Duke Punters

[BD80]

I recall a Duke punter in the '70s having a career game in Ann Arbor. We were absolutely stomped by Michigan, going three and out nearly every series, but our punter launched punt after punt and drew national attention. I recall that he got drafted, in large part because of that performance. Was that Bob Grupp?

[Indoor66]

I recall a Duke punter in the '70s having a career game in Ann Arbor. We were absolutely stomped by Michigan, going three and out nearly every series, but our punter launched punt after punt and drew national attention. I recall that he got drafted, in large part because of that performance. Was that Bob Grupp?

I don't remember, but it might have been Steve Jones - who was a pretty good purnter.

[formerdukeathlete]

He was drafted and played 3 years for Kansas City in the NFL.

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=GRUPPBOB01

[Indoor66]

He was drafted and played 3 years for Kansas City in the NFL.

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=GRUPPBOB01

OK. Steve Jones played for, I believe, St. Louis, as a running back.

[6th Man]

I am glad to see Jones turned it around. The game vs. UCONN was the worst show of punting I have ever seen. I think the fact that the punter has historically been a key position for the football team pretty much sums it all up. Here's hoping to not seeing Mr. Jones much against Northwestern. I'm sure he'd he happy not seeing much PT too.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

OK. Steve Jones played for, I believe, St. Louis, as a running back.

Steve Jones graduated in 1973, the end of my freshman year. That 1972 season, Mike McGee's offense consisted of (the first three in any order) Jones to the right, Jones to the left, Jones up the middle and Jones punts. Not fun and the cheers of "Fire McGee" rang loud, clear and often. It took another year or two for him to go.

[jimsumner]

It took a lot longer than a year or two for McGee to go. BTW, anybody else think those boring 5 and 6 win seasons against a schedule that included Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Southern Cal, Pittsburgh, et. al. look a lot better now than they did in the 1970s?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

It took a lot longer than a year or two for McGee to go. BTW, anybody else think those boring 5 and 6 win seasons against a schedule that included Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Southern Cal, Pittsburgh, et. al. look a lot better now than they did in the 1970s?

Absolutely, although we didn't beat any of those teams. I remember the Pitt game in Wallace Wade. Tony Dorsett was a senior and we were the last team to hold him under 100 yards rushing that year. The cheer of the day was "who is Tony Dorsett? Who is Tony Dorsett?" In his college days, the emphasis was on the first syllable of Dorsett, not the second as in the pros.

BTW, a group of us will be in MSG on December 20 and plan to revisit that cheer. Most folks won't know what the heck we're talking about, but y'all will when you hear it in the background on TV.

[Indoor66]

Absolutely, although we didn't beat any of those teams. I remember the Pitt game in Wallace Wade. Tony Dorsett was a senior and we were the last team to hold him under 100 yards rushing that year. The cheer of the day was "who is Tony Dorsett? Who is Tony Dorsett?" In his college days, the emphasis was on the first syllable of Dorsett, not the second as in the pros.

BTW, a group of us will be in MSG on December 20 and plan to revisit that cheer. Most folks won't know what the heck we're talking about, but y'all will when you hear it in the background on TV.

I watched that one as well. It was a great game. The defense was incredible. Great fun.

[jimsumner]

Well, the Pitt game in Wallace Wade, Pitt scored 44 points, so the defense wasn't that incredible. The previous year Pitt beat Duke 14-0 in Pitt.

And Duke did beat some of those teams. Florida, when they had John Reaves and a Stanford team that went on to win the Rose Bowl. And Tennessee in Knoxville. And West Virginia. And Washington. And some good South Carolina teams. And Purdue. Even Miami. Granted not all of these teams were at their program-peaks but they were all better than Richmond or Connecticut.

Whoever thought we'd look back at the '70s as the good 'ole days?

[Richard Berg]

How about some love for Brian Morton? He was the one bright spot in Duke football during my first two years of undergrad. I know he was an All-American...did he make it to the pros?

[jimsumner]

No, he didn't. Not sure why.

The Morton/Sims Lenhart tandem was a definite high-point in recent Duke football.

[mapei]

"Recent"? ;)

[throatybeard]

Kruegger was good on the Goldsmith teams too.

[Bob Green]

Absolutely, although we didn't beat any of those teams. I remember the Pitt game in Wallace Wade. Tony Dorsett was a senior and we were the last team to hold him under 100 yards rushing that year. The cheer of the day was "who is Tony Dorsett? Who is Tony Dorsett?" In his college days, the emphasis was on the first syllable of Dorsett, not the second as in the pros.

BTW, a group of us will be in MSG on December 20 and plan to revisit that cheer. Most folks won't know what the heck we're talking about, but y'all will when you hear it in the background on TV.

Ozzie,

I too was at the Duke-Pittsburgh game in 1976 but I'm going to have to disagree with your facts. Duke did not hold TD to under 100 yards rushing that day (10/2/76).

Duke held TD to under 100 yards rushing the previous season on 10/4/75. TD then ripped off 20 consecutive games with 100 + yards rushing. The last 8 games of 1975 and all 12 games in 1976.

The way I remember it is that the Duke defense was bragging before the game that they were going to stop TD's 100 yard game streak that was sitting at 11 straight games. Not only did TD get his 100 yards in Wallace Wade, but Matt Cavanuagh passed for 339 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 44-31 win.

[Olympic Fan]

Steve Jones graduated in 1973, the end of my freshman year. That 1972 season, Mike McGee's offense consisted of (the first three in any order) Jones to the right, Jones to the left, Jones up the middle and Jones punts. Not fun and the cheers of "Fire McGee" rang loud, clear and often. It took another year or two for him to go.

Strange memory you have there ...

