Okay, so Duke University has a much, much better basketball program than Notre Dame. And the same can be said for lacrosse, and there could be some fringe sports out there in which they excel. Too lazy to look it up. But the football program is the weather vane of a school’s quality program, and the Blue Devils’ trade winds always blow them south into the standings:

Having said that spiel, Kevin White is leaving his position as athletic director of Notre Dame, perhaps the most storied program in the country, to take the same position at Duke, a school with ten football victories in the last eight seasons.

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE says one of the reasons White’s taking the Duke job is “a plan to increase the financial commitment to Blue Devils’ sports facilities and programs.”

That’s the kind of statement a mid-major school makes to try and retain coaches and management. For some reason that doesn’t seem necessary to say at a school like Duke, who is almost given a pass on their horrendous football record because of their tremendous basketball pedigree. They’re probably better off just scrapping the sport entirely and focusing their attention on basketball and lacrosse and … well, again, I don’t really feel like looking up what other sports they’re good at.

And it’s not like White has a track record of hiring successful football coaches. Beyond Charlie Weis, Bob Davie and Tyrone Cunningham, remember under his supervision the school hired George O’Leary for those four days when they thought his resume was truthful. And it’s not like UND and its boosters didn’t have a financial commitment to the school. (Then again, Duke also plays in a conference. So that helps.)