FB: Virginia 38, Duke 20

[SamHouston]

people continue to take the UNC coaching job, no? So there's gotta be some allure for jobs that may seem externally unpalatable.

The UNC job is nothing more than a job in political sales. Really.

[budwom]

Just one question for those calling for Cut's removal: Who are you proposing to replace him with? And only consider those coaches that would deign to come to Duke to coach.

I am not giving up on Cut ... he has done too much for this program for me to do that, even given the performance of the past 2+ years.

Well, that's something of a straw man since reading the entire thread, I don't think anyone called for Cut to be canned...though there seems to be a common notion that his reign may have run its course.
But to answer your question, as others have, $2.7million a year (Cut's salary) will get a LOT of applicants...and without getting into names (I like Train's notion) just look at a noted conference like the MAC which is known to develop coaches.
The average coach there makes around $700k, and none (as far as I can find) makes as much as Cut. If the Duke job opens up, there will be many, many applicants.

Duke has AD budget woes (along with everyone else), and most seem to agree that Cut deserves to leave on his own terms. His contract runs thru 2022 I believe. Can't see him being fired, but maybe he recognizes what many here recognize, that his reign seems to have run its course. His stated goal of "competing for championships" is no longer realistic.

I might be more charitable had Cut not made a bunch of major moves in the offseason, as he evidently found things to be as unsatisfactory as we have, e.g. he effectively demoted his highest ranking assistant, canned his OL coach,and took over playcalling himself.

But like many on this board who have followed Duke football for many decades, I remain undeterrable in my fandom...we're immune to horrific seasons.

Can they find Cut a great segue' job in the Med Center a la Bucky?

[TheTrain]

Hang on... are you talking about the Greg Roman who is the Offensive Coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens? The guy who just won assistant coach of the year in the NFL? The guy credited with building the most potent offense in the NFL around Lamar Jackson? You think that guy is coming to coach at Duke?

Greg Roman is going to get a ton of NFL head coaching interviews when there are openings this winter. There is no way he would consider one of the lower-tier programs in Power 5 college football.

Jason - You and I have known one another since I have been 18 years old...and I am telling you this...yes, he wants the job
He desperately wanted the BC job...and seriously wanted the Vandy job before that
He is an east coast guy who loved his experience with Jim Harbaugh and Vic Fangio at Stanford
He believes in the academic model and knows what it takes to win and legitimately compete for championships at a similar institution
Much like Harbaugh and NIck Saban (and even Steve Spurrier)...he knows that the college game is a better deal than an NFL gig

He follows the Duke model very closely...he has seen what great coaches have done to the lacrosse and baseball programs....and most importantly, he has seen what Coach K has done to the basketball program...he thinks he has what it takes to overcome the decades of failure and get Duke football to a similar level.

Everyone says it is Mission Impossible...he knows that with right staff and a great talent identification, it is very much possible

[Bob Green]

...most seem to agree that Cut deserves to leave on his own terms. His contract runs thru 2022 I believe. Can't see him being fired, but maybe he recognizes what many here recognize, that his reign seems to have run its course. His stated goal of "competing for championships" is no longer realistic.

I might be more charitable had Cut not made a bunch of major moves in the offseason, as he evidently found things to be as unsatisfactory as we have, e.g. he effectively demoted his highest ranking assistant, canned his OL coach,and took over playcalling himself.

But like many on this board who have followed Duke football for many decades, I remain undeterrable in my fandom...we're immune to horrific seasons.

I agree with budwom that the Coach Cutcliffe reign seems to have run its course but I am not calling for him to be fired. He deserves to leave on his own terms, but change is needed.

At a minimum, Coach Cutcliffe needs to hire an offensive coordinator/play caller and actually turn over control. Our offense is broken.

Come 4 pm next Saturday, I will be tuned in to the game.

