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  1. #1

    Football: Succession Planning II

    Considering this "very difficult" time, what names are on Kevin White's mind?

    James Franklin
    Greg Roman

    Duke has invested $250M in football in the last handful of years. Unless Division I realignment is on the horizon next year, time to change is now. If there are no fans in the stands at Wallace Wade in2021, the new ball coach has more time to establish foundations before at home show and tell.

  2. #2
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    I'm not convinced Duke will buy out Coach Cut during a pandemic.

  3. #3
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    We're looking at an ugly 2.5 years of football if that is the case.

  4. #4
    scottdude8's Avatar
    scottdude8 is offline Moderator, Contributor, Zoubek disciple, and resident Wolverine
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    Coach Cut isn’t going anywhere until he decides to. Any fair-minded Duke fan who remembers the pre-Cut days, or even the early Cut days, would agree. Ignorance is bliss, but the Duke athletic department isn’t ignorant.
    Scott Rich on the front page

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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by SamHouston View Post
    Considering this "very difficult" time, what names are on Kevin White's mind?

    James Franklin
    Greg Roman

    Duke has invested $250M in football in the last handful of years. Unless Division I realignment is on the horizon next year, time to change is now. If there are no fans in the stands at Wallace Wade in2021, the new ball coach has more time to establish foundations before at home show and tell.
    Does Kevin White hire the next football coach, or, does his successor make that call?

  6. #6
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    Omitted from all of the above excellent responses is that Duke still has a reasonable chance of going 4-7 with wins over GT and FSU. (We can easily lose both games, but both teams are not good.) Also omitted--Vandy (0-?) may be in the market this year as well.

  7. #7
    Am I the only one on this board who finds this thread EXTREMELY distasteful (and shameful)?? Given all the Coach Cut has done for Duke football and for the university (I notice he and his wife have made SIZEABLE gifts to the Duke Catholic Center), I REALLY don't think we should talking on this board about whether or not he should replaced and who his successor might be. I'm sure everyone understands that he took a HUGE career risk in coming to Duke (I've heard him say that NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON advised him to take the Duke job). It was quite possibly the worst Div. 1 coaching position in the country at that time (often called "the graveyard of coaches" by almost everyone in college football) and he turned Duke football into a much better program that what it had been over the previous 20 years or so ( and he has done it with class and dignity and without any major academic or disciplinary issues - which is almost unheard of in college football). It was, IMHO, a truly Herculean task, for which ALL of us should be very thankful. Yea, this has not been a great year for Duke football but the pandemic has screwed up all of college life and college athletics for almost everyone. And with 30 million people thrown of work and over 250,000 now dead, who really cares about the W-L record of Duke football. I'm certainly willing to give him a "pass" (no pun intended) for this year. Even if Duke never won another football game for the next four years, I couldn't care less. Again, IMHO, we should ALL be very thankful he is our coach and appreciative of what he has done for the university and the football team!
    Let him coach Duke football until he wants to retire. He has earned that respect.

    I, for one, think the Mods should shut down this thread!

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    <snip>

    I, for one, think the Mods should shut down this thread!
    Cut gets paid big bucks. Part of that is for handling disgruntled fans. We don’t generally stop respectful criticism of coaches.

    Lord knows we saw enough disgruntled fans share their opinions of P!

    That said, we do keep it tighter with players - ours aren’t getting paid big bucks...

    -jk

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    Am I the only one on this board who finds this thread EXTREMELY distasteful (and shameful)?? Given all the Coach Cut has done for Duke football and for the university (I notice he and his wife have made SIZEABLE gifts to the Duke Catholic Center), I REALLY don't think we should talking on this board about whether or not he should replaced and who his successor might be. I'm sure everyone understands that he took a HUGE career risk in coming to Duke (I've heard him say that NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON advised him to take the Duke job). It was quite possibly the worst Div. 1 coaching position in the country at that time (often called "the graveyard of coaches" by almost everyone in college football) and he turned Duke football into a much better program that what it had been over the previous 20 years or so ( and he has done it with class and dignity and without any major academic or disciplinary issues - which is almost unheard of in college football). It was, IMHO, a truly Herculean task, for which ALL of us should be very thankful. Yea, this has not been a great year for Duke football but the pandemic has screwed up all of college life and college athletics for almost everyone. And with 30 million people thrown of work and over 250,000 now dead, who really cares about the W-L record of Duke football. I'm certainly willing to give him a "pass" (no pun intended) for this year. Even if Duke never won another football game for the next four years, I couldn't care less. Again, IMHO, we should ALL be very thankful he is our coach and appreciative of what he has done for the university and the football team!
    Let him coach Duke football until he wants to retire. He has earned that respect.

