By Joey Sykes / Sports Editor
Greg Amodio’s tumultuous 10 years as athletic director at Duquesne came to an end Wednesday as he was introduced in the same position at Quinnipiac University.
Duquesne President Charles Dougherty has named Phillip Racicot the interim director of athletics. The school has begun a national search for Amodio’s replacement.
“I am extremely proud of the numerous accomplishments we have realized during my time at Duquesne University,” Amodio said in a written statement. “These achievements are due to the hard work demonstrated by our coaches and staff and the dedication of our student athletes to compete at the highest academic and athletic levels.”
Since 2005, Amodio oversaw an athletic department that made several leaps, but faced plenty of controversy.
Under Amodio, the A.J. Palumbo Center and Rooney Field received millions of dollars in renovations.
In 2012 and 2015, Duquesne hosted rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The school is slated for a set of games in 2018, too.
The department cut baseball, wrestling, men’s swimming and men’s golf in 2010, which affected about 70 of the school’s estimated 475 varsity athletes, according to the Associated Press.
Amodio’s last day at Duquesne will be July 2.
This should be good news for Duquesne athletics.
The “last hope” experiment by Amodio and Dougherty, that eliminating 4 men’s varsity team’s would increase the success of the basketball and football team’s, was an unquestionable failure.
Hopefully, a new President and AD might be open to reinstating the successful programs that were eliminated.
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I came to Duquesne University in 1973 and somebody wrote on a bathroom stall:
“Duquesne was built on the Bluff and has operated on the same policy ever since.”
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