[rtnorthrup]

Let's be very clear about this, Coach Cut was a homerun hire at a time when Duke Football needed a savior. He brought instant credibility to a program that was a national disgrace. He was exactly the coach that many on these boards felt "would never come to a program like Duke". He deserves every accolade that gets thrown his way for turning around a program on life support. BUT...

We cannot overlook the role that the Duke BoT played in the turnaround as well. Duke not only hired Cut, but backed him in ways it had not previously done with any football coach. Not only did they pay him a competitive salary, but they conceded to his demand that he have a budget to hire assistant coaches. Duke lowered admission standards to be competitive with other (non Stanford) private schools. Duke also spent money. . . lots of it. They updated/upgraded the Yoh facility. They built two practice facilities, including an indoor practice facility that when it was built was top 5 in the ACC. Of course Duke was able to do this because Cut had so much equity in the college football business. I also think Duke was coming under a lot of pressure from ACC headquarters. This was the time of conference expansions and TV deals. Duke was in a really bad situation for both. Wile Duke Basketball was/is a huge national seller, its football program was dead weight during a time when college football was driving the NCAA bus. Simply put, Duke had to make moves. Cut gave them the best horse to back, and he paid them off well.

The idea that Duke could win an ACC Coastal title would have been foolish when he was hired. But between Cut's coaching ability and the foundational steps that the University took to back him, dreams became real. The New Years eve bowl game against Texas A&M is, to me, the peak of modern Duke football. Duke had arrived and the national media was paying attention.

But in big time college football, you have to keep moving forward, and Duke didn't. Other ACC programs looked at Duke's success and the new college football landscape and decided they needed to make changes. Ultimately the rest of the conference caught up to us. Duke did not parlay it's ACC Championship Game appearance into a recruiting advantage. Recruiting has always been an Achilles for Cut. It was at Ole Miss and it has followed him to Duke. For whatever reason, Cut has a unique template that he looks for.

Fast forward to Oct. 31, 2015. Duke was 6-1 (3-0), coming off a huge program win at Va Tech. Duke had a win against a ranked Miami team stolen from them. Duke would lose its next three games, including a 66-31 beating by UNC. Wins against Wake and Indiana were end of the year consolations to what could/should have been a team competing for another Coastal crown. That offseason, Scottie Montgomery left and Cut promoted a special teams coach to Offensive Coordinator. In 2016 Duke would go 1-7 in the ACC, again leaning on a win at Notre Dame as a salve for what was a horrible season. Despite it being clear that major offensive changes needed to be made, Cut would stand pat. In fact, Cut would continue to stand pat for 3 more season despite posting a losing conference records in each of them. By this time, Duke was back to being a bottom feeder in the ACC Coastal. Only some positive non-conference scheduling was able to paper over the cracks in the foundation.

Again, Cut's refusal to make obvious coaching changes should not be a surprise. It was his downfall during his head coaching sting at Ole Miss. That leaves us to where we are today. We are probably the worst team in the Coastal. There are no more magic bullets. There is no money to spend. The national media praise we were getting 5 years ago is gone. Complacency and non-accountability have crept into the program.

This season is looking bleak. Next season is looking worse. Assuming Riley Leonard stays committed, we will have 5 scholarship QBs on the roster next season. We will currently go into our next game with 3 QBs who have zero confidence. The offense is a mess. The defense is good, but teams are starting to figure us out. UVa ran the ball on us at will yesterday. We have persisted with a 4-2-5 defense despite the fact that we have not recruited that hybrid S/LB (the Cash position) in several years. We are grossly undersized at every defensive position, bar DE. Depth is a huge issue and there are few easy games left on the schedule.

I will continue to be very invested in Duke Football; however, I am not happy with the current trajectory of the program. I'm certain from Cut's recent post game comments that he sees the symptoms. I am uncertain that he sees the cause. I do not think Coach Cut will be terminated especially in the uncertain times of a pandemic; however, the idea that nobody wants this job is simply silly. Others have already pointed out how wrong this thinking is. Duke is still a power 5 football program with a recent history of success. Duke is in the process of turning around Duke Baseball, and if Kara Lawson is what the media says she is, there is reason to believe we will turn around Women's basketball. The right hire can absolutely be made and have significant impact on Duke Football. The remainder of this season is going to be very interesting as will this offseason. Changes were made last year, but they seem too little and far too late. Will further changes be made?

