Who Should Replace Cutcliffe?

[Inveigle]

In the unlikelihood that Cutcliffe is fired who then should replace him? Lot's of talented folks are out there. This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak.

 

[Inveigle]

I'm sticking with present Coastal Carolina Head Coach Jamey Chadwell as the one who would be the best fit at Duke IMHO.

 

[dukebluedevils05]

White would never do it, but I'd take Malzahn in a heartbeat.

 

[Inveigle]

White would never do it, but I'd take Malzahn in a heartbeat.

Me too, but it will never happen. His buyout is $21Million which is what Auburn is paying him. I believe they have 30 days to pay him half or some such ridiculous amount. Other similarly paid SEC type coaches:

Nick Saban- $8.6 Million per year.
Dan Mullen- $36.6 Million for six years.
Lane Kiffin- $3.9 Million per year.
Will Muschamp was making $4.2 Million at South Carolina before he was just fired.

Most of the SEC/ACC guys have early buyouts in case they were to get canned.

Part of the Duke safety net is if you break .500 you can never be fired.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

Genuine big picture question for those of you who follow the football program a lot closer: Why doesn't Duke spend more? Feels like $10M/yr for a football coach and another $10M/yr for the rest of the coaching staff would be a drop in the bucket for a university with Duke's endowment, especially when accounting for the potential increases in revenues that come with being a Northwestern or Stanford-level program.

 

[dukeberto]

Because Duke is cheap when it comes to sports, Men's basketball obviously being excluded. Duke refused to pay McCallie's buy-out even though it was clear she needed to get fired. They waited until she was at a point where the relationship had soured enough that she would not demand her full buy-out. The situation will likely be the same with Cutcliffe. He's still got two more years on his contract and I believe his buy-out is fairly substantial.

Also, most of the football program expenditures are paid for by donations. We all remember the only reason we got the Yoh Building 15(?) years ago was because Spike Yoh personally funded it. Similarly, whenever we bust out a "special" uniform, the Iron Dukes fundraisers have to start calling donors to figure out where they can get the $20,000 gift to pay for it. If I remember correctly, the school refused to start ANY of the new construction until a substantial amount of pledges were received to pay for it.

 

[Inveigle]

Genuine big picture question for those of you who follow the football program a lot closer: Why doesn't Duke spend more? Feels like $10M/yr for a football coach and another $10M/yr for the rest of the coaching staff would be a drop in the bucket for a university with Duke's endowment, especially when accounting for the potential increases in revenues that come with being a Northwestern or Stanford-level program.

Nick Saban is the highest paid college football coach and he only makes $8.6 Million a year now. But White will never pay for a football coach that makes more than Coach K. He's at $8.98 Million, which according to Stadium is about One million more than Calipari to make him the highest paid college basketball coach.

Usually for college football coaches there's a benefit to reaching a bowl, consecutive bowls, and winning those bowl games. In college basketball the incentive is the NCAA Tournament, Final Four, and of course a title.

 

[dukeberto]

IMO, one of the problems with hiring a head coach at Duke is that not a lot of coaches are going to take a risk to come to a school where it has been historically (in the last 25 years) difficult to win. You have to catch lightning in a bottle with an up-and-coming FBS or non-P5 coach, like Chadwell, with the understanding that, if successful, you are going to be looking for a new coach in 2-3 years. Or, you look for another guy like Cut that is willing to make an initial long-term commitment, but will have his own limitations.

Guys like Dave Clawson are few and far between, most are going to look at Duke to be a stepping stone to a larger program if Duke doesn't ruin their spirit and coaching philosophy. But is Duke willing to go with the proven up-and-coming coach? History indicates that they won't because it appears they value stability, even tolerating the past four years, over winning and having to get a new HC three or four years into his tenure.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very appreciative of what Cut was able to do in his time here. He pushed for the stadium renovation, improved our facilities, got us some national press, and caught lightning in a bottle for a few seasons getting us into the top 25 for the first time in forever. However, the past few seasons have been embarrassing and we now run the risk of undoing everything that has been done since he arrived. I think Kevin White has a tough road ahead of him as he'll need to scour lower divisions to find a young guy like Chadwell and give him the reigns for a couple of years. Unfortunately, I think that, if they do move on from Cut, they will go with another older coach that may get us 6 wins a year for a couple of years and then fade away until there's another push to fire him.

 

[Inveigle]

Nina King needs to make a move NOW! Gary Patterson and TCU have parted ways after 22 seasons. Under Patterson the Horned Frogs had 11 seasons with 10+ wins. There will be more coaches becoming available. Why will she and many Duke fans be satisfied with what has become again the worst ACC program in football? It's time for a change!

