Completed Event: Men's Lacrosse versus Georgetown on May 10, 2025 , Loss , 12, to, 16
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Final
Men's Lacrosse
12
vs Georgetown
16
Roth: It's All Business For Fifth-Year McDevil
3/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
DURHAM, N.C. ? Win or lose, Duke lacrosse player Tony McDevitt was all set to move on to the next phase of his life as the Blue Devils headed into the NCAA final four last Memorial Day weekend. He'd received his Duke degree about two weeks prior and had a job lined up on Wall Street following an internship at Merrill Lynch the previous summer.
One of the top defensemen in the country, McDevitt helped the Blue Devils hold off Cornell in the national semifinals, 12-11. Two days later, despite a furious rally, Duke's hopes for a national championship were dashed by Johns Hopkins by the identical 12-11 score.
And that was supposed to be the end of the line at Duke for McDevitt and the rest of the team's seniors.
But two days after the tournament ended, the NCAA made the surprise announcement that it was granting an extra year of eligibility to 33 members of the Duke team who had seen their 2006 season curtailed by the since-dismissed charges of sexual assault at a team party.
Thirteen of those 33 were seniors on the 2007 team, and all of them had already graduated. When the chance for an extra year materialized, five of the seniors opted to pursue it and are now fifth-year players for the 2008 Blue Devils. McDevitt is one of them, and even though his plans were set, he describes the decision to return a no-brainer. He is now a first-year MBA student in the Fuqua School of Business ? and again ranked among the top defensemen in college lacrosse, for a veteran team with designs on making another run at the title.
“The first time Coach (John) Danowski brought it up to me was in early May, when they were talking about it, in the very early stages,” McDevitt said. “He told me what was going on and I told him, ?If that happens, in heartbeat I'd be back.'
“I don't want to have any regrets, ever. Number one I love to play lacrosse and number two, it's an unbelievable opportunity to go to business school. That wasn't on my radar screen at that point, but I knew for sure I didn't want to regret not using this extra eligibility. Later down the road when I'm older, I didn't want to look back and say I was an idiot for not doing it.
“Once I figured I could give Fuqua a shot, it really became a no-brainer. They made me sweat to get in. Rightfully, they made me work hard with interviews and everything else to test me to make sure I was the right fit for a business school of their stature, and now I pinch myself sometimes to realize the position I'm in. It's totally worth it.”
McDevitt found out he would be admitted to Fuqua on August 1, just six days before fall semester classes began. The four other fifth-years ? Matt Danowski, Dan Loftus, Nick O'Hara and Michael Ward ? are pursuing master's degrees in liberal studies. All five live together in a pair of adjacent apartments at a complex near campus, and they join a group of 12 conventional fourth-year seniors to give the Blue Devils an unmistakable veteran presence.
Their 15-7 victory over Maryland on March 1 in the ACC opener improved their early-season record to 3-0. They are now 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation and clearly intend to be playing on Memorial Day again this year, but that's not on their minds at the moment.
“Right now we're looking small picture,” McDevitt said. “The season is up and going, but it still feels like this is preseason. We're five-and-a-half weeks into it and we're just concentrating on getting better every day, in every aspect. Coach Danowski's teams, if you look back on his career, continuously get better as the year goes on and I'm seeing signs of that.
“Hey look, the sky's the limit with this team. We have talent up and down the roster, we have depth and we have a lot of speed. That combination could lead to endless possibilities, and I think it's going to be up to us. We're going to be our greatest competitor, meaning we're going to have to put it together. When you have potential like we do, it's up to us to make sure we make that potential a real thing and turn it into energy, goals and wins. But right now it's about concentrating on the little things.”
For McDevitt, that concentration extends to the rigorous academic challenge of the Fuqua school. With business school classes all lasting about two-and-a-half hours, there are only four class blocks held each day. McDevitt had to schedule all of his spring courses into the two morning blocks so he would be available for lacrosse practice at 1:30 each day. Most of his evenings, after practice, are devoted to more school work ? a routine that he has now become accustomed to in his second semester.