[budwom]

^ fine post.

One thing I'd hate to see happen is Cut not achieving what I think he has been justifiably proud of, mainly leaving the program in better shape than he found it. We're getting perilously close to reverting to where we were before he got here.

Hoping for a regroup, but don't think it's realistic.

[Acymetric]

^ fine post.

One thing I'd hate to see happen is Cut not achieving what I think he has been justifiably proud of, mainly leaving the program in better shape than he found it. We're getting perilously close to reverting to where we were before he got here.

Hoping for a regroup, but don't think it's realistic.

I see two options, and the likelihood of one of them is fading fast.

1) Cut, the man who resurrected the Duke football program and put it back on the map, retires a hero as he leaves the program he built on his successor's hands. Some building, endowment, part of the field, etc gets named after him and hopefully he stays on in some visible administrative/promotional role.

2) Cut retires as the program he rebuilt (and he did rebuild it, nobody disputes this) crumbles around him, destroying the great narrative that would have gotten played if he retired sooner, sapping enthusiasm from the program, and leaving the next coach to pick up pretty much where things were in 2008 when Cut started.

[budwom]

^ agree. In any event, hope he goes out on a high note.

One more thing on rnorthrup's post, for historical perspective.... Before the Chicken Bowl game in Atlanta vs A&M, I had a pretty long conversation with a member of the Board of Trustees, and this person emphasized that the change in the
college presidency played a major role: Nan could not have cared less about football, and Dick Brodhead was a big fan...definitely a strong contributing factor.

[Acymetric]

Ack...there are several typos in my last post and it is too late to edit. Just know that it is going to bother me all day, please pretend it was written with proper spelling and grammar when you read it.

[DukeDTD]

Among my other activities, I am an executive coach. I work with highly gifted people who have accomplished much. However, when I am asked to work with an executive, it is because a flaw has become destructive and can no longer be ignored.

Some of my coachees own up to their faults and do the hard work of eliminating them. Others do not. For a variety of reasons they do not/cannot own up to their faults. They deny, rationalize and continue on their self-destructive ways.

I am curious about Coach Cut. He is a supremely good person, highly ethical with total integrity. Coach is always quick to take accountability after miserable outings. But is he accountable and aware enough to do the hard work of looking at himself at the deepest level?

It is one thing to acknowledge that a particular game was not well-coached, but it takes much more personal courage, integrity and humility to consider the possibility that one might have to make major changes in one's philosophy and practices.

Coach Cut brings so many positives to Duke football and to our university I wish that he would take a long, hard look at how he is currently coaching, so that the necessary corrections can be made.

Great Post. "But is he accountable and aware enough to do the hard work of looking at himself at the deepest level?"

Given your knowledge of what high performing cultures look like and what it takes from leadership to get there, combined with having observed Cut for years...especially the last 4-5, I am fairly certain you already know the answer to your own question.

[budwom]

Great Post. "But is he accountable and aware enough to do the hard work of looking at himself at the deepest level?"

Given your knowledge of what high performing cultures look like and what it takes from leadership to get there, combined with having observed Cut for years...especially the last 4-5, I am fairly certain you already know the answer to your own question.

Cut DID make some painful decisions after last season, canning the OL coach (we know he's faithful to his staff) and effectively demoting his #1 assistant and Associate Head coach...so I imagine this season has been especially hard on him.
The offense he chooses to run seems quite predictable and stale to this layman...so I suspect the changes he chose to make were perhaps necessary but insufficient. Who knows? He did state last year that he needed to re-look at everything they do...