In the first place, Steve Jones had a great season in 1972. He set the Duke single-season rushing record of 1,236 yards (in 11 games). He also set the career record that season of 2,952 yards (set in three seasons) that stood for three decades until broken by Chris Douglas (in four seasons). He also averaged 41.3 yards a punt for Duke that season.

It's forgotten today, but Jones, who hailed from Sanford, N.C., was one of the greatest recruiting coups in Duke history. He very well may have been the No.1 recruit in the country -- at least the No. 1 running back prospect. Bear Bryant met him at the airport when Jones visited Tuscaloosa. Tennessee offered scholarships to several his friends on the team.

As for McGee, he had only arrived at Duke after the 1970 season -- to great acclaim. He was a former Duke star, the Outland Trophy winner, and was widely regarded as a great hire when he was brought in to replace Tom Harp.

His first Duke team got off to a great start, beating Florida (with All-America quarterback John Reaves) 12-6 in Tampa. After routing South Carolina and Virginia, McGee took his team to Stanford and upset the No. 10 Indians (as they were known in those pre PC days) 9-3. Stanford, coming off a Rose Bowl victory under Jim Plunkett, would go on to win another Rose Bowl under QB Don Bunce.

Duke climbed from unranked to No. 14 in the nation after the Stanford win.

McGee, who had played under Bill Murray, believed in teams that played great defense and were conservative on offense. That first team used the "Steve Jones-left; Steve Jones-right" offense ... until Jones was injured in a freak auto accident on campus drive.

The accumulation of injuries finally took its toll on that '71 team. Not only was Jones a devastating loss, but QB Dennis Satyshur and PK Dave Wright were injured and were huge losses.

That 4-0 team ended up with Ernie Jackson playing CB and TB ... with three-time All-ACC safety Rich Searl filling in at QB ... with linemen like Ed Newman and Willie Clayton going both ways. They suffered some tough losses and stumbled home 6-5 (a victory over Bobby Bowden's West Virginia was one of their two late wins).

My point is, I doubt very many people were calling for McGee's head in 1972. Duke opened that season on the road at No. 7 Alabama. In the final preseason scrimmage, starting QB Mark Johnson, a really promising sophomore was injured and missed the first four games. Duke still played 'Bama tough for a half, trailing 14-12 (thanks to two missed extra points) at the half before the Tide rolled and outscored Duke 21-0 in the second half.

The next game was in Seattle against No. 12 Washington and Duke kept All-American QB Sonny Sixkiller under wraps for most of the game before losing a tough 14-6 game. Worse was game three in Durham, when Duke dominated No. 19 Stanford, but turned the ball over like seven times in a 10-6 loss.

After that, Duke recovered to win five of six (as Johnson returned at QB). The season ended with a frustrating 9-7 loss to Wake (which was bad that year), then a 14-0 loss at UNC (which won the ACC) -- that game was 0-0 well into the fourth quarter.

I repeat -- at that point, after 6-5 and 5-6 seasons against killer schedules -- I doubt anybody was calling for McGee's firing nor should they have been. The next year, he had a 2-8-1 rebuilding year that was the worst Duke season in a half-century (although somewhat salvaged by the "shoe-string play" victory over UNC).

That's when some grumbling started, although McGee soon brought in QB Mike Dunn and switched from his conservative "run-it-up-the-middle" offense to an exciting option attack. Duke was 6-5 (wins vs. Purdue and at Army; loss at Florida) in '74; 4-5-2 in '75 (but unbeaten at 3-0-2 in the ACC; losses came at national champ Southern Cal and at No. 12 Florida); 5-5-1 in '76 (win at Tennessee and at Miami), 5-6 in '77 (a loss at Michigan and a great come-from-behind win at Georgia Tech).

Those performances look very solid in hindsight, especially since that was an era when the administration was VERY unenthusiastic in support of the program. Facilities were run down, Wade was dirty (MUCH dirtier than today), salaries were low and there was a small recruiting budget. McGee did an awful lot with a very little.

But because Duke had been so good so recently (probably the best program in the ACC when Murray retired in 1965), McGee was viewed as a mediocrity and as Ozzie noted, the pressure for his firing mounted.

In 1978, McGee won his first two games, then lost seven of his final nine. Late in the season, four players (including his starting QB) staged a "revolt" against him. New AD Tom Butters fired McGee after the season and replaced him with Red Wilson, who had been a great winner as a high school coach and at Elon College.

Wilson had two terrible years, then with Steve Spurrier as his OC, put together back-to-back 6-5 seasons. He had just completed his second straight six-win season (that included wins at Tennessee and at South Carolina) with a victory over UNC when hours after that win, Butters called Wilson to his home and fired him.

As we look back, anybody else long for the days of McGee or Wilson?

[arnie]

I really enjoyed your post since I attended most of those games. Only one slight error - the shoestring play against the Holes was in 1969 - my freshman year and Tom Harp was coach. Wes Chesson and Leo Hart were great!

I know an offensive lineman very well from the Red Wilson years. He always contended that Wilson was "lost" during those years and the team gave all the credit to Spurrier for their success (huge successes by today's standards). I believe Butters also understood that with Spurrier leaving, Red had to go - although the timing was unfortunate since we beat the Holes in a miracle at the end.

[throatybeard]

I met Leo Hart at some function a few years ago. I said "hey man, your shoestring's undone." He stared at me blankly. Another awkward moment in my life. Oh well.

[Indoor66]

I met Leo Hart at some function a few years ago. I said "hey man, your shoestring's undone." He stared at me blankly. Another awkward moment in my life. Oh well.

Didn't Leo become the general manager of the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans? Maybe I confused him with another Duke Football player.