Durham, NC (AP) —Nina King knows she faces a great deal of responsibility to take over Duke’s track and field director later this year. It’s not just about managing 27 sports programs in the Marquee League.
King will be the third black female AD at the Power Conference. Two signs of progress have come in the year when it comes to adopting diversity in the role of leadership in athletics at major universities.
King wants it to be the beginning.
“I feel great responsibility, and I accept it,” King said on Friday during her referral campus press conference. “I’m excited … I want to show a little girl who looks like me that this is possible.”
The school announced King’s promotion on Wednesday, and managers said Kevin White’s retirement would officially take over September 1. King, 42, is currently the Senior Deputy Director of Government and Legal Affairs, Chief of Staff, and has been working with White’s staff at Duke since 2008.
She joined Cara Williams, a fellow at the Atlantic Coast Conference School in Virginia, and Candice at Vanderbilt at the Southeastern Conference as the only black woman to serve as AD in 65 power conference schools.Williams Was the first October 2017, Lee followed Almost exactly a year ago after working as a provisional AD.
Other Power Five female ADs are Heather-like in Pittsburgh at ACC, Sandy Barbour at Pennsylvania State University in Big Ten, and Jennifer Cohen in Washington at Pacific-12.
“Listen, we need to get better,” King said. “Power Five 6 Women AD? So 3 Black Women? We need to be better. And I’m happy to be the next step towards progress. I promise to help more women and more people of color get the opportunity like me. “
The adoption of diversity, or its slow progress, is not a new concern in college athletics. Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports ( Tide Central Florida has long edited an annual report that evaluates college and professional leagues for race and gender recruitment practices. In the bowl subdivision rank, the results have changed little.White men dominate leadership positions Women and people of color remain undervalued..
Richard Raptic, director of TIDES, wants King’s recruitment to encourage schools to “think about other possible breakthroughs.”
“The fact that it’s not just a black AD, but a black female AD makes it doubly important,” Lapchick said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This year’s racial evaluation is the time to expect more attention to diversity, fairness and inclusion in both college athletics and society in general.
“This is a good sign for me that we are doing it.”
King spoke with Williams many times in the process, saying he had been intimate with Lee for several years.
As Lee said on Friday, “It’s a small club, but it’s a special club.”
“There is no doubt that you will feel pressure,” Lee told AP. “You certainly feel like you’re in the spotlight, and you want to make sure you don’t give other people, people who deserve people, no reason not to get the opportunity.
“The good part is that I think we can talk about all three of us. We are very motivated and very motivated. So we put pressure on ourselves to do a good job. However, I think. “
King was responsible for the day-to-day operations and supervision of Duke’s athletic club and chaired the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee last season to select and seed tournament fields.
She takes over as schools across the country are tackling the financial blow of the COVID-19 pandemic and the imminent arrival of college athletes who can benefit from the use of names, images and portraits.
She also faces the possibility of hiring a successor to Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, 74, and soccer coach David Katcliffe, 66.
Despite future challenges, King knows that some people can count on his advice. King wants Williams and Lee to be a group of still-growing peers.
“Both are great advice. Stay true to who you are,” King said.
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Teresa M. Walker, an AP sports writer in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
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