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Message: [QUOTE="CamrnCrz1974, post: 3102557, member: 1052"] Flashing back to 2007, Duke was considered one of the top three programs in WBB, in terms of success over the previous 10 years (2 NCAA Runner-Up finishes, 4 Final Fours, 7 Elite Eights). When Gail Goestenkors was being courted by Texas after Jody Conradt's retirement and the Longhorns were offering a significantly larger amount of money, then-AD Joe Alleva said this about her: [I]Compared to the top tier of coaches in the women's game, however, Goestenkors' salary does not stack up. Tennessee's Pat Summitt is the highest-paid coach in women's college basketball at an average of $1.125 million guaranteed over six seasons, and Geno Auriemma's contract with Connecticut guarantees him $988,000 per year. [Coach G made less than $500,000 at the time] "They've both won a lot of national championships and are part of programs that make money for their institutions. They bring in profit for their athletic departments, and that's not the case for our women's program," Alleva said. "I'm sure some of these other institutions will offer significantly large packages to encourage her to go.[/I] [URL='https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2007/03/would-coach-g-leave-duke']LINK (to then-AD Joe Alleva's comments about Gail Goestnkors)[/URL] And yet when one of the most successful coaches in the game (at the time) and the coach of one of the best programs of the previous ten years (again, back in 2007) is being courted, the above-referenced quotes are what Athletic Director Joe Alleva decides to say about everything she built and what she accomplished. As Abby Waner stated (in the same article, linked above), "She is Duke basketball. She's created what this program has become, and people come here to play for her." I firmly believe that Goestenkors was not running toward Texas, but running away from Duke. She felt completely disrespected and devalued -- and rightfully so. But I also believe that without those statements from then-AD Joe Alleva, she would have taken more time to evaluate her decision and would have chosen to stay at Duke. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach