FB Coach Speculation

[Acymetric]

Duke once hired a former pro head coach with no experience as a college head coach ... Steve Spurrier.

After 5 seasons as a college assistant, Spurrier compiled a 35-21 record as head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits before taking the head job at Duke.




Spurrier only lasted 3 seasons at Duke and I lost track of him afterwards, so I can't say whether this was a good hire or not.

The concern about Garrett (even though I think it could be a good hire) is that he doesn't have any college experience. Spurrier had 5 years (per your post, didn't do any fact checking ).

[HereBeforeCoachK]

The concern about Garrett (even though I think it could be a good hire) is that he doesn't have any college experience. Spurrier had 5 years (per your post, didn't do any fact checking ).

I'm not pushing for Garrett....for a number of reasons, but a hire like that would have short term benefits in areas that Duke FB is sorely lacking in....buzz....attention...credibility...etc. That alone would be a benefit.

[jimsumner]

I'm not pushing for Garrett...for a number of reasons, but a hire like that would have short term benefits in areas that Duke FB is sorely lacking in...buzz...attention...credibility...etc. That alone would be a benefit.

It certainly would dominate the news cycle. For a while, at least.

But would it win football games?

I suspect Duke is more focused on the latter than the former.

[ElliottHoo]

Honest question - has there EVER been an NFL coach who went onto a college job? I can't think of any. There are some who were in college, went to NFL and kinda flamed out, and back to college, but the sample size of "NFL only coaching" to college is incredibly small (or zero), no? So, no data to suggest any sort of pattern. I have no idea if Garrett would be a "good" college coach, but he's certainly REPUTABLE/CREDIBLE and would be a "splash" hire. The NFL is certainly a "higher level" than the NCAA, and someone that comes from that league (and has shown success) certainly is someone who brings some cachet. I would imagine people aren't incentivized to make this sort of move as pay scales are totally different so someone with even moderate success could do "better" in the NFL (pay-wise) although clearly coaching salaries in the NCAA have escalated quickly here recently.

Harbaugh went from the 49ers to Michigan.

UVA Football's and Elliott's respective wikipedia pages have been wild today. At one point, Elliott's page said he was UVA's HC coach in 2021 but then was Duke's HC in 2022.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

It certainly would dominate the news cycle. For a while, at least.

But would it win football games?

I suspect Duke is more focused on the latter than the former.

I agree...but of course, the only reason to consider buzz, attention, cred...is to further the mission of wining football games - to the extent any of that can or does. All of those things are helpful to recruiting, etc. And again, I'm not a Garrett backer here, just saying there would at least be some upside to the hire...(which I do not think is going to happen anyway).

[Bluedog]

Thanks all who replied to me. I guess there are more NFL to NCAA coaches than I had thought. I don't follow it as closely as many of you. Seems like a mixed bag certainly. We shall see what happens!

[laxdawg97]

Unless we were paying our coordinators grad assistant salaries we were not getting our money's worth from the staff Cut assembled even if it is also true that Duke wasn't willing to increase the assistant pay to more competitive levels (which I suspect is​ probably true). The approach to filling the staff was the problem and I'm not sure more money would have solved it.

The reason I question whether the financial constraint came first was that Cutcliffe initially showed a great eye based on hires like Kurt Roper, Knowles, and Mike McIntyre - all of whom moved up to bigger jobs.

If you told me that Cutcliffe's priority shifted circe 2016 to developing his own guys vs. integrating outsiders (and thus disappointing internal candidates), I wouldn't doubt that. Bill Snyder, aside whom I place Cut on the Mt Rushmore of college football turnaround geniuses, lost his edge at the end partially for this reason.

I just wonder to what extent (or for how long) we've been operating under a detente between Cutcliffe and White, wherein Cutcliffe agreed not to clamor for a market-competitive staff budget as long as he was allowed to do as he pleased with 'his guys.' Hopefully our new coach/agent hold King's feet to the fire for a term sheet that includes annual market-based budget adjustment and keeps this from happening again.

[budwom]

^ yes, there are a lot of assumptions in the Cut Didn't Get What He Wanted narrative. Assumes facts not in evidence as the lawyers say...I really don't know what to believe about this.

