The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level.
Duke teams that have been ranked in the top ten nationally in the 2000s include women's field hockey, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's lacrosse, and men's and women's golf. Duke has also captured 119 ACC Championships, 44 of which have come since 1999-2000 (through 2008-09). Duke's teams hold the longest streak of consecutive ACC Championships in women's tennis (14), women's golf (13), men's basketball (5), women's basketball (5) and volleyball (4, tied). In the past five years, Duke has finished in the top 20 every year in the NACDA Director's Cup, an overall measure of an institution's athletic success.
The Origin of the "Blue Devils" Nickname
Teams for then Trinity College were known originally as the Trinity Eleven, the Blue and White or the Methodists. William H. Lander, as editor-in-chief, and Mike Bradshaw, as managing editor, of the Trinity Chronicle began the academic year 1922-23 referring to the athletic teams as the Blue Devils.
Early Mascot Considerations
As World War I ended, Duke's Board of Trustees, then called the "Trinity College Board of Trustees", lifted their quarter century ban of football on campus leading to an interest in naming the athletic teams. The team was then known as the Trinity Eleven, the Blue and White, or the Methodists (as opposed to the Baptists of nearby rival Wake Forest University). Because of the ambiguity, the student newspaper, the Trinity Chronicle (now called The Chronicle) launched a campaign to create a new mascot. Nominations for a new team name included Catamounts, Grizzlies, Badgers, Dreadnaughts, and Captains. The Trinity Chronicle editor narrowed the many nominations down to those that utilized the school colors of dark blue and white. The narrowed list consisted of Blue Titans, Blue Eagles, polar bears, Blue Devils, Royal Blazes, and Blue Warriors. None of the nominations proved to be a clear favorite, but the name Blue Devils elicited criticism that could potentially engender opposition on campus. These fears were partly alleviated when it was revealed that the name was military and patriotic rather than anti-religious; the name actually refers to the Chasseurs Alpins, also known as "les diables bleus" ("The Blue Devils"), a French military unit which had impressed many Duke students and alumni returning home from the Western Front. The nickname of the Chasseurs Alpins was derived from the blue jacket and blue-grey breeches worn as part of their World War I-era uniform.
During the 1922-1923 academic year, campus student leaders and the editors of the two other student publications, The Archive and The Chanticleer, decided that the newspaper staff should decide the name on their own because the nomination process had proved inconclusive. Though the name was not officially used that year, no opposition to the name arose.
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Duke Field Hockey Program
Duke is a Division I field hockey program. The field hockey program was established in 1971. Duke field hockey participates in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium is home to the Duke Field Hockey team. The facility is located on the university's East campus at 705 Broad St., in Durham.
Fight Songs
Duke has two official fight songs, "Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!" and "Blue and White", in addition to their alma mater, "Dear Old Duke". "Fight! Blue Devils, Fight!" was composed by J.F. Hewitt with lyrics by Douglas Ballin.
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Other Notable Duke Athletics Programs
The Blue Devils have won 17 NCAA National Championships. The women's golf team has won seven (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2019), the men's basketball team has won five (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, and 2015), men's lacrosse has won three (2010, 2013 and 2014), and the men's soccer (1986) and women's tennis (2009) teams have won one each.
Men's Basketball
Duke University's men's basketball team is the fourth-winningest college basketball program of all time, particularly since 1980 under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is nicknamed "Coach K". They have won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship five times, all under Krzyzewski, which is second behind the University of North Carolina for any ACC team, and have been in 18 Final Fours. Seventy-one players have been drafted in the NBA draft. Additionally, Duke has had an Academic All-American on the team 14 years. Duke has 23 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships (1960, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025), the most of any team in the ACC (the University of North Carolina has 17). Duke also has been the top seed in the ACC tournament 19 times (1954, 1958, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2010). Duke is third, behind only UCLA and Kansas, in total weeks ranked as the number one team in the nation by the AP with 110 weeks. The Blue Devils have the third-longest streak in the AP Top 25 in history with 200 consecutive appearances from 1996 to 2007.
Women's Basketball
During the 1990s and 2000s, the Duke women's basketball program has become a national powerhouse. In the 2000-01 season, the Blue Devils posted a 30-4 record, won the ACC Tournament and ACC regular season championships, and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2001-02 season produced similar success. She led the Blue Devils to a 31-4 record and an NCAA Final Four appearance. Goestenkors led the Blue Devils to an ACC-record 35-2 ledger in the 2002-03 season and their second straight NCAA Final Four appearance. In 2003-04, with Player of the year Alana Beard leading the way, the Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, and won a fourth-straight Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title and a fifth-straight ACC Tournament championship. The 2006-07 season ended with a 32-2 record and notched the school's first ever undefeated regular season (30-0). This also set an NCAA-record seventh straight 30-win season. On April 18, 2007, Joanne P.