    I, for one, think the Mods should shut down this thread!
    Well stated, duke79.

    After the assault problems James Franklin handled so poorly, I can't imagine Duke ever considering him.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    Let him coach Duke football until he wants to retire. He has earned that respect. I, for one, think the Mods should shut down this thread!
    I read this thread differently. There are many reasons listed why he will be back.

    Cut turned 66 this year. Retirement is an issue for him independent of record. The same applies to K, White, and Danowski.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by duke2x View Post
    Omitted from all of the above excellent responses is that Duke still has a reasonable chance of going 4-7 with wins over GT and FSU. (We can easily lose both games, but both teams are not good.) Also omitted--Vandy (0-?) may be in the market this year as well.
    How many losing seasons in a row would it take to change your mind? 3? 5? 10? 66 isn't that old for a football coach, Cut could have plenty of years left if Duke extends his contract. I assume you're advocating for an extension?

  12. #12
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    Cut is going to be treated with great respect, I have no doubt about that whatsoever...having said that, there are definitely ways in which he can be transitioned from the job.
    He's probably the university's second highest paid employee, and it's clear that his program is in a serious decline.

    Let's just see what happens (if anything)...but to imply that he should be untouchable doesn't make much sense...we haven't had a winning conference record in at least five years, while Cut continues to maintain that
    we are "competing for championships."

    We're at the (traditional) point where a coach would get a contract extension (since Cut has two more years on his contract after this year) so he can tell recruits he'll be around for five more years. I doubt that's going to happen.

    So I suspect that, sooner or later, Cut and White will be having a discussion.

    Like many on this board, I've been a faithful fan for many, many decades, but have to acknowledge that the product we've been putting on the field is uncompetitive and distressing to watch.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by scottdude8 View Post
    Coach Cut isn’t going anywhere until he decides to. Any fair-minded Duke fan who remembers the pre-Cut days, or even the early Cut days, would agree. Ignorance is bliss, but the Duke athletic department isn’t ignorant.
    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    Am I the only one on this board who finds this thread EXTREMELY distasteful (and shameful)?? Given all the Coach Cut has done for Duke football and for the university (I notice he and his wife have made SIZEABLE gifts to the Duke Catholic Center), I REALLY don't think we should talking on this board about whether or not he should replaced and who his successor might be. I'm sure everyone understands that he took a HUGE career risk in coming to Duke (I've heard him say that NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON advised him to take the Duke job). It was quite possibly the worst Div. 1 coaching position in the country at that time (often called "the graveyard of coaches" by almost everyone in college football) and he turned Duke football into a much better program that what it had been over the previous 20 years or so ( and he has done it with class and dignity and without any major academic or disciplinary issues - which is almost unheard of in college football). It was, IMHO, a truly Herculean task, for which ALL of us should be very thankful. Yea, this has not been a great year for Duke football but the pandemic has screwed up all of college life and college athletics for almost everyone. And with 30 million people thrown of work and over 250,000 now dead, who really cares about the W-L record of Duke football. I'm certainly willing to give him a "pass" (no pun intended) for this year. Even if Duke never won another football game for the next four years, I couldn't care less. Again, IMHO, we should ALL be very thankful he is our coach and appreciative of what he has done for the university and the football team!
    Let him coach Duke football until he wants to retire. He has earned that respect.

    I, for one, think the Mods should shut down this thread!
    I'm not going to rebut every falsehood (e.g., "this has not been a great year for Duke football," implying that things were great when we were losing at home to Wake 0-59) or slur (e.g., implying that it is "ignorance" to think Duke needs to move on) or claimed moral superiority (e.g, "ALL of us should be very thankful," as if it is impossible to be grateful for Cut, and also think that Duke needs to move on) in these two posts. But if Duke does not hold Cut accountable for the ways in which his over-reliance on loyalty--to Roper and to Brice being the two biggest examples, but there are others--have driven this program into the ground, then Duke is not serious about football and should just give up. I'm sure scottdude8 and duke79 will make up all the revenue.

