Duke Considering Tennessee's Cutcliffe

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Duke Considering Tennessee's Cutcliffe

By Dane Huffman

Dec 13, 2007

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David Cutcliffe, the offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee and a former head football coach at Mississippi, is a candidate for the Duke head coaching position, two sources confirmed Wednesday.

One source close to the search said Cutcliffe was in Durham on Wednesday to interview for the position.

Cutcliffe could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but he has said in the past that he would be willing to discuss the head job with Duke.

He got a ringing endorsement from Bruce Warwick, the University of Tennessee assistant athletics director for football operations. Warwick was at Duke a year ago under Ted Roof and worked as director of player personnel.

Warwick insisted Cutcliffe would be an excellent fit for Duke.

“He’s got experience. He’s got a plan. He could go in and shake things up,” Warwick said. “He’s a phenomenal motivator – one of the best I’ve been around.”

Warwick said he did not know if Cutcliffe had interviewed at Duke.

Cutcliffe was in the office earlier this week and was not in the office Wednesday.

Cutcliffe was 44-29 with the Rebels from 1999-2004 and coached Ole Miss to four bowl victories against one loss. He was the only Rebels coach in history to win at least seven games in each of his first five seasons.

Warwick said Cutcliffe knows how to motivate players.

“Duke needs a strong personality and a strong leader,” Warwick said. “He’s as good as they come. He’s recruited North Carolina. He recruited [Asheville linebacker] Leonard Little [to Tennessee].”

Warwick said Cutcliffe wants to be a head coach again, but will be selective as he considers jobs.

“He wants to be a head coach again, but he’s not going to take one to take one, either,” Warwick said.

Duke also has interviewed former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell and current Grambling State coach Rod Broadway.

Duke spokesman Jon Jackson refused to comment on the search.

Reporter Dave Nathan of 99.9 FM, The Fan, contributed to this report

Most Recent Comments

why not try to support Duke finding a good coach instead of wishing a good coach not to come?..are you that afraid?

If cutliffe is a smart man he would stay away from duke. His chance of winning is lower at duke than probably at any other bcs conf school. why risk it.....

"There were a constant amount of beautiful "Carolina Girls" going in and out of their rooms. One girl actually got pregnant!"

Nice!

Who cares, Duke football is a joke! But look at the individual players..many of them are actually intelligent and can have great careers after college without the NFL. Go figure? I am a carolina grad and as a freshman, lived in E-house along with 3 suite-mates who were football players. One was so dumb, he didn't know how to drive back home! They got constant tutoring for classes with old exams available (Do they still have Drama 16?). There were a constant amount of beautiful "Carolina Girls" going in and out of their rooms. One girl actually got pregnant! One football player dropped out, the other graduated and is now a HS football coach and the other (the nice guy) tfered to central.

never put much thought into another ID

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