The Citadel hires new athletic director who spent past 25 years with Duke Blue Devils
Art Chase, a behind-the-scenes champion of Duke athletics for the past quarter century — specifically the Blue Devils’ highly successful men’s lacrosse and resurgent football programs — is leaving the school to run college program of his own.
The Citadel announced Wednesday it has hired Chase as its new athletic director, returning him to the Charleston, South Carolina, school where he worked prior to arriving at Duke in August 2000.
A Chapel Hill native who graduated from Guilford College in 1991, Chase replaces Mike Cappaccio, who retired after working as The Citadel’s athletic director since 2018.
Chase said he and his wife, Kaye, are excited to return to Charleston, where he previously worked in The Citadel’s sports information department for five years over two stints in the 1990s.
“Our commitment,” Chase said, “is to help achieve the institutional goal of developing principled leaders while placing a priority on the cadet-student-athlete experience in this challenging and evolving era of college athletics. We look forward to engaging with the many internal and external stakeholders who make The Citadel such a special place.”
Gen. Glenn Walters, The Citadel’s president, said Chase is “exceptionally qualified, familiar with our mission and prepared to make all our programs and athletes successful.”
At Duke, Chase has been the school’s senior associate director of athletics for external affairs since 2018. He oversaw the Blue Devils’ football program as sport administrator, where he lined up the team’s nonconference schedule and was instrumental in hiring football head coaches Mike Elko in December 2021, and Manny Diaz in December 2023.
Duke’s 26 football wins over the past three seasons is third only to Clemson (30) and Louisville (27) among ACC teams. The Blue Devils have gone 16-3 at Wallace Wade Stadium during that time.
Chase arrived at Duke as an associate sports information director before being promoted to sports information director in 2005. He worked closely with the lacrosse program from 2001-18, including during the 2006 scandal-marred season when three players were falsely accused of rape before being exonerated, and continuing through coach John Danowski’s tenure that saw the Blue Devils win three NCAA championships.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM with the headline "The Citadel hires new athletic director who spent past 25 years with Duke Blue Devils."