Duke Football Staff Watch 2021

[Acymetric]

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

https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/statu...38342420336645

Thamel is all over Duke Football coverage. Harland Bower (A&M defensive analyst) is coming over to Duke to coach defensive ends. Also worked with Elko at ND, apparently.

[CameronBornAndBred]

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

Interesting. He held the same position at ECU for a long tenure of one year. That being said, he's got experience putting together impressive classes in the SEC. This is from a write-up about his ECU hiring last year.

Prior to a one-year, off-campus position as director of football sales with Front Rush, LLC in Charlotte, Miller served as assistant director of personnel and played an integral part organizing three consensus national Top 5 recruiting classes while at LSU (2017, 2014-15) and USC (2016). During his latter stint with the Tigers, he targeted and evaluated national prospects, planned recruiting travel itineraries for coaches and was the program’s NFL liaison. While with the Trojans, which included a thrilling 52-49 Rose Bowl win over Penn State, Miller coordinated and presented prospect film evaluations to offensive staff members, had oversight of student employees and assisted the special teams coordinator on game day.

https://www.dailyadvance.com/sports/...afee8465b.html

Of course recruiting at Duke is vastly different than at an SEC school and ECU, but he's very aware of that, I'm sure.
It sounds like his job is being the guy that organizes the trips for the recruits and the coaches, as well as helping find the guys that Duke will be looking at.

[Acymetric]

Is it the same position? Miller is coming to Duke as "Recruiting General Manager", it isn't clear to me that we won't also still have a Director of Player Personnel (Miller's position at ECU).

[CameronBornAndBred]

Is it the same position? Miller is coming to Duke as "Recruiting General Manager", it isn't clear to me that we won't also still have a Director of Player Personnel (Miller's position at ECU).

I dunno, he had both jobs at ECU. If one guy can do both effectively (which I'd say he did), I'm not sure Duke would pay out a whole salary to a second person. They might, but it wouldn't seem prudent.

[Acymetric]

I dunno, he had both jobs at ECU. If one guy can do both effectively (which I'd say he did), I'm not sure Duke would pay out a whole salary to a second person. They might, but it wouldn't seem prudent.

I'm not sure. Director of Player Personnel has a lot of responsibilities for current players and the program at large totally unrelated to recruiting, and it does not seem to me that the "Recruiting GM" would have those same responsibilities. I'm interpreting it that we're breaking recruiting out from Player Personnel and into it's own department, with him at the helm, leaving the Player Personnel folks to focus entirely on the current roster (I could see managing the transfer portal falling under either group). It is possible that he would be under the Director of Player Personnel and just in charge of recruiting, but the GM in the title makes me think he's at the top of his part of the org chart.

Duke has been pretty open that they're opening the pocketbooks for staff, I would take it as a given that the number of support/administrative staff types will increase so splitting that role into two separate roles makes some sense in that light.

[sagegrouse]

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

More of an administrative position, it seems. Here is a tidbit from his ECU bio --

While an undergraduate at Bowling Green, Miller initially joined the football program as a student manager under then-head coach Dave Clawson in 2012 and was part of a Mid-American Conference championship a year later.

Mike Elko was at Bowling Green from 2009-2013.

[budwom]

Is it the same position? Miller is coming to Duke as "Recruiting General Manager", it isn't clear to me that we won't also still have a Director of Player Personnel (Miller's position at ECU).

I'm going to bet that he has a map of the entire U.S., and not just the Southeast like the previous guys did...

[CameronBornAndBred]

We have a DC!

Duke head football coach Mike Elko announced Wednesday that Robb Smith will join the Blue Devil gridiron program and serve as the defensive coordinator. Smith will also coach Duke's linebackers.

Smith and Elko served on the defensive staff together for the 2019 season at Texas A&M University, where Smith was a defensive analyst for the Aggies during their 8-5 season, including a victory over No. 25 Oklahoma State in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl.

https://goduke.com/news/2021/12/29/f...4dB5Dh6fpMIXWI

[OldPhiKap]

Not sure if this should be a different thread, but — Ben Albert is off to UMass.

https://twitter.com/umassfootball/st...615451660?s=21

Thanks for all you did, Coach, and best of luck going forward!

[OldPhiKap]

And a read on our new DC, Robb Smith:

https://twitter.com/nandosports/stat...819887105?s=21

(Hope to see SWiseman back on the boards someday soon!)

