Duke Football Staff Watch 2021

[Acymetric]

Rutgers didn't renew his contract. Was that before or after Duke made an offer?

This one isn't paywalled, so I think I'm safe to share/quote:

https://247sports.com/college/duke/A...ith-178836208/

Sources confirmed to TheDevilsDen.com that Smith was hired early Monday morning by Elko and then informed the Rutgers administration of his pending departure.

Sounds like saying Rutgers didn't renew his contract is about as true as saying Duke didn't renew K's or A&M didn't renew Elko's.

[cato]

And with Robinson not coming, I hope we keep Ben Albert for D-Line.

I thought Albert was out. Could he still be retained?

[Acymetric]

I thought Albert was out. Could he still be retained?

Yeah, it was announced that only Trooper would be retained I believe. Don't expect that will change.

[OldPhiKap]

Thanks cato and Acy, I had not seen that reported.

[TheDevilMadeMeDoIt]

This one isn't paywalled, so I think I'm safe to share/quote:

https://247sports.com/college/duke/A...ith-178836208/



Sounds like saying Rutgers didn't renew his contract is about as true as saying Duke didn't renew K's or A&M didn't renew Elko's.

So we have three coaches now who have been DC’s at P5 schools whereas we previously had 0 with DC experience. Sounds like a big upgrade.

[uh_no]

I didn't (still don't) know much about Smith either. Neither of these defensive hires has me jumping out of my seat with excitement, but you've probably got 2 full seasons before I start to question the way Elko chooses to assemble the staff on the defensive side. I'm confident that I don't know that much about who is good at coaching defenses, and that Elko knows how he wants things run on that side of the ball.

Happy to have Coach Smith and Coach Hemphill on board, and really​ looking forward to starting to see some offensive names start to roll in (but of course I'm fine with patiently waiting until after bowl season).

At least they probably aren't downgrades at their respective coaching positions.

[sagegrouse]

So we have three coaches now who have been DC’s at P5 schools whereas we previously had 0 with DC experience. Sounds like a big upgrade.

I certainly hope the tackling will improve.

[budwom]

If figure that if we respect Elko's abilities and he's happy with the pool of money he's been given for assistants, I have to feel pretty good about whom he hires.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

So the OC for UVA left, I wonder would be interested in him. They ran an exciting offense even if the defense couldn't stop anyone.

I'd go for that...and as long as we're taking coordinators from Clawson...I'd go for their guy too...nothing would announce to the world that Duke intends to surpass WF in football like taking their two coordinators...

[Bob Green]

GoDuke.com still lists Trooper Taylor as cornerbacks coach:

https://goduke.com/sports/football/coaches

I certainly hope that changes.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

So we have three coaches now who have been DC’s at P5 schools whereas we previously had 0 with DC experience. Sounds like a big upgrade.

I am fully supportive of Coach Elko and will trust his judgement until proven otherwise. I think he was a very good hire and I am looking forward to seeing him coach. I have faith that he will surround himself with good people.

I also don't know anything about these hires so will not pass judgement on them. The fact that they rose to coordinator positions seems promising.

That being said, some other school could now hire Zac Roper and say they have a former P5 OC. Not sure how I would feel about that...

[Acymetric]

I am fully supportive of Coach Elko and will trust his judgement until proven otherwise. I think he was a very good hire and I am looking forward to seeing him coach. I have faith that he will surround himself with good people.

I also don't know anything about these hires so will not pass judgement on them. The fact that they rose to coordinator positions seems promising.

That being said, some other school could now hire Zac Roper and say they have a former P5 OC. Not sure how I would feel about that...

If they hired him as ST coach they'd probably be getting a good deal (not quite the same as position coach to DC back to position coach, but a similar idea). It wasn't just the offense that got worse when Roper moved to OC, special teams suffered as well (in other words, he did appear to be a good ST coach even though he was awful at OC).

And in a similar vein, State appears happy with Kurt as an RB coach.

Edit: More clarity

[JetpackJesus]

I also don't know anything about these hires so will not pass judgement on them.

Sir, this is the Internet. This take is entirely too reasonable.

[nocilla]

He had good results before going to Rutgers so maybe that just wasn’t a good fit for him. Let’s just hope he fits in at Duke.

“Smith and Elko previously worked together at Texas A&M, where Robb spent the 2019 season as an analyst.

Before joining Jimbo Fisher's staff in College Station, Smith served as the defensive coordinator at Minnesota for two seasons, where the Gophers allowed a season low of points dating back over a decade.”
- Doug Samuels

[AtlBluRew]

Maybe Elko was looking for someone with specific experience to match Duke’s defensive strategy:



;-)

“The Scarlet Knights finished 11th in the Big Ten in total defense this season.”

Yeah, I was a little alarmed at reading his defense was 11th in the Ten!

[OldPhiKap]

“The Scarlet Knights finished 11th in the Big Ten in total defense this season.”

Yeah, I was a little alarmed at reading his defense was 11th in the Ten!

“But our defense goes to eleven!”

I’m comfortable that Elko knows what he’s doing. They’ve worked together before.

[johnb]

“The Scarlet Knights finished 11th in the Big Ten in total defense this season.”

Yeah, I was a little alarmed at reading his defense was 11th in the Ten!

They were 11th in total offense as well, so at least they were balanced…

[RocBball11]

With A&M not playing in gator bowl if any coaches were coming with Coach Elko we should see that soon. Coach Elko only retweeted 3 people when he took the job. One was Robinson who clearly is not coming.

The other two was Cromartie who could coach corners and a grad assistant

[Acymetric]

With A&M not playing in gator bowl if any coaches were coming with Coach Elko we should see that soon. Coach Elko only retweeted 3 people when he took the job. One was Robinson who clearly is not coming.

The other two was Cromartie who could coach corners and a grad assistant

I just assumed he started going through replying to everyone and then realized there was no way he was going to get through all those tweets and gave up.

[OldPhiKap]

Sources: East Carolina director of player personnel Derek Miller is leaving for Duke, where he will be recruiting general manager. ECU plans to conduct a national search for a replacement.

https://twitter.com/petethamel/statu...738286595?s=21