[soflabluedevil]

I see two options, and the likelihood of one of them is fading fast.

1) Cut, the man who resurrected the Duke football program and put it back on the map, retires a hero as he leaves the program he built on his successor's hands. Some building, endowment, part of the field, etc gets named after him and hopefully he stays on in some visible administrative/promotional role.

2) Cut retires as the program he rebuilt (and he did rebuild it, nobody disputes this) crumbles around him, destroying the great narrative that would have gotten played if he retired sooner, sapping enthusiasm from the program, and leaving the next coach to pick up pretty much where things were in 2008 when Cut started.

Too bad #1 will not happen. We have a 66 yr old coach making boneheaded disaster play calls costing us games-the jump pass from the 3 vs UNC last yr and the trick play deep in Va. territory yesterday ending with an int. Our AD is 70 (I believe) and our BB coach (even if best ever) is on a trajectory to retire by being carried out of
of Cameron in a pine box. They are all rigidly inflexible and are past their prime. K’s NCAA record since 2015 has been abysmal, particularly with the talent on the floor. I am not saying get rid of him now, but when is there going to be a serious discussion about his stepping down? Pls don’t say he deserves to name his date and successor. Remember his 5 yr promise to retire 6 yrs ago? And when the outgoing coach names his successor it has almost invariably turned into disaster. We need new blood while we can make the decisions on a timetable we control, not being forced to do so by circumstances.

[jimsumner]

T. Remember his 5 yr promise to retire 6 yrs ago?

Actually I don't. Can you refresh us on that?

[SamHouston]

Cut DID make some painful decisions after last season, canning the OL coach (we know he's faithful to his staff) and effectively demoting his #1 assistant and Associate Head coach...so I imagine this season has been especially hard on him.
The offense he chooses to run seems quite predictable and stale to this layman...so I suspect the changes he chose to make were perhaps necessary but insufficient. Who knows? He did state last year that he needed to re-look at everything they do...

This needs to be Cut's final season. He has well earned respect. Why not have KW work in tandem with the AD in waiting on the search following the 2020 season. From my perspective, too many coaches are like old soldiers more willing to fall on their sword than relinquish command.

[tommy]

Too bad #1 will not happen. We have a 66 yr old coach making boneheaded disaster play calls costing us games-the jump pass from the 3 vs UNC last yr and the trick play deep in Va. territory yesterday ending with an int. Our AD is 70 (I believe) and our BB coach (even if best ever) is on a trajectory to retire by being carried out of
of Cameron in a pine box. They are all rigidly inflexible and are past their prime. K’s NCAA record since 2015 has been abysmal, particularly with the talent on the floor. I am not saying get rid of him now, but when is there going to be a serious discussion about his stepping down? Pls don’t say he deserves to name his date and successor. Remember his 5 yr promise to retire 6 yrs ago? And when the outgoing coach names his successor it has almost invariably turned into disaster. We need new blood while we can make the decisions on a timetable we control, not being forced to do so by circumstances.

Coach K deserves to name his date and his successor.

If ever anyone did...

[jimsumner]

Cutcliffe has always seen Duke as a developmental program, i.e. one that finds under-valued prepsters with the ability to improve with proper coaching and then coach them up. That worked big-time with Jamison Crowder, Ross Cockrell, Laken Tomlinson, Matt Skura, Perry Simmons, Anthony Boone, Braxton Deaver, Kelby Brown, et. al., none of whom were more-highly ranked then the guys they've been bringing in lately.

So, either there's been slippage in the evaluation area or the development area. Or both. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[hustleplays]

Cut DID make some painful decisions after last season, canning the OL coach (we know he's faithful to his staff) and effectively demoting his #1 assistant and Associate Head coach...so I imagine this season has been especially hard on him.
The offense he chooses to run seems quite predictable and stale to this layman...so I suspect the changes he chose to make were perhaps necessary but insufficient. Who knows? He did state last year that he needed to re-look at everything they do...

