Context is everything....
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Originally Posted by
Latta6970
I just read the Cutcliffe article posted on the DBR homepage and wanted to make a few observations, then ask some perspective.
First from the interview and even the blog comments under it I can tell DC is respected in Knoxville by the UT staff, fans and boosters. Only time will tell if Duke made the best hire they could or if missed the boat again, but from everything I have read and heard I am impressed so far. I found it refreshing to hear him say Duke football will no longer be disrespected. I'm sure he meant that on the field too and after the faculty lashing out against all athletes following LAX I'm not shocked certain professors could care less about Duke football or in any other sport. I will say if certain coaches from other teams have lost respect over the years to the point where Duke football could be kicked around on campus it was definitely time for a change. I get this way every bloody year and with every new coach that's hired. I hear positive things and hold out hope things can get turned around. But with DC I'm more optimistic than I have been in a while, even knowing full well it will take years to get back respect lost over the past 15 years. All that being said I found one quote in the article very, well let's just say different from things I have heard over the last 30+ years....
Will academics be a major hurdle in recruiting?
"They don't all have to be great students. That's a misnomer and an excuse that's been used".
I'm sure perspective has a lot to do with whether you agree or disagree with this statement. I mean we have all had it drilled into our heads that on average 15-20 of the top 25 basketball players in the nation couldn't handle the academics so they never get a look or an offer. And I guess the term 'great students" is relative as well. I've known people who weren't the sharpest tack in the box, but applied themselves in the classroom and went on to get a degree, sometimes two. But I'd be curious to know from Duke alums how much of your achieving a Duke degree was genuine intelligence and how much was bust glutimus maximus work ethic.
1. Is DC off base in thinking an athlete doesn't need to be a great (or even good) student? How much are tutors able to assist athletes and how many does he plan on using?
2. Duke is proud of it's academic reputation despite wanting to turn their collective heads so not to watch the bloodshed every football season. Is a little academic reputation going to be sacrificed in search of a few football wins? If so, besides the academics who would like to see all athletics gone from Duke; is that an acceptable trade off?
3. Coach K despite flaws has focused on academics, even to the point of not hanging various achievement banners until certain players graduated. Does anyone get the feeling DC is going to bust his butt to make Duke a winner, but if a few guys who weren't / aren't academically qualified fall by the wayside so be it? I shouldn't read into statements, and I love hearing dedication and positives surrounding Duke football again. I just don't want Duke anything close to Miami, FSU or VT in the caliber of players they recruit and the courses (Basket Weaving 101) they can take to get by.
I think the quotation noted above is out of context. Coach Cutcliffe has said repeatedly that he does not want to lower the academic standards at Duke in order to recruit good football players. He has also said that among the top football players every year, there are some who are very good students. They just happen to have been going someplace other than Duke.... and that has to change.
Duke has shown a lot of flex in Football admits last 5 years
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Originally Posted by
Olympic Fan
Cutcliffe deserves the same flexability as K has had -- and the same standard. If he can find kids who are borderline academically, but have a real commitment to Duke's academics, then he should be allowed to recruit them. But he's got to prove over the course of the years that his judgement on such kids is good and that they graduate at a reasonably high rate.
And, based on what I understand, more flexibility than when Spurrier was coach.
For example, a poster on TDD who appears to have good data posted that fully 1/3 of the football admits the last 5 years had SATs below 1000. Some even below 900. For example, an academic exception, based on an interview, was made for Thad Lewis, but not Armando Allen with SATs closer to 800 who attended the same high school but went to Notre Dame.
Under current guidelines, our admissions office will bend pretty darn low.
I think this is enough. Whether we risk enrolling kids who will not like the academic work load, who are ill-prepared for it, or admit so many marginal recruits that we even dilute the academic reputation of Duke Football alums, which I think is a risk.
K has admitted some marginal academic students, but he has also admitted some stellar kids, and while the Football team used to have a higher SAT average than the basketball team, I believe it is the other way around now, and by a considerable margin. Zoubek with 1500s kind of helps, but kids like Paulus are not slouches either.
If you look at the football team averages, ranges these days, I think you will find that we are not as highly ranked among D-1 programs as we were in 1997 when averages last were published, when we came second or third to Stanford.
Back when such averages were maintained, I understand that Duke basketball was virtually always in the top 5. I do not think our Football team is any more.
The Question is again, how far do you want to drop down, because there are problems in doing so. There are plenty of 3 star players out there with over 1000 SATs. IMO 1000 should be the cut off (it really is not anymore), with some provision for an interview, but only for kids who had pretty darn good high school GPAs or who at least attended more difficult high schools.
I also understand that Cut is not fazed at all about his admissions guidelines in recruiitng Football players. In fact, I understand he rather prefers recruiting the somewhat smarter kids.