Reports out of Knoxville are saying that David Cutcliffe has been offered and will accept the HC job at Duke. This is a big loss for Tennessee as the Vol offense has undergone a renaissance since Cutcliffe took back over as the OC. I also think this is a losing situation for Cutcliffe. It's been expected that he would take a job as a HC if the right one was offered. I don't think this was the right one. Maybe he'll be able to turn Duke around but somehow I doubt it given the circumstances. I guess we'll see.....
Interesting developement...one that certainly hurts Tenn in the short term. I wonder if he will contact current ND OL coach John Latina about moving to Duke as his OCoord? It would be bittersweet move for the Irish. A lot of fans want him gone, but he's got a good group of young OL's and more comming in this years class. I wonder if he would leave ND for the opportunity to be an OCoord again. I'll be interested to see Tom's reaction to this. Also who do Tenn fans want to bring in for the new OCoord? Terry
Thank God! Next season is going to be a lot of fun for UGA fans. Sources: Vols' offensive coordinator hired as Duke's coach ESPN.com news services Updated: December 15, 2007, 1:02 AM ET DURHAM, N.C. -- David Cutcliffe, Tennessee's offensive coordinator for the past two seasons, was hired by Duke on Friday, sources told ESPN.com, and will be introduced as its head coach in a 5 p.m. news conference on Saturday. Sources told ESPN.com that Cutcliffe's contract will approach an average of $1.5 million per year. He made $340,000 this past year at Tennessee, his second stint with the Vols as offensive coordinator. He's expected to take two of the Vols' assistants with him -- Kurt Roper and Matt Luke. Along with the boost in his salary, Cutcliffe, a former head coach at Mississippi, has received assurances from the Duke administration that facilities will be upgraded and that he will have a pool of money available to put together the staff that he wants. He'll have the difficult task of building the Blue Devils into winners after the team won just 22 games during the past 13 seasons. The decision to hire Cutcliffe apparently was reached during an evening meeting of Duke's search committee. The 53-year-old coach said earlier in the day he had interviewed for the position, but denied receiving an offer. Cutcliffe is expected to attend the news conference along with his family. With the hiring, Duke turned to the mentor of the Manning family of quarterbacks to shed its well-documented struggles. Cutcliffe worked with Peyton Manning during the coach's first stint at Tennessee, and later coached Eli Manning at Mississippi. The Blue Devils have endured three losing streaks of 15 or more games during the last 13 seasons, have lost at least 10 games in three straight seasons and fired Ted Roof last month after a 1-11 finish and a 6-45 overall mark during four-plus seasons. Earlier Friday night, Duke athletic director Joe Alleva declined to say whether anyone had been offered the job, but as he left his office at Cameron Indoor Stadium at about 7:30 p.m. he expressed confidence that a hire was coming soon. "By the end of the weekend, we'll be done," Alleva said. Cutcliffe, one of six coaches known to have interviewed for the job, met both main criteria laid out nearly three weeks ago by Alleva, who wanted to replace Roof with an experienced head coach from the Bowl Subdivision who has an offense-minded reputation. Cutcliffe has been on Phillip Fulmer's Tennessee staff for the past two seasons, orchestrating the offense and working with the Volunteers' quarterbacks, but has longed to become a head coach again. "We all kind of have a desire to run a program -- that's kind of why I got into it," Cutcliffe said at Tennessee's media day in advance of the Vols' Outback Bowl appearance. "That really hasn't changed. I'm still fairly young ... but I just feel like there's a lot left out there to be done." It was not immediately clear if Cutcliffe would remain for the bowl game. Cutcliffe was 44-29 in six seasons at Mississippi, but in less than a year went from Cotton Bowl champion to the unemployment line. The only coach in Ole Miss history to win at least seven games in each of his first five seasons, Cutcliffe guided the Rebels to four bowl berths, and clearly, his Eli Manning-led 2003 team was his best. Ole Miss won 10 games, claimed a share of the SEC West title and beat Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl that season. But the following season, the Rebels had trouble replacing the first-round draft pick, and they slipped to a 4-7 finish. Days after the season ended, Ole Miss administrators urged him to make changes to his staff, and when he refused, he was fired. He joined Charlie Weis' first staff at Notre Dame in 2005, but resigned before the season started because he was taking longer than expected to recover from triple bypass surgery. Coincidentally, he was replaced by Peter Vaas, who left South Bend before this season to run the Duke offense. In 2006, Cutcliffe rejoined Fulmer, his longtime friend and mentor, at Tennessee, and orchestrated the Vols' offense for the past two seasons while hoping for another chance at a head coaching job. Now, he has that opportunity at Duke. Information from ESPN.com football writer Chris Low and The Associated Press was used in this report.