[johnb]

Perhaps some of us are turned off by Garrett after watching what he failed to do for Daniel Jones in New York. That was a crap offense.

No argument about the Giant offense. Frustrating to watch, though they do have a lack of talent at WR and a lot of injuries/

Here's an interesting chart that describes the Giant pass protection as tied for the worst in the league, while run blocking is about 7th worst. The OL is under the purview of the OC, but I'd assume his focus was more on calling plays, skill positions, etc. There's a lot of parity in the NFL, and it's tough to call effective passes when DJ gets hit too quickly, and it's hard to call effective runs if they tend to go for little gain. I'd like hear what Daniel Jones says about him.

Attachment 13839

In regards to Garrett in Dallas, his GM/owner has viewed himself as a drafting genius ever since Jimmy Johnson created the awesome* Herschel Walker trade (*awesome for Cowboy fans), and he apparently sits in on all sorts of team mtgs; Dallas is a tough place to coach.

I say that not to imply I know if Garrett would be great at Duke, I'm just not sure how easy it is to disregard him if he's interested. Reading that the HC list now includes George Edwards (current Dallas Cowboy analyst and former Duke player) makes me think that JG has passed, but who knows.

[HoKogan]

Harbaugh went from the 49ers to Michigan.

UVA Football's and Elliott's respective wikipedia pages have been wild today. At one point, Elliott's page said he was UVA's HC coach in 2021 but then was Duke's HC in 2022.

I guess his time in Stanford counts for nothing

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Harbaugh went from the 49ers to Michigan.

UVA Football's and Elliott's respective wikipedia pages have been wild today. At one point, Elliott's page said he was UVA's HC coach in 2021 but then was Duke's HC in 2022.

Before Harbaugh was with the 49ers, he was a college head coach at San Diego and Stanford. He got the San Diego head coach job with 2 years as QB coach for the Raiders as his only coaching experience.

[Acymetric]

No argument about the Giant offense. Frustrating to watch.

Here's an interesting chart that describes the Giant pass protection as tied for the worst in the league, while run blocking is about 7th worst. The OL is under the purview of the OC, but I'd assume his focus was more on calling plays, skill positions, etc. There's a lot of parity in the NFL, and it's tough to call effective passes when DJ gets hit too quickly, and it's hard to call effective runs if they tend to go for little gain. I'd like hear what Daniel Jones says about him.

Attachment 13839

In regards to Garrett in Dallas, his GM/owner has viewed himself as a drafting genius ever since Jimmy Johnson created the awesome* Herschel Walker trade (*awesome for Cowboy fans), and he apparently sits in on all sorts of team mtgs; Dallas is a tough place to coach.

I say that not to imply I know if Garrett would be great at Duke, I'm just not sure how easy it is to disregard him if he's interested. Reading that the HC list now includes George Edwards (current Dallas Cowboy analyst and former Duke player) makes me think that JG has passed, but who knows.

The Giants don't have a real head coach or a real GM, and probably one of the worst rosters (definitely after factoring in injuries) in the NFL. A bunch of #2/3 (or worse) receivers (no #1) and pretty much all of them have been injured as well. Hard to read too much into anyone's performance there IMO.

Edit: Oh, George Edwards was floated days ago, his name surfaced before Garrett's (at least as a serious candidate, both names had been kicked around by fans prior).

[budwom]

The Giants don't have a real head coach or a real GM, and probably one of the worst rosters (definitely after factoring in injuries) in the NFL. A bunch of #2/3 (or worse) receivers (no #1) and pretty much all of them have been injured as well. Hard to read too much into anyone's performance there IMO.

Edit: Oh, George Edwards was floated days ago, his name surfaced before Garrett's (at least as a serious candidate, both names had been kicked around by fans prior).

Yes, no way we can blame the Giants horrific performance on Garrett..the GM is a dolt who is surely on his way out. Wasted draft picks, horrendous OL...

[AustinDevil]

So Elliott is flying to Hoo-ville, with his family, meaning he definitely will be announced there.

I'm sorry, Duke is flailing and embarrassingly so. It's been a far more volatile coaching carousel than normal--faaar more so--but that's why, when you know your coach is going to be fired by mutual agreement so early, you get a confirmed plan and make it stick.

