Duke’s search for a new Director of Athletics is about to take shape. The 12-person search committee tabbed to find Joe Alleva’s successor will convene for the first time late next week in Durham.

After over three decades of service, Alleva decided to leave Duke to take the same job at LSU last month. In an April interview, Alleva said he would do anything to help Duke in their search for a new AD.

Alleva won’t officially take over his new post in Baton Rouge until July 1st, and in the meantime, Senior Associate AD Chris Kennedy has been named Duke’s interim athletics director.

According to at least one person familiar with the process, Kennedy, who has worked at Duke for 29 years, was a natural selection to keep things running smoothly within the athletic department during the period of transition. Kennedy and Alleva worked closely with each other for several years.

Duke’s President, Dr. Richard Brodhead, assembled the 12-person task force two weeks ago. Their mission is to recommend candidates during the national search for Alleva’s replacement.

The committee is made up of a wide array of those intricately involved in the Duke community, including coaches, administrators, and trustees.

Roy Bostock, a member of Duke's graduating class of 1962, was selected to chair the committee. Bostock currently serves on the boards of directors for Morgan Stanley, Northwest Airlines, and Yahoo, and has previously been on the Board of Trustees at Duke.

Jon Jackson, Duke’s Associate Director of Athletics for Communications, is another one of the 12 people whose been asked to help find Duke’s next athletics director. Jackson has been with the school since 2000, and feels that this is one of the more important things he’s been called upon to do since becoming a member of the Blue Devil family.

“Dr. Brodhead called me,” Jackson said. “I told him I would be honored to represent our department.”

Details are thin on potential candidates right now, but Jackson expects that will change once everyone gets together next week.

“It’s progressing,” Jackson said. “We’ll know more when all 12 of us are in the same room. The criteria will be talked about. President Broadhead has already outlined some of the characteristics.”

In a university release last month, Brodhead cited the following areas as qualities the school will seek in a candidate:

• Ability to support and inspire programs that reach the highest levels of athletic performance

• Committment to Duke’s special tradition of athletic and academic excellence, and give leadership to this cause

• Possession of superb managerial skills needed to oversee a large, complex organization.

• Ability to effectively communicate the vision and values of Duke athletics within the department, to outside audiences, and to other parts of the university.

Despite outlining what Duke is looking for in their next AD, no timetable has been set to fill the position.

“You don’t want to put a firm deadline on it,” Jackson said. “The initial thing was the end of summer at the latest.”

Apparently, Duke still has plenty of time to identify who it wants as its next AD. As one would imagine, it’s a position that’s likely to garner plenty of attention.

“I have no idea on the interest,” Jackson said. “I’m sure some people are getting calls.”

One of the people taking those calls is Ira Mueller, the Assistant to the University Secretary.

Mueller was unable to put a number on how many recommendations and calls she’s gotten for the position. The fact that Duke is a private institution is only part of why the search is shrouded in secrecy.

“We firmly believe in recruiting individuals by promising confidentiality,” Mueller said Friday afternoon. “I don’t even talk in my sleep. That’s the way it works best.”

However it works, the process is underway and picking up steam.