The History of the David Cutcliffe Era – Part V, The Legacy

In part four of what was supposed to be a four part series on the David Cutcliffe era, I hinted that an additional part of the series would be forthcoming. As promised, I’ve added a fifth part that more fully discusses what Cutcliffe meant to Duke and how we, as Blue Devil fans, should remember his time in Durham. To discuss that legacy, I am going to riff on the Five Things I utilized for game recaps this past season.

So, with that in mind, let’s get to it!

1. Bowl games. From 2012 until 2018, Coach Cutcliffe’s teams went to six bowl games and won three of them. Had it not been for the injuries in 2016, I think we see seven straight. Prior to his tenure, Duke had been to eight bowl games and won three of them – that’s the entire history of the program before Cutcliffe. Let that sink in for a minute. When the Blue Devils won the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, it was the first time since 1960 that any Duke team won a bowl game. That’s a big deal. And I know some people may say that it’s easier to get to bowls now, so who cares about the Blue Devils going to six of them during seven seasons? Well, if it’s easier to get to bowl games and a team isn’t doing it regularly, it becomes a big deal once a coach shows a program it can be done and does it.
2. Players in the NFL. I’m going to leave some guys out, and that isn’t intentional, but Sean Renfree, Ross Cockrell, Jamison Crowder, Laken Tomlinson, Daniel Jones, Chris Rumph, Victor Dimukeje, Noah Gray and Michael Carter were all drafted during Cutcliffe’s tenure. That doesn’t take into account the UDFAs that made it to the league and turned into significant contributors. Guys like Thad Lewis, Vincent Rey, Lucas Patrick, Matt Skura, Breon Borders and Thomas Hennessy. Ross Cockrell won a championship. Last Sunday, Duke had two guys playing to go the Super Bowl – Laken Tomlinson and Noah Gray. That’s a big deal. Especially for the Blue Devils.
3. A division championship. Let’s just kick up our feet and remember how darned sweet that magical 2013 season was. Do we need to say anything else about how great it was that Duke played for the ACC Championship? Nope, I didn’t think so.
4. Coaches. A lot of guys who played under Cutcliffe are now in the coaching ranks. Carlos Wray is running the DL at Crest High School. Takoby Cofield is a GA at ECU. Max McCaffrey is breaking clipboards and serving as the offensive coordinator at the University of Northern Colorado. Thad Lewis made up part of the coaching staff that saw the Bucs win a Super Bowl in 2021. Re’quan Boyette is the WR coach at ECU. Now, this isn’t a complete list and only includes former players under Cutcliffe as opposed to former coaches like Scottie Montgomery and Jim Knowles. There are a lot of former Blue Devils who will become major coaches in time. Just keep an eye out for that. When that occurs, Cutcliffe’s legacy will grow. It’s just a shame that we didn’t see a lot of these guys, and guys like Anthony Boone who tutors QBs, on staff after they graduated. That was a misstep by Cutcliffe that eventually came back to haunt him.
5. Relevance. From 2012 until The Jump Pass, Duke was a relevant football program. For almost eight seasons, the Blue Devils were important nationally. They went to bowl games, won a Coastal, played in a conference championship game and put several players into the NFL. This program was relevant for an extended period of time in a way that it hadn’t been for too damn long. We can’t overlook just how important that was and how that has to be factored into the ultimate historical analysis of Cutcliffe. While the terrible conference record and sub-.500 win-loss record isn’t ideal, the fact that the program became relevant for an extended period of time under his watch cannot be forgotten. Given all the mess he inherited and had to unmake, it’s easier to understand why he ended with the win-loss record he did.

So, as promised, we are now done with the history of the Cutcliffe era. You can read part one here, part two here, part three here and part four here.

Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

Go Duke!