Alex Beguinet: Blue Devil of the Month
Duke Fencing Head Coach Retiring After 38 years
GoDuke The Magazine
This story originally appeared in the 14.9 Issue of GoDuke The Magazine – April 2023
From an athletic standpoint, 1985-86 may be best remembered at Duke as the year when Mike Krzyzewski’s first crop of top-rated recruits became seniors and led the Blue Devil basketball program back to the promised land with an ACC championship and a trip to the Final Four. Duke would go on to win 15 conference tournaments and reach 13 Final Fours during the 42-year run of their legendary head coach.
Another Duke program also started a glorious run in 1985-86. That was the year Alex Beguinet was named the head coach of the men’s and women’s Blue Devil fencing team, and for almost four decades his program stood as one of the very best in the nation. After hosting the NCAA national championship meet this March, Beguinet announced his retirement after 38 seasons as the leader of Duke fencing.
“For nearly four decades, we have been blessed to have such an amazing friend and colleague in Alex Beguinet,” observed Krzyzewski, who retired a year ago. “No one at Duke coached his program better and with more pride than Alex. The incredible foundation he set for Duke fencing has stood the test of time and will continue to do so well into the future.”
Beguinet’s tenure was highlighted by Olympians, NCAA champions and over 800 team victories, but his mark of consistent excellence might best be illustrated with the fact that Duke qualified fencers for the NCAA championship meet in 37 of his 38 years, with over 100 fencers participating in nationals. His last team had eight NCAA qualifiers for the meet hosted at Cameron Indoor Stadium, and they helped the Blue Devils to a ninth place finish — the 12th time Duke has placed in the top 10 in the last 13 years.
Beguinet produced 42 All-Americas on the men’s side and 21 on the women’s side. His most decorated performer was Becca Ward, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics just a few days before reporting for freshman orientation then went on to reach the NCAA saber championship match all four years (2009-12), winning it three times.
Beguinet also mentored an NCAA men’s champion in Jeramy Kahn (1996) and two other Olympians — Leslie McFarland (now Marx), whom he recruited out of a fencing P.E. class in the 1980s, and Ibtihaj Muhammed, a three-time All-America who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games as the first American Muslim woman to wear hijab while competing in the Olympics. Marx, a professor at the Fuqua School of Business, has been a volunteer assistant coach for Beguinet for the past 20 years.
Another of Beguinet’s stars was Matt Andresen, a four-time All-America who became the first fencer inducted in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame.
Beguinet’s partner in developing the Duke fencing program was his wife Elizabeth, his director of administration and recruiting, who passed away in December after a long battle with cancer.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent Duke University for the past 38 years,” Beguinet noted. “The memories I have made and the relationships I have built are ones I will forever cherish. As time has passed and Duke and college athletics have changed, the one constant has been the quality of people I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by throughout my Duke career. To each student-athlete I have had the opportunity to coach over the past three-plus decades, you have made me a better coach and a better person in countless ways. Thank you for bringing energy and keeping me young all these years. It has been amazing to watch each of you grow from 18-year-olds walking onto campus for the first time to college graduates embarking on careers and becoming parents of your own.”
“Alex’s accomplishments throughout his 38 years at Duke are many, but what is most important is that every single day he led with class and integrity,” said vice president and director of athletics Nina King.
Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke the Magazine is published by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707.