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Nina King, with Duke President Vincent Price, was taught from scratch by retired AD Kevin White, first starting as an undergraduate while at Notre Dame.Courtesy of Duke University
Nina King had done everything to position herself to become a collegiate athletic director. She worked in the athletic department as a student at Notre Dame. She graduated from Tulane Law School. She oversaw much of the day-to-day operations of Duke athletics as chief of staff to AD Kevin White and in-house counsel to the Blue Devils.
About four or five years ago, King said as he approached his 40s, she and White went to lunch in Durham, North Carolina to talk.
Did she want to be an AD or not?
They met at Red Robin for burgers — White admits he doesn’t have the best taste in restaurants — and got down to business for King’s future.
“Kevin told me I should start thinking about becoming an athletic director,” King, 44 on Oct. 3, said of that conversation. “I told him, ‘Oh, no way.’ He’s been my mentor for so long that he knew I was going to say that. So, after deciding to retire last year, he said he’s getting off the road.
“Now it’s your decision,” White told her.
King was comfortable in his role behind the scenes at Duke. Position number 2 suited her professionally and personally as a mother of two boys.
“I had to think long and hard about it,” she said.
Ultimately, King decided she really wanted to be an athletic director, and she was named to Duke’s top position in May 2021, making her only the third black female AD in the Power Five, along with Virginia’s Carla Williams and Candice Lee of Vanderbilt.
“I had worked with Kevin for so long and had a front row seat that I really felt like I knew how to get the job done,” King said. “So why don’t I just go ahead and take the job if it’s offered to me? … The other thing is that there just aren’t enough people who look like me in those positions. It was an opportunity to show little girls and people of color that they can have big aspirations. That was also a big part of my motivation.”
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From the outside looking in, Duke’s choice of the King to succeed White was a no-brainer. She has been by White’s side for the past 13 years, performing much of the daily routine. She was well known on campus, where she was the primary athletic administrator overseeing football, and around the country, having served in national leadership roles such as the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee.
Nina King
Vice President and Director of Athletics
Duke University
■ Hometown: Tampa
■ Lives: Durham, North Carolina
■ Age: 44 (as of October 3)
Previous positions:
■ 2008-21 — Duke, Deputy AD, administration and legal affairs; HQ co
■ 2005-08 — Notre Dame, Director, Education Policy
■ Education: Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Notre Dame; JD, Tulane Law School
■ Family: Lucy Stephan, mother; Rick, husband; Austin, Connor, Sons
■ Additional Positions: Chairman of the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee
achievements:
■ 2018 Class of SBJ Forty Under 40
■ Launched the Rubenstein-Bing ACE program, a joint venture with Stanford athletics to provide student-athletes with opportunities for global civic engagement. About 40 athletes a year, 20 each from Duke and Stanford, participate in international service projects related to health, education and the environment.
But there was still a need to go through a full AD search, including using Parker Executive Search, a well-known Atlanta firm, to assist in the process. By this point, White had given up on the effort.
Duke President Vincent Price was fully aware of White’s support for King. She and her husband, Rick, are the only two non-family members in the White family’s group chat, which numbers nearly 30 people. White didn’t have much to say as the search began.
“She’s a natural leader,” White said. “She is passionate, authentic and comfortable in her own skin. She has a very long track record in this business and will be a force in college athletics if she isn’t already.”
On a spring day last May, Price called King into his home. King thought she would go to a face-to-face interview — all of her previous interviews were via Zoom due to the pandemic.
But this wasn’t an interview. It was a job offer.
“Holy cow, I did,” King said when asked about her reaction to the news. “I don’t know if I fully believed that I would get this opportunity. My next reaction was, “Okay, we don’t have to move and my kids don’t have to change schools.”
King’s hiring meant that all three ADs in the NC Triangle area — King at Duke, Boo Corrigan at NC State and Bubba Cunningham at North Carolina — graduated from Notre Dame and served on White’s staff there.
In fact, when King was a student at Notre Dame working in the athletic department, she babysat for Cunningham and Stanford AD Bernard Muir, another member of White’s staff at Notre Dame.
