of that has been under King's watch. She also had to replace a strong manager on the diamond in one Chris Pollard.
A's hire A's, and B's hire C's. King is an A at her job every step of the way. No wonder Duke is thriving!
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