Grey: This pains me to say because I hold both undergraduate and graduate degrees from NC State, but we don’t have excellence in academics right now, at least as perceived by our peers, the measuring bodies and more importantly our endowment. We have a value play which ironically is similar to our sporting experience — what can we get for cheap.
Stanford and Duke have excellence in academics that translates to alumni and corporate giving that then in turn allows them to dabble in this sports thing. Having spent a lot of time at Duke, they just “get it” more at every level.
NC State and Woodson need to first and foremost focus on academics and the endowment. If they view sports as a line item in their plan to do so, then that’s fine, but I’m skeptical of that. People cite Duke basketball, the resurrection under K and the overall improvement of the national reputation and applicant pool, but that was 30 years ago and a lot has changed. With everyone trying that model, I’m not sure it is prudent to do the same thing. It would be much better for the university and all of its alumni to see us become a top 25 educational institution than it would be to see it become a top 25 sports program.
