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nina king
of Carla Williams (at the University of Virginia) and Heather Lyke (at the University of Pittsburgh), the two other women leading athletic departments in the ACC. She’s also close with Vanderbilt’s Candice Storey Lee; Candice, Carla and Nina are the only three women of color in the same role within the highest tier of collegiate athletics. “The three of us are really tight … and haven’t been athletic directors that long, so we’re going through this together,” she adds. he deafening roar of the crowd is matched Nina was content operating outside of the spotlight for most only by the wail of the buzzer. Game day at of the past 15 years she’s spent with the Blue Devils. Before she Cameron Indoor Stadium is electric. Nina King is often took on this role, she put her Juris Doctor from Tulane University sitting courtside, immersed in the excitement. But she to use in overseeing legal matters, human resources, and the says her favorite part of the workweek is getting to meet recreation and physical education program while also managing face to face with the many student-athletes who wear a the primary administrative duties for Duke’s women’s basketball particular shade of dark blue. and football programs as a member of Duke Athletics’ More than a hundred Duke University firstexecutive leadership team. year student swimmers, golfers, rowers, divers, “I didn’t think that I wanted to be an athletic wrestlers, runners and, indeed, basketball director,” Nina admits. The pressure of working in the players have sat across from Nina’s desk public eye wasn’t appealing. But then she began to think I don’t since the start of the 2022-23 school year. about the impact she could make within the role. “There necessarily Sometimes more than a half-dozen per day aren’t enough women who look like me [in these jobs]. want to pave claim time on her calendar. Why not grab ahold of an opportunity to sit in this the way for Nina, who was announced as Duke’s vice position of leadership where I [can] create change?” people to president and director of athletics in May Nina learned the ropes from, as she puts it, the come after me 2021, made it her goal to meet with as many “very best” – her predecessor, Kevin White. The pair because I’m early on in my of those first-year student-athletes from the 27 varsity worked together at Notre Dame from 2005-08 and career. I’m sports as her schedule allows. She wants to learn about for the entirety of Kevin’s 13 years at Duke. They still still young. their families, academic aspirations, even their latest TV co-teach a sports business class, as they’ve done since I want women show obsessions – “The Bachelor” has come up, she says. joining the university. and people of “It’s important to me to get to know [our first-year “The public has an opinion on what you’re doing color to come student-athletes] as people and not just players on the well and what you aren’t,” Nina says. “It can be with me along court or on the field,” Nina says. Cultivating similar challenging to keep the noise on the outside. I this journey. relationships as a student manager for the University [watched] Kevin do that for 13 years, so when I of Notre Dame’s women’s swimming and diving teams stepped into this role, I knew what to expect.” while she earned her bachelor’s degree in accountancy is what If stress or burnout creeps in, family time provides a salve. Nina sparked her interest in working in college sports. often spends her weekends on another sideline – that of a children’s As these young adults find their footing at Duke, Nina’s similarly soccer tournament rather than a collegiate match, cheering on charging ahead into uncharted territory. This September, she’ll mark sons Connor, 12, and Austin, 10, with husband (and fellow Duke two years as the university’s first woman and person of color to be employee) Rick King. named athletic director – one of only six women in the role among It didn’t happen overnight, but Nina now possesses a steady selfthe 69 Power Five schools. Duke’s already seen many milestone assuredness that keeps the “chatter that doesn’t matter,” as she calls moments in that short timespan, like the retirement of men’s it, from getting under her skin. “There are still moments when [I] basketball head Coach Mike Krzyzewski, the 50th anniversary of Title walk into a room and feel like I’m being treated differently because IX and the implementation of the NCAA’s new name, image and I’m a woman [and a] person of color. It still happens in 2023,” Nina likeness policy, which reshapes the very foundation of college athletics. says. “It takes time to build self-confidence, [and] I’ve gotten to the Nina was quick to build a support system among the small point where I don’t care – I’m walking in the room … and leading number of her peers who are women. “We talk often,” Nina says an incredible organization.” – by Renee Ambroso 76
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