I have such high regard for Coach Cut that I want to remain respectfully hopeful. The changes Cut made seemed absolutely necessary but evidently they were not sufficient. Struggling leaders [executives, coaches, etc.] often make significant changes but without the essential core insight: As the top leader, what am I doing or not doing that render the changes I make -- positive and sensible in themselves -- destined to fail. Looking squarely in the mirror is wrenchingly painful. Each of us, including me, can look at our own leadership and realize how hard it is to acknowledge...it's me. But it is absolutely essential to get to root cause.

Seeing the offense that has resulted from Coach Cut's changes -- which gave him more direct control of the offense -- does not in itself make me optimistic. Keeping an ineffective OC for so long was also worrisome and instructive. But I still hope. Sometimes, when things get bad enough, leaders with integrity will finally look long and honestly enough in the mirror to change...themselves. Sometimes really good friends can help a leader make the necessary changes. Maybe Coach has some friends like that.

[AustinDevil]

Well, that's something of a straw man since reading the entire thread, I don't think anyone called for Cut to be canned...though there seems to be a common notion that his reign may have run its course.
But to answer your question, as others have, $2.7million a year (Cut's salary) will get a LOT of applicants...and without getting into names (I like Train's notion) just look at a noted conference like the MAC which is known to develop coaches.
The average coach there makes around $700k, and none (as far as I can find) makes as much as Cut. If the Duke job opens up, there will be many, many applicants.

Duke has AD budget woes (along with everyone else), and most seem to agree that Cut deserves to leave on his own terms. His contract runs thru 2022 I believe. Can't see him being fired, but maybe he recognizes what many here recognize, that his reign seems to have run its course. His stated goal of "competing for championships" is no longer realistic.

I might be more charitable had Cut not made a bunch of major moves in the offseason, as he evidently found things to be as unsatisfactory as we have, e.g. he effectively demoted his highest ranking assistant, canned his OL coach,and took over playcalling himself.

But like many on this board who have followed Duke football for many decades, I remain undeterrable in my fandom...we're immune to horrific seasons.

Can they find Cut a great segue' job in the Med Center a la Bucky?

I’ve been a Duke football fan for 32 years. I’m also well aware of the bad days before 1988, and the ancient glory days.

Cut deserves a statue.

Cut also deserves to be fired.

[sagegrouse]

I’ve been a Duke football fan for 32 years. I’m also well aware of the bad days before 1988, and the ancient glory days.

Cut deserves a statue.

Cut also deserves to be fired.

We'll see how the season continues. There are some views (Sumner relayed them) that the Duke football team was less ready for the season than other teams. Certainly we need to understand that Chase Brice has only been around for a couple of months.

Kindly,
Sage
'But I still think yesterday's "double pass" was the dumbest play call in the history of Duke football. Duke has played 99 season, and I have been a fan for 60 of them'

[jimsumner]

The Calhoun-pass-trick play only makes sense if you trust Calhoun to be able to make the correct decision instantly. He was a prep quarterback, although I don't think anyone in a Power-5 conference recruited him as such.

But for that play to work it has to work right away, while the defense is fooled, if they are indeed fooled at all. But he bobbled the "lateral" from Brice and at that point the play had little chance of success. If Calhoun had realized that he could have thrown it away and Duke would have had 2nd-and-10, still well within field-goal range. But learning when to accept when a play has been blown up beyond saving is a difficult skill for a full-time quarterback and it's apparent that Duke had not adequately prepared him for that scenario.

But UVA took over at their six and marched 94 yards for the go-ahead TD, even converting a 2nd-and-19. So some of the onus is on the D.

The thing that concerns me about this team going back to mid-season of last year is a seeming lack of emotional resilience. It seems like they just don't have the ability to absorb a big blow and fight back. I'm not suggesting they're quitting or anything like that. But they just seem tentative, lacking confidence when things start going wrong and it's hard to see any success this year or into the future until and unless they get this fixed.