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Football
The most famous Duke football season came in 1938, when Wallace Wade was head coach and the "Iron Dukes" were born. Wade shocked the college football world by leaving Alabama for Duke in 1930, later rationalizing the move by saying that Duke shared his belief that a school should provide its athletes with a strong academic background. Wade's success at Alabama (three national championships) translated well to Duke's program, most notably in 1938, when his "Iron Dukes" went unscored upon the entire regular season. Duke reached their first Rose Bowl appearance, where they lost 7-3 when USC scored a touchdown in the final minute of the game on a pass from a second-string quarterback to a third string tight end. Wade's Blue Devils lost another Rose Bowl to Oregon State in 1942, this one held at Duke's home stadium in Durham, North Carolina due to Pearl Harbor.
The football program also had a string of successful years in the late 1980s when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier. Spurrier led the Blue Devils to three consecutive winning seasons from 1987 to 1989, culminating with the Blue Devils sharing the ACC title in 1989 and playing in the All-American Bowl, where the Blue Devils lost to Texas Tech. The team also rose to prominence in 1994, the first season under coach Fred Goldsmith. The team raced out to an 8-1 record, and was briefly ranked as high as #13 in the country before losing the last two games of the season 24-23 to North Carolina State and 41-40 to arch-rival North Carolina. The Blue Devils are coached by Manny Diaz. They have won seven ACC Football Championships, which is the fourth most in the ACC trailing only Clemson, FSU, and Maryland. Ten ACC Football Players of the Year have come from Duke, the most in the ACC. Duke is consistently ranked at or near the top of the list of FBS schools which graduate nearly all of their football players. Duke has topped the list 12 years, earning it the most Academic Achievement Awards of any university.
Men's Golf
Duke golfers who have had successful professional careers include Art Wall, Jr. The Duke men's golf team has been coached by Jamie Green since January 9, 2009. Bob Heintz is the assistant coach since Feb. 10, 2017. There are 9 players on their roster.
Women's Golf
While the men's basketball team gets the most press, the women's golf team has been the most successful team on campus since 2000. In the 2000-2005 seasons, Duke's head-to-head record was 796-45-3, a winning percentage of .945. The team won national championships in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2019 as well as 13 consecutive ACC championships from 1995 to 2008. A number of successful professional golfers have gone through Duke's program.
Men's Lacrosse
The men's lacrosse program has risen in prominence to challenge the traditional lacrosse powers such as Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Princeton, and Syracuse, as well as more recent contenders like North Carolina and Virginia. The team won the national title in 2010 after defeating Notre Dame 6-5 in overtime and won their second national title in 2013 after defeating Syracuse 16-10. The Blue Devils then repeated in 2014, defeating Notre Dame 11-9 to win their second straight national championship and third in five years.
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The men's lacrosse team gained national attention in the 2006 lacrosse incident, where members of the team were falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer at a team party. The investigation led to the cancellation of the 2006 season and the resignation of coach Mike Pressler. Contradictions in the accuser's many changing stories, unimpeachable alibi evidence provided by the players, and misconduct of then-Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong led to all charges being dropped and the attorney general declaring the players innocent.
Rowing
Megan Cooke is the head coach for Duke's rowing teams.
Women's Soccer
The women's soccer team was founded in 1988. The team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 23 times, and finished as runners up three times. Comedian Cody Kolodziejzyk (Commonly known as Cody Ko) competed on the team from the 2008-2009 season to the 2011-2012 season.
Wrestling
In 1929 the Blue Devil Wrestling team was founded. The team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and is coached by Oklahoma State University 1988 graduate Glen Lanham. Ed Newman, who went on to a 12-year NFL career in football, won All Conference honors twice as a heavyweight wrestle, and twice won the ACC heavyweight championship. The team competes on campus in the Card Gymnasium. In 2009, heavyweight Konrad Dudziak became Duke's first All-American placing 2nd in 2009 and 4th in 2010.
All-Americans
There have been numerous All-Americans in Duke University history. As of March 2006, 307 athletes have been honored 470 times as All-Americans. In men's sports, this status has been achieved 297 times by 204 athletes. In women's sports, it has occurred 172 times by 103 athletes. The breakdown for men's sports is as follows (times, number of different athletes): baseball (13, 8); basketball (55, 31); cross country (3, 2); fencing (9, 5); football (60, 53); golf (12, 9); lacrosse (57, 37); soccer (42, 28); swimming and diving (3, 3); tennis (26, 15); track and field (17, 13); wrestling (3, 2).
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