Originally Posted by
scottdude8
OK, maybe I didn't phrase my take on the "ignorance is bliss" statement well enough. That's a fair issue to raise. But to say that this program has been "driven... into the ground?" Really?
Let's get into some evidence-based discussion here.
-Duke has played in 6 bowl games under Coach Cut. Before Cut, it had been 14 YEARS since Duke was in a bowl game.
-Under Cut, Duke has been ranked in the AP poll in four separate seasons. Before Cut, there had been just three such seasons... going back to 1963!
-Duke is having an off year this year, but we've won two games, and could add to that number. In the eight years before Cut, Duke football won more than 2 games just ONCE.
Some Duke football fans seem to have forgotten that there was a time in the not too distant past where Duke wouldn't reliably beat FCS competition, let alone win games in the ACC. That we won a legal battle by arguing that we were LITERALLY the worst program in all of major college football. That we weren't just losing, but getting embarrassed on a regular basis.
Has this season been disappointing? Of course! Was last season? Of course! But both of those seasons were still far and away superior to anything we had before Cut. The fact that Duke is COMPETITIVE in most ACC games (yes last weekend was disappointing, but in the big picture) is something that, when I was a freshman (which was coincidentally Cut's first season), I would've taken in a heartbeat.
The mere fact that we CAN be disappointed is a testament to how far Cut has taken this program. And let's not forget, there are HUGE limitations on this program! The biggest is the simple reality that there isn't enough of a local alumni base to fill a football stadium consistently. Cut has actually led the program in taking creative steps to engage the local fanbase and try to turn Duke into Durham's football team, despite longstanding history working against him.
Duke will not be in a bowl game every year. I'm sorry, but that's the reality of this program. But we can be, should be, and are a program that can challenge for a bowl game in most seasons, can create potential exciting upsets, and normally is competitive with our major rival. Every few years, when the cards fall right, we can and have been a Top 25 caliber team. That's right on par with successful football programs from comparable schools like Northwestern and Wake Forest. We no longer are a laughing stock like Vanderbilt. But we will NEVER be Clemson, or even UNC, on a consistent basis.
If you can think of a coach who could take our program to those heights, with the limitations it has, and would even consider the job, I'm all ears. But until then, I'm sticking with the man who took a program that, again, won a court case by arguing they were literally the worst in all of major college football, into one that is competitive more often than not.