 

[aiw]

 

[Inveigle]

Serious question. Why has Nina King not already wrapped up Gary Patterson as the new head coach of Duke Football?

I think at TCU they were paying him $6 Million a year. That's Top 10 in the country kind of money. At age 61 he has compiled a record of 181-79. At TCU he won six conference championships in three leagues and had six AP top-10 finishes over 21 seasons. He coached 18 first-team All-Americans and had 55 players selected in the NFL Draft.

What are you waiting for Nina? I love Cut and what he did to move Duke Football, but now is the time to move on. A blind man could see it. He needs to be looking for a house in Durham right now.

 

[aiw]

 

[aiw]

 

[Devilsforlife]

Had to be done. Thank fuck. I appreciate everything he did up to the jump pass against UNC, tenure was a miserable slog from then on.

 

[Inveigle]

The program had been in regression for far too long. When there's more Wallace Wade employees and workers than Duke fans in the stadium at kickoff its beyond time. Now go and spend some money, hire a fucking coach who can draw fans to games, recruit, and WIN games Nina! If not now when?

 

[Inveigle]

Top candidates to replace David Cutcliffe at Duke | The North State Journal

David Cutcliffe has shown that it is, in fact, possible to win at Duke, which means that the job he is leaving is much more desirable than the one he inherited. As Duke begins its national search to replace the man who rebuilt the program, it does so in the shadow of Wake Forest — another small p

nsjonline.com

Rumors and leads

 

[Inveigle]

Had some names emerge over the last couple of days for Cut's replacement.

On Wednesday, ESPN published an article discussing the top coaching candidates remaining on the market, and Georgia's offensive coordinator, Todd Monken was one of the names included in the article.

More specifically, the article stated that "Two names that have emerged prominently in the Duke head coaching search are a pair of SEC coordinators -- Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko." Monken has done a commemorable job at leading Georgia's offense which makes it very understandable as to why teams would be targeting him as a potential head coach.

Elko served as Wake Forest's Defensive Coordinator under Dave Clawson for three years. Playing for an ACC Championship may start to open doors for him at the very least at Duke.

Warren Ruggiero, offensive coordinator, Wake Forest: He hasn’t appeared on many lists, but with the Demon Deacons locking down head coach Dave Clawson to a new contract extension, the man in charge of one of football’s most explosive offenses could be worth a look. He might be a tough get, but it would be a coup for King to land an ACC rival’s key assistant.

Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina: Still my favorite to get this job, Chadwell is a rising star and could be looking to make a bigger jump than Duke. Still, the success he’s had with the Chants should make him worthy of a feeler from the Blue Devils.

 

[Inveigle]

Another rumor emerges.


“Hearing Tony Elliott is a top candidate for the Virginia job, maybe #1. Duke also wants him,” according to Carl Reed via Twitter. Reed reports for CBSSports.

Bronco Mendenhall stepped down as the Cavaliers’ head coach on Friday, while David Cutcliffe and the Blue Devils agreed to mutually part ways on Nov. 28.

Despite some offensive struggles this season, Elliott has engineered strong units during his time as the program’s offensive coordinator. The 2018 and 2019 offenses were responsible for two of the 22 650-point seasons in major college football history, while also making the Tigers the first school with back-to-back 650-point seasons since Yale in 1888-89. Official NCAA recordkeeping began in 1937.

“Really good chance Brent Venables (OU) and Tony Elliott (heating up at Virginia) have P5 jobs at the end of this cycle,” 247Sports national writer Chris Hummer said on Twitter. “Will be the first real overhaul Dabo Swinney will have to deal with. Done right, it’s a massive opportunity, especially on the offensive side of the ball.”

Before moving over to coach tight ends this season, Elliott led the running backs where Travis Etienne became the ACC’s all-time leading rusher and a two-time ACC Player of the Year (2018-19), the first running back to do so since North Carolina’s Mike Voight (1975-76).

 

[childress22]

I don't really follow the football stuff, but the way the George Edwards (current Cowboys staff, previously Vikings' DC 2014-2022) news has been covered I'd bet he's being given strong consideration. Seems to have a good head coach aura/personality and has a track record of team and individual player improvement on defense.

Thoughts?

 

[Devilsforlife]

Played for Spurrier at Duke, but hasn't coached in college in a quarter century. Feels extremely risky. If we're going the NFL route, I'd much prefer Greg Roman. Jeff Monken is still my top choice overall.

Will say this search has not inspired much confidence so far.