She Who Is Called Many Names (and other than this search, I've been really impressed!) hopefully will pull a surprise rabbit out of the hat that ends up succeeding over a few years...

[chrishoke]

So Elliott is flying to Hoo-ville, with his family, meaning he definitely will be announced there.

I'm sorry, Duke is flailing and embarrassingly so. It's been a far more volatile coaching carousel than normal--faaar more so--but that's why, when you know your coach is going to be fired by mutual agreement so early, you get a confirmed plan and make it stick.

She Who Is Called Many Names (and other than this search, I've been really impressed!) hopefully will pull a surprise rabbit out of the hat that ends up succeeding over a few years...

I'm not embarrassed.

[Bob Green]

I'm not embarrassed.

Neither am I. Lots of viable candidates remain out there so I remain optimistic we land a good one.

[arnie]

So Elliott is flying to Hoo-ville, with his family, meaning he definitely will be announced there.

I'm sorry, Duke is flailing and embarrassingly so. It's been a far more volatile coaching carousel than normal--faaar more so--but that's why, when you know your coach is going to be fired by mutual agreement so early, you get a confirmed plan and make it stick.

She Who Is Called Many Names (and other than this search, I've been really impressed!) hopefully will pull a surprise rabbit out of the hat that ends up succeeding over a few years...

Not sure I agree we’ve been flailing, but certainly the process seems to be on a slow train. Many have posted they’re ok if the 2022 recruiting class is gone if we hire the “right” coach. I’m just not sure how we will know this.


Will be very disappointed if new coach not hired by this weekend. The 15th is right around the corner.

[CameronBornAndBred]

So Elliott is flying to Hoo-ville, with his family, meaning he definitely will be announced there.

I'm sorry, Duke is flailing and embarrassingly so. It's been a far more volatile coaching carousel than normal--faaar more so--but that's why, when you know your coach is going to be fired by mutual agreement so early, you get a confirmed plan and make it stick.

She Who Is Called Many Names (and other than this search, I've been really impressed!) hopefully will pull a surprise rabbit out of the hat that ends up succeeding over a few years...

Duke interviewed Elliott Sunday. He didn't make the trip to Durham, we sent reps down there. With the lack of further news either Monday or Tuesday, I think the writing on the wall was pretty much that he wouldn't be coming here, regardless of the news about Poindexter. My guess is that Nina went to Vegas with that knowledge, and not in a flailing manner.

Of course I would have liked us to have a hire by now (and have posted as much that it has me more worrisome than prior to the weekend), I think it's far too early to pull out a term such as "embarrassingly".

[laxdawg97]

I agree...but of course, the only reason to consider buzz, attention, cred...is to further the mission of wining football games - to the extent any of that can or does. All of those things are helpful to recruiting, etc. And again, I'm not a Garrett backer here, just saying there would at least be some upside to the hire...(which I do not think is going to happen anyway).

Big decisions at Duke tend to follow recent precedents. To me, Garrett feels a lot like Kara Lawson.

She'd been a coach for <2 years, but her brand as a player and broadcaster generated buzz and convinced leadership it'd open doors with coaches and recruits.

Garrett hasn't coached in college, but he led the most watched team in sports for a decade, which sits in the richest state for cfb talent. His coaching rolodex is massive, and his bff/QB and fellow Duke hoops fan is the leading NFL analyst.

Should Duke be chasing eyeballs for a critical cash generator like football? Two years ago, probably not. Today? I'm not so sure, but a Garrett hire would not be not crazy, or without precedent.

[tux]

Something I haven't seen mentioned that I'm curious about is the relationship between the current Duke administration (and I'm mainly thinking about President Price) and Duke athletics. I didn't see any mention of Price in Cut's statement when he left, which struck me given that Price has been at Duke since 2017.

I want to thank Dick Brodhead for the opportunity to come here. I'm very thankful for Kevin White and Nina and their leadership. I can't say enough about all the faithful alumni and friends that gave us an opportunity to build and win here.

Because this stuff starts to matter when trying to hire a new coach. Just curious how "supportive" the current leadership is or is perceived to be. It's not like potential hires don't have ways to get information about how much support they're going to get. I'm fine that Elliott is picking UVA, but I actually don't think UVA should be seen as a better job than Duke. That said, I'm still optimistic that the AD can find the right fit.