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm holding out hope for our OC to be coming from a more high profile program, one that is likely yet to play their bowl game. Like I said with Coach Smith, I'll hold off judgement until I see on field results, but I can't say I'm gushing with enthusiasm. I'd like to be more excited with the next hire.

I wonder though if our OC will be someone who's not had that position before. It's not out of the realm of possibility that one reason we don't have one yet is that there isn't lots of enthusiasm for the job from any current OCs. I don't know if I'd call going from Rutgers to Duke a step up, but it's certainly not a step down, and I do think lots of guys at schools still playing in their post season may see it that way.

I won't be surprised if we get someone from another P5 school that will be wearing the coordinator hat for the first time.

[Bob Green]

The staff is slowly starting to take shape. I’m looking forward to seeing hires on offense. Who is going to be the offensive coordinator?

[OldPhiKap]

I'm holding out hope for our OC to be coming from a more high profile program, one that is likely yet to play their bowl game. Like I said with Coach Smith, I'll hold off judgement until I see on field results, but I can't say I'm gushing with enthusiasm. I'd like to be more excited with the next hire.

I wonder though if our OC will be someone who's not had that position before. It's not out of the realm of possibility that one reason we don't have one yet is that there isn't lots of enthusiasm for the job from any current OCs. I don't know if I'd call going from Rutgers to Duke a step up, but it's certainly not a step down, and I do think lots of guys at schools still playing in their post season may see it that way.

I won't be surprised if we get someone from another P5 school that will be wearing the coordinator hat for the first time.

Agreed. Although I would call Rutgers’ defense a step up from ours. So maybe a lateral hire for Smith, but an improvement for us.

That’s the hope at least. Will be watching the Rutgers game with Wake a little closer than usual.

[Acymetric]

Agreed. Although I would call Rutgers’ defense a step up from ours. So maybe a lateral hire for Smith, but an improvement for us.

That’s the hope at least. Will be watching the Rutgers game with Wake a little closer than usual.

I'll dissent and say that his stints at Rutgers appear to be pretty successful, which is particularly impressive considering it is Rutgers to begin with and they're playing Big 10 teams (in this second stint, they were still Big East in his first time there). It is a lateral move prestige-wise but I bet Duke is paying better (and Duke has a much clearer path to success in the ACC than Rutgers does in the Big 10). I didn't take the time to dig in to his Arkansas and Minnesota stints but maybe I'll do that later.

I think some people are falling victim to wishful thinking when it comes to who we could have hired instead (remember that to get a DC of Elko's caliber to Duke we had to offer him the HC position, and then use that fact as a reference for where our ceiling might be for Coordinator candidates), or are ignoring that whoever they think would have been "better" would almost certainly have had question marks as well.

[Bob Green]

I didn't take the time to dig in to his Arkansas and Minnesota stints but maybe I'll do that later.

Robb Smith’s two years at Arkansas look positive to me. His defense shutout #17 LSU and #8 Mississippi in back to back games in 2014 and finished 2015 ranked 12th nationally in rushing defense. Leonard Fournette and Derrick Henry rushed for less than 100 yards against the Razorbacks.

[OldPhiKap]

I'll dissent and say that his stints at Rutgers appear to be pretty successful, which is particularly impressive considering it is Rutgers to begin with and they're playing Big 10 teams (in this second stint, they were still Big East in his first time there). It is a lateral move prestige-wise but I bet Duke is paying better (and Duke has a much clearer path to success in the ACC than Rutgers does in the Big 10). I didn't take the time to dig in to his Arkansas and Minnesota stints but maybe I'll do that later.

I think some people are falling victim to wishful thinking when it comes to who we could have hired instead (remember that to get a DC of Elko's caliber to Duke we had to offer him the HC position, and then use that fact as a reference for where our ceiling might be for Coordinator candidates), or are ignoring that whoever they think would have been "better" would almost certainly have had question marks as well.

I don’t think we disagree.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I don’t think we disagree.

It's the internet. The law says that you have to.

[OldPhiKap]

It's the internet. The law says that you have to.

You know who else thought like that about the internet?

Hitler.

[CameronBornAndBred]

You know who else thought like that about the internet?

Hitler.

I disagree.

[OldPhiKap]

I disagree.

“So let's leave it alone 'cause we can't see eye to eye
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree
Ooh ooh ooh, oh oh oh”

— Dave Mason