They were all influential role models for anyone looking to get into the business of college athletics. But King’s most influential role model was already right next to her.
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King grew up in Tampa, the daughter of a single mother, Lucy Stephan. Her mother was born and raised in Jerusalem before moving to the United States in her 20s and settling in Florida with her family.
“It was just the two of us,” King said. “She really modeled for me what a strong, independent woman looks like. Her work ethic was incredible and we were really close because of that.”
Lucy worked during the day as a computer programmer at an electrical cooperative that was across the street from Nina’s high school. After school, Nina would go to her mother’s office and do her homework.
Nina King says her mother, Lucy Stephan, is a big supporter.Courtesy of Nina King
Nina said she never had any real interest in playing sports. She dances – ballet, jazz, tap – instead. In a questionnaire she filled out when she was selected for the Sports Business Journal’s 40 under 40 class of 2018, King said her peers would be surprised to learn “that I’ve never played an organized sport.”
Nina was such a good student that she had several opportunities to finish high school. Her college decision came down to a full academic scholarship to Florida or getting into Notre Dame with a potential future of student loan debt awaiting her.
Her mother wasn’t going to let finances dictate the decision. Lucy took a second job at Delta’s reservation center to help offset the cost of attending the expensive private institution in South Bend, Indiana.
She worked from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the day and drove to a Delta office at night to earn extra money for Nina’s education in hopes of easing her financial burden when she graduated. Working at Delta also provided flying privileges, so Nina could come home with some frequency and Lucy could visit her in South Bend.
“She did all of this so I could make my dreams come true,” King said.
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At Notre Dame, King was surrounded by future collegiate leaders. In addition to Cunningham, Corrigan, Muir and White, recently retired Penn State AD Sandy Barber was White’s associate director, and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was one of the Fighting Irish’s top fundraisers on that staff.
White had been at Notre Dame for a short time when the top administrative assistant for athletics became ill. King, who graduated from Notre Dame with an accounting degree, was working in the athletics business office as a graduate intern when Barber stepped in and said, “You have to answer the phones today.”
When the administrative assistant’s absence was extended due to illness, Barber moved King into White’s office for the next few months. It wasn’t long before King won White’s trust and began arranging his calendar.
NCAA, Nike and Tulane law school stints exposed King to various aspects of the business before she rejoined White’s Notre Dame staff in compliance.
“It was obvious pretty early on that Nina could achieve anything she put her mind to,” Muir said. “She had the personality, the intellect and the passion to rise through the ranks quickly, and no one was surprised when she did.”
When White left Notre Dame to become the AD at Duke, it was only natural that King would follow, eventually earning the titles of COO, chief of staff and senior deputy AD.
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King took the reins of Duke athletics last year at a time of tremendous change within the department and across the enterprise.
King, 43, replaced White, who just turned 72.
John Scheier, 35, replaced men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, 75, earlier this year.
Duke is known for basketball, but King, speaking with Devery Hamilton, is also focused on football success. Courtesy of Duke University
Football coach Mike Elko, 45, is in his first season succeeding David Cutcliffe, 68.
White and Krzyzewski were legendary figures whose huge shoes will be hard to fill. Cutcliffe took Duke football to heights it hadn’t reached in decades.
“Talk about throwing yourself into the fire,” Scheier said. “She’s been through a lot already and she’s done an amazing job handling it all. … In her situation, she has a lot thrown at her and there are a million things going on. But she really knows how to prioritize and complete the tasks in front of her. She really has a lot to navigate.
King is not backing down from the challenge that exists, not only in replacing legends, but in keeping the Blue Devils among the elite athletic programs nationally in a world where football drives conference realignment decisions and media contracts.
“We aim to be at the forefront of the changing landscape,” King said. “It means for us to make sure that our football business, our football product, our program is successful. It’s not just wins and losses, it’s reputation, it’s culture, it’s investment, it’s support. …
“So at the forefront right now is thinking about how to make sure that football is successful so that regardless of the changing landscape, Duke is not left behind.”
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