Directing Duke Game Day

Name: Becca Wilusz Position: Associate director of game operations and championships, Duke AthleticsYears working full-time at Duke: 2

What I do at Duke: We do all the coordination that makes game day run smoothly. We communicate with the visiting teams and the officials to make sure they have everything they need. We do any coordination with the conference, the ACC, as needed, particularly when we’re in weather scenarios. We coordinate anything that you need from the venue, so we make sure the field is ready to go, lines are painted, the facility’s clean, and it’s even as simple as trash and recycling cans. We coordinate all of the security for a venue. When we’re on television, on ESPN3 or network television, we coordinate all that as well.

If I had $5 million, I would: build more storage for Duke Athletics. We have a lot of equipment and supplies among our varsity sports, club sports and recreation programs, and game day. You can never have too much storage.

My first ever job: working as an assistant to my dance teachers at my dance studio in Hamilton, New Jersey. I started as a volunteer when I was 11 or 12. I worked with little kid classes. You’re corralling 3-year-olds. Growing up, I danced tap, jazz and ballet. I actually now teach at Ninth Street Dance when I have time. I teach a lyrical and contemporary class and I teach their Broadway dance class.

My dream job: This is above and beyond what I ever thought I would do in sports. I thought I would be a team doctor on the sidelines or in a lab somewhere making sneakers or knee braces.

The best advice I ever received: Not be afraid to just be you and be confident in what you’re doing.

What I love about Duke: This was the place where I knew I could do everything that I wanted academically but also have the outside-the-lab experience, between athletics and exploring the area. (Becca was a Duke biomedical and mechanical engineering undergraduate and then a Duke biomedical engineering graduate student.) When I was an undergrad, I loved Duke and I loved the campus. As a graduate student, I grew to love Durham. Coming out of graduate school, having the chance to work full-time in the Athletics department at Duke, when I had grown up idolizing Duke Athletics, I couldn’t turn that down.

When I’m not at work, I like to: Run. It’s kind of my escape. I love running through Duke Forest. My dad and I will do half marathons and races together. For five years in a row, we did the Outer Banks Southern Fried Half Marathon out in Nags Head and Kitty Hawk.

If I could have one superpower, it would be: Slow down time. I would still go at the same speed but everything else would stop.

Something most people don’t know about me: for someone who is outside all the time and has to deal with severe weather, I am afraid of lightning.

An interesting/memorable day at work for me: The very first event that I ever ran as a game manager. It was Family Weekend and it was a quad swim meet, so four teams, men and women, at the same time as a men’s basketball exhibition game. Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion was packed. At the end of that day, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m hooked. This is awesome.’

A book I like: Historical fiction is my favorite. I really enjoy Ken Follett’s books. He wrote ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ and I just finished up his trilogy on World War I, World War II and the Cold War.             

A pet peeve is: Clutter in general irks me, but cat hair bothers me.