  14. #14
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    ^ good post.
    Here's the thing: last year Duke had a bad year, and evidently Cut (who everyone acknowledges is faithful to his assistants) saw the same problems fans did. He canned the offensive line coach and hired a new one.
    He essentially re-assigned his assistant with the highest title on the staff, Roper, and decided to call plays himself, That's a pretty big deal.
    Add to that the influx of a QB from Clemson, for whom we had high hopes.

    As a result, a lot of us were pretty pumped about what we'd see on the field this Fall...and yet all we're seeing is more of the same ineptitude and uncompetitiveness.

    There doesn't seem to be any reason for optimism at this point. Our talent is mediocre at best, we have precious few playmakers, our offense seems to be outmoded (most observers seem to agree that these days in college football, you HAVE to put points on the board) and our defense (though at times decent) has been disappointing...(I'd like to see stats on our opponents yards after initial contact, our defenders just can't seem to bring people down).

    No matter what, most of us will be back next year watching and hopefully attending the games, but at this point I have no illusions whatsoever that we're suddenly going to be fielding a competitive team.

  15. #15
    scottdude8's Avatar
    scottdude8 is offline Moderator, Contributor, Zoubek disciple, and resident Wolverine
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    Quote Originally Posted by AustinDevil View Post
    I'm not going to rebut every falsehood (e.g., "this has not been a great year for Duke football," implying that things were great when we were losing at home to Wake 0-59) or slur (e.g., implying that it is "ignorance" to think Duke needs to move on) or claimed moral superiority (e.g, "ALL of us should be very thankful," as if it is impossible to be grateful for Cut, and also think that Duke needs to move on) in these two posts. But if Duke does not hold Cut accountable for the ways in which his over-reliance on loyalty--to Roper and to Brice being the two biggest examples, but there are others--have driven this program into the ground, then Duke is not serious about football and should just give up. I'm sure scottdude8 and duke79 will make up all the revenue.
    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.
    Scott Rich on the front page

    Trinity BS 2012; University of Michigan PhD 2018
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  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by scottdude8 View Post
    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.
    Amen! 100% correct, IMHO.

    And I stand by my previous post 100%. I believe this thread SHOULD be SHUT DOWN!

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by duke2x View Post
    Omitted from all of the above excellent responses is that Duke still has a reasonable chance of going 4-7 with wins over GT and FSU. (We can easily lose both games, but both teams are not good.) Also omitted--Vandy (0-?) may be in the market this year as well.
    Cut will be elbowing Kevin in the ribs over 4-7.

  18. #18

    Proact or React?

    Quote Originally Posted by duke79 View Post
    Amen! 100% correct, IMHO.

    And I stand by my previous post 100%. I believe this thread SHOULD be SHUT DOWN!
    I am an advocate for positive change, nothing more. I live and die Duke Blue and have unwavering respect for Duke Athletics and Coach Cutcliff. That is why the thread is titled Succession Planning. I am also an advocate of open dialog.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by SamHouston View Post
    I am an advocate for positive change, nothing more. I live and die Duke Blue and have unwavering respect for Duke Athletics and Coach Cutcliff. That is why the thread is titled Succession Planning. I am also an advocate of open dialog.
    This is twice now that you’ve started the same topic, and twice you claim to have respect for the head coach, but twice you can’t even spell his name correctly. Cutcliffe, with an E.

    What’s your agenda?

  20. #20
    The horrors of Duke Football during my years in the mid- to late-90s are not a reason to shut this conversation down. They are a reason to be having this conversation. Each of us can see that this is a program headed in the wrong direction with no immediate prospect of a turn-around.

    I am not suggesting that Cut does not deserve to continue as Head Coach or that any specific change be made. But to try to shut down the conversation seems fruitless. Duke will either continue its decline or find some way to turn it around, and I know what result we all want to see.
    Carolina delenda est

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