The History of the David Cutcliffe Era – Part I, Rebuilding and Renovation

During our interview with A.J. Wolf, I mentioned the different and discrete time periods of the Coach Cutcliffe era. Those eras break down, more or less, to the following distinct periods of time:

1. The rebuilding and renovation era (2008-2011);
2. The redemption and vindication era (2012-2015);
3. The “What if?” era (Halloween Night 2015-The Jump Pass); and
4. The end (After the Jump Pass-2021).

I want to go over those eras in the following four posts. It’s an important thing to do as we start a new era under Coach Elko. When we think about what the program can be, we should remember the heights it reached and how the end of Coach Cut’s tenure reminded us all of the era that preceded it. With that in mind, let’s dig in. And, of course, go Duke!

Rebuilding and Renovation: The Mess we Made.

On November 26, 2007, the Blue Devils cut ties with Ted Roof after 4 full seasons plus 5 games (you’ll remember that he took over as interim head coach partway through the 2003 season). While Roof inherited a mess from his predecessor, Carl Franks, going 6-45 overall and 3-33 in the ACC doesn’t make the administration want to keep you around. While Roof gets a lot of criticism for his teams’ collective performance, this was the year that Duke finally realized how far behind it had fallen and recognized that it wasn’t all on the head coach. After all, the Blue Devils weren’t exactly world beaters prior to Roof. From 1990 until Franks’ dismissal, Duke lost a total of 114 games. During that same time, the Blue Devils managed to lose 23 straight games. Let me repeat that. 23 straight games.

When they did win, it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. In that same period of time, 1990 until Franks’ dismissal, Duke only won a total of 37 games. Making up less than half of those 37 victories, the Blue Devils assembled a beyond anemic 15 conference wins. Let that sink in a minute before you beat up on Roof too much – over 13 plus seasons, Duke managed just over 1 conference win a year. The dictionary defines that as terrible, just terrible. Consistent with their inability to win in conference, Duke went winless three times in six years. I’m not sure what the dictionary would define that as, but it sure isn’t good. In fact, it’s so bad that I’m not going to look for a synonym. You can keep your thesaurus to yourself, thank you.

Finally realizing that changes needed to be made, the athletic department recommitted itself to football. We all heard about the summit that resulted in Cutcliffe’s hiring and while we may not know who pushed former athletic director Joe Alleva to hire Coach Cut (my money is on Cut not being Alleva’s guy given Alleva’s track record), we know that Duke landed a big one. Cutcliffe was a hot name in 2007. He had coached Mannings at Tennessee and Ole Miss, took Ole Miss to a Cotton Bowl and, after coming back to Tennessee, turned the Vols around offensively. Beyond landing a big name as head coach, the school made a monetary commitment to improving the program such that it could be competitive. Big name? Check. Big money, or at least more money? Check. Things looked promising.

It wasn’t a perfect start, but there was noticeable improvement. In 2008, the Blue Devils went 4-8 (1-7). The four wins were the most since 2003. The 1 conference win? The first since 2004. Sure, it was a little bit of aim low and overachieve, but it was a start. 2009 almost brought a bowl to our boys in Durham. The team finished 5-7 (3-5) that year. Those were the most wins since 1994. And when I say that team almost went to a bowl, I mean it. A mere 17 points spread over two games would have flipped Duke’s record to 7-5. Duke lost by eight to Richmond to start the season and by the same amount to 6th-ranked Virginia Tech. If the ball bounces a little differently in those games, the Blue Devils go bowling. But teaching teams to win takes time and, unfortunately for Cut, he graduated a lot of key players that season. Players like Thad Lewis, Leon Wright, Vince Oghobasse, Re’quan Boyette and Vincent Rey. You know, good players. Developmental programs like Duke can’t reload the way that other teams can. And when a program like ours turns over a lot of experienced leadership, the renovations continue. In fact, it may well be argued that the next two seasons were more of a total reconstruction and rebuild than a renovation. Semantics aside, the fact that the program was in the midst of an overhaul was reflected in the win-loss record for the 2010-2011 seasons.

Those seasons were brutal – there’s no way around it. While 2010 looked promising at the start, it quickly soured. The Blue Devils beat Elon and lost by just 6 points to Wake Forest. 1-1, not a bad start, right? Well, in week 3, Alabama came to Wallace Wade and, yeah. It went about as you’d expect. Duke followed up a 62-13 loss to the Crimson Tide with losses to Army, Maryland, Miami and Virginia Tech and dropped to 1-6. The only decent game during that stretch was 21-16 loss to Maryland. Hope returned momentarily when the Blue Devils beat Navy and Virginia, but the good times didn’t continue as Duke lost three straight to Boston College, Georgia Tech and Carolina. The end result was 3-9 (1-7).

2011 wasn’t that different from 2010. The Blue Devils finished with the same record, 3-9 (1-7), and a lot of questions. Duke was now 4 years into a commitment to football and had a total of 15 wins and no bowl games to show for it. While the first two years had been promising, the next two were more of the “Same old Duke football” we’d come to expect. Heading into 2012, one columnist for the Chronicle raised doubts about what the Blue Devils could accomplish. While other university columnists were more optimistic, it isn’t like we really expected much. Let’s be honest – Duke hadn’t had a winning season since 1994. 5 wins was the high water mark of the Cutcliffe era. Why should we expect something different. Again, it looked like “Same old Duke football” heading into 2012.

But appearances can be deceiving and the difference between 3-9 and a winning season is often little more than a few plays and a handful of points. 2010 is a perfect example. the Blue Devils lost four games by six points or less. Had the offense managed an additional touchdown and PAT in each of their games against Wake Forest, Maryland, Boston College and Carolina, Duke finishes with a 7-5 record and goes bowling. And 2011 wasn’t that different. A field goal against Richmond and the Blue Devils win by a point. A field goal against Wake turns a one point loss into a two point win. A touchdown, without the extra point, against Virginia Tech and Duke ekes out another two point win instead of losing by four. That’s three more wins, a 6-6 season and another bowl. Again, the difference between 3-9 and a bowl game is often miniscule – those two seasons proved it. And while you are what your record says you are, 3-9 and a lot of close losses means a lot more hope for a team like the Blue Devils than it does at most places. 2012 would prove it.