If Duke <t>ever got serious about football in the same way they are basketball, they could be tough.</t>
This could set him up for his next job. Duke is so bad that if he makes them respectable, bigger jobs could be in his future. Alabama may need a new HC in 4 or 5 years. :wink:
I think this is a really bad situation for Cutcliffe. Only one man won at Duke in recent memory and that was the ole ball coach and while Cutcliffe is certainly good at developing QBs and calling plays I'm not sure he's on the same level as Spurrier. Then again, maybe he is. If Wake Forest can win an ACC title, why not Duke. I would like to see Cutcliffe turn that program around but I think he should have waited for a more appealing situation. As far as how this affects Tennessee. I think it is obvious the difference that Cutcliffe made in Erik Ainge when he came back to Tennessee. I think Tennessee will be hard pressed to find an OC as good as Cutcliffe. That being said, I would like to see Trooper Taylor share the OC duties with someone else. Taylor is a supreme motivator and has helped greatly improve the RBs at UT first and for the last 2 seasons has the WRs playing excellent. I think if you make him co-OC he stays at Tennessee keeping that enthusiasm and skill as a recruiter there and bring in someone else who specializes in the X's and O's and who is skilled at developing QBs. Alas, it probably won't happen this way but I think it's a good idea but what do I know about coaching at the D-1 level? Very little. I wouldn't be so quick celebrating victory Tailback. Georgia isn't out of the woods yet. They have a nice team in Athens but people seem to overlook the enormous collection of young talent at Tennessee. I think Tennessee will be able to pull in someone to hold that offense together and let that young talent shine. I expect the SEC East to be a tight race again next year with Florida leading the way and Tenn. and UGa close behind and SC a little bit further back.
Everyone knows that I have not been pleased with the coaching staff this year. Actually, I can't blame the SEC CG loss on them but I still have issues with the rest of the year. I have one issue with Cutcliff. Fulmer learned from Majors and Cutcliff learned from Fulmer. They both seldom veer from their Modus Operandi. Occasionally, they surprise me. Most of the time, after the exodus of Shuler and Manning, they run up the middle, run up the middle, incomplete pass, and punt. That, my friends is their MO. Predictable is defined in the Webster’s unabridged with a picture of Fulmer and Cutcliff with their arms around each other. David was an upgrade to our program. I would take predictable over incompetent (Randy Sanders) any day. I feel that he will be very successful at Duke. However, successful at Duke would get you fired at any “football” school. It appears that there are two top prospects to replace Cut: Trooper Taylor and Kippy Brown. Taylor is a great motivator. If you had ever seen him run out on the field and chest bump the kids coming off the field, you would see that he is something special. However, I worry about how much control he would be given by Phil. Taylor and Brown being considered for OC at UT
Looks like Aquila beat me to the punch. I think we have the same opinion as to Taylor in the job of OC. I just do not want to lose him to Baylor.
I can't imagine anybody chosing to go to Baylor as OCoord over staying at Tenn doing the same job. At one place you have a chance, you have access to talent and facilities. At the other place you have only prayer.
You had better hope that Dawg secondary isn't already thinking about next year when they take on Colt Brennan. I have seen this movie before.....ahem...can you say Pat white.....Steve Slaton.... I am not a believer in Georgia as you and most of the media are. You caught Tebow with one wing and UF in general with injuries and then a week later struggled with Troy. Georgia's best win was Auburn followed by Florida but other than that what is so impressive? Losing to bowl-less SouCar in Athens surely isn't very impressive and getting trounced by Tenn? Wow....
And I'm not impressed with Florida. Mr Heisman lost 3 games so far. Dawgs continue the celebration in the end zone. As for Hawaii? I look at this game as the start of next season. Dawgs roll. The growing pains are over. Next year will be loads of fun watching UGA dismantle what might be one of the toughest schedules ever.
Yeah....next year Georgia gets the good fortune of playing LSU the week before Florida instead of the bye week they had this year. That's fine by me....
Hawaii should scare anyone. They are one of those "nothing to lose" offenses. They are going to throw it down the field 40 times and see what hits. Hell, he can complete 10 of those and put up 60 points. UGA will need to get to the quarterback every play and make him throw quickly. They will also have to put up 35 or 40 points of their own. I think UGA is a better team but Hawaii is a hot potato. You don't want to catch them at the wrong time.
....or perhaps while you are "looking forward" to dismantling that tough schedule next year..... :lol: :wink:
I see that Trooper Taylor has taken the job as co-offensive coordinator for Okalhoma State. I thought he was going to Baylor as OCoord? Oh well OSU is a better gig than Baylor so he has more chance to move up if he does a good job. Baylor (alum or not) is just a graveyard. I am surprised though given how big a recruiter he was for the Vols that Fulmer let him go, he must not have thought he was OCoord material. Who are the Vols looking at for OCoord? Terry