“It's all about time management, that's the truth,” he said. “My days are packed, there's no doubt about that. As soon as you get used to it, the longer classes and the material that's going to take you longer to comprehend, you put it into your schedule and everything kinda runs like a machine. Every day is sort of the same ? class, practice and work at night.”
Danowski refers to McDevitt as an amazing role model and a consummate student-athlete, and his efforts to excel in both areas have been recognized by others. Recently he was one of three athletes in the ACC to be honored with the Jim and Pat Thacker Award, a postgraduate scholarship for outstanding ACC athletes who are headed to grad school at an ACC institution. McDevitt, obviously, is already there. As an undergrad, he was an All-ACC Academic honoree and a member of the 2007 USILA Scholar All-America team, in addition to earning All-America honors on the field in 2005 and 2007.
This year McDevitt is one of the candidates for the William F. Schmeisser national defensive player of the year award, and he was ranked the No. 6 defensive player in the nation by Inside Lacrosse magazine. He foresees a stellar spring for Duke's defense, as he, O'Hara and Loftus are being complemented on that end of the field by sophomore Parker McKee and freshmen Mike Manley, who was a highly-regard prep All-America recruit. McDevitt calls it a scrappy group that may be the best in the country at picking up ground balls.
“There's a big team defense aspect to it,” said McDevitt, “so some games Coach will call upon me to shut down the other team's best player, and I'll have my eye on him the whole game. Sometimes I'll be the inside guy if they have a big finisher. It really doesn't matter. We really do pride ourselves on being seven vs. six. Team defense. Everybody can play everybody and we have your back. Any given day you could be on any given attackman or midfielder. That's an unbelievable aspect to bring to your defense, and it's exciting.”
McDevitt may be a prototypical standout defenseman, but he is not exactly the stereotypical college lacrosse player ? or at least he doesn't fit the elitist stereotype the hysterical media tried to push on the nation during the frenzied height of the 2006 Duke lacrosse case. The second of four children, he is the first person in his family ever to go to college and now graduate from college. His younger sister is a senior at Loyola and is about to follow in his footsteps, with the intention of heading to law school. His older brother is in the Coast Guard and his youngest brother is now a junior in high school. Tony plans to encourage him to attend college as well.
Their parents, Dan and Michelle, had children at a very young age ? in fact, they had all four before they reached Tony's current age of 23. Dan jumped around from job to job when Tony was young and now works as a salesman, while Michelle has worked at the Philadelphia Inquirer for about 10 years.
McDevitt attributes his work ethic, among other things, to the strong influence of his parents. “They are just wonderful people and have worked their tails off helping me get to where I am now and helping my siblings get to where they are,” he said.
“We grew up in a modest background in Philadelphia and my parents did a great job of raising four kids and making them realize that nothing's ever going to be handed to you. And now that's something I still hold close to my heart and hopefully will continue keeping it there the rest of my life no matter what position I'm in or status or anything else. It's one of those things that transcends everything ? academics, sports, life, relationships, you name it. In order to earn what you want to earn and be what you want to be, you have to work hard at it and earn it. Nothing ever will be handed to you. There are no free giveaways here.”
McDevitt had to give away a job on Wall Street to return for a fifth year of college lacrosse, though he says his contacts at Merrill Lynch assured him that an MBA from Fuqua would enhance his resume and that there would be a spot for him in their intern program this summer.
If that decision was a gamble, McDevitt admits that for the fifth-year contingent, this lacrosse season feels a little bit like playing with house money ? it was so unexpected, there's no pressure, only the freedom to go out and play and take advantage of an unbelievable opportunity.
And the impact of losing in the final minute of the final game last year?
“The biggest thing is that it just makes you hungry. I can't say that enough. Any time you feel like you worked hard and you deserve something and you don't get it, it just makes you that much hungrier, because nothing is ever handed to you. We learned that. I personally learned that at a young age. Nothing is going to be handed to you. You have to work to earn it. So for us it brings that hunger factor. We're not satisfied. We considered last year a disappointment. I think many teams in the country probably wouldn't say that after reaching the championship game, but we didn't achieve our final goal. To have this year and be back playing, it's all about that hunger factor.”
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