Category: Coaching Staff

Interview – Fred Goldsmith

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First and foremost, big thanks to Troy Taylor from Totem Pole Nation for getting this set up. I can’t thank him enough for making this happen.

Former Duke football head coach Fred Goldsmith stopped by the podcast to talk about his early career in football, a stop at Rice and his time coaching the Blue Devils. We learned about a lot of great coaches that Coach Goldsmith worked with including Ken Hatfield, Chan Gailey, Mike Heimerdinger and Craig Bohl among others. During this long and informative discussion, we learn a lot about the challenges Coach Goldsmith faced after an amazing 1994 season, the number of players he got in the NFL and how he was close to getting Duke over the hump before he was let go after the 1998 season. I know you will enjoy listening to Coach Goldsmith tell some great stories about his time leading the Blue Devils.

We also talk about how, after the 1994 season, Coach Goldsmith was close to getting a lot of high-profile coaching jobs. You won’t believe where he almost ended up.

If you get a chance, you should check out his book, Comeback Coach. I bought it a few years back. It’s a quick and entertaining read.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Get to Know the Troy Trojans with Josh Boutwell

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Josh Boutwell of the Troy Messenger stopped by to talk about Duke’s next opponent, the Troy Trojans, and what to expect from Troy in the Birmingham Bowl. During our interview, we talked the coaching change for both teams, my time working for a sign company and the advantage it gave me in recognizing random cities and towns across the United States, the Trojans’ football culture, what a great stadium we’ll get to watch the game in and the terrible parking situation in Birmingham. Not to give away the ending, but the Blue Devils are going to have their hands full come December 23.

In addition, Josh discusses his cancer treatment during the interview. Please stop by this site to help out with his medical costs if you are so inclined.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Marilyn Payne

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ESPN and ACC Network reporter and noted Tar Heel Marilyn Payne stopped by the pod to talk about her history covering Duke football, my conspiracy theory that she singlehandedly brought about the end of the Elko Era in Durham, FSU getting snubbed and how The ACC can improve its overall brand. We also talked about Manny Mania coming to Blue Devil Nation. Funny thing happened after that as we spent about 20 minutes disputing two points that, once we defined our terms, we agreed on. I edited that out for time. That edit notwithstanding, you will get an update about Marilyn’s upcoming plans for bowl seasons and which future ACC team she will be covering. And, if that weren’t enough, you’ll learn about Marilyn’s favorite movie and get a some real deep nerd references from me.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Duke Hires Manny Diaz

It became official late last night – Duke hired Penn State DC Manny Diaz to be the program’s next head coach. We’ll do more in the next couple of weeks about this hire. But with bowl season, I’m a little backed up.

So, instead of doing a full post about why I like this hire and how I think it is a good one, I’ll just drop a link to a call I had with Adam Gold yesterday in which we discuss the Diaz hire before it became official. We cover what to expect from Diaz, the transfer portal and what this hire means for the Blue Devils. Hey, we just might be a football school after all!

Check it out on YouTube, too:

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Steve Wiseman Talks Coaching Search and Birmingham Bowl

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Steve Wiseman stopped by to talk about a crazy, crazy week of Duke and ACC football. We begin by talking about how FSU got the shaft courtesy of Boo Corrigan, et al., as did SMU. And, most important, I got to use one of my favorite historical quotes. It’s Truman on Nixon. I mean, what else do you need?

After that, Steve and I talk about his hectic schedule trying to cover Elko’s departure from Durham and the Blue Devils’ coaching search. There’s a lot of ground to cover and Steve will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about what happened with Elko and how Nina King is leading Duke through this transitional period. If that weren’t enough, we also go over how the Blue Devils landed in the Birmingham Bowl and not the Gasparilla Bowl. Thanks, CFP Selection Committee. And Notre Dame.

Oh, and it turns out Duke has a basketball team. Who knew? In all seriousness, we spend some time trying to diagnose why the Blue Devils have been struggling out of the gate. As always, Steve was a great and informative guest. You’ll love this episode.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Game Recaps – Duke beat Virginia Tech

Women ages 40 to 50 went crazy when they saw this handsome man on TV.

During the height of the Second Punic War, the Romans were desperate for a leader who could overcome a string of defeats and bring the North African power that was Carthage to heel. Eventually, the man who would become known to history as Scipio Africanus took control of the Roman forces, defeated Carthage and put an end to the Second Punic War. Scipio’s success in Africa was so complete that it gave rise to a myth that only a Scipio could win in Africa. The Romans, a naturally superstitious bunch, believed so strongly in this that Julius Caesar had a descendant of Scipio on his staff during the African campaign of what his Roman civil war.

Just as only a Scipio could win in Africa, perhaps only an Elko can get a win in Durham against Virginia Tech. On Saturday, the Blue Devils defeated the Hokies at home for the first time since 1981. For context, I was just one day short of being seven weeks old the last time the Bull City Boys beat VPI in Durham. Man, that really makes me realize just how old I’m getting. Going to take a break to yell at the kids skateboarding on the sidewalk, check a weather app and did I hurt my neck again? All right, I’m back.

This game started like a lot of games have for Duke this season in that the Blue Devils let a really not good Virginia Tech team hang around. The first quarter ended with the Hokies up 7-3. The first half ended with Duke up by a narrow margin of 10-3. And, compounding that close score, it sure looked like Jalon Calhoun had a catch on a deep ball that could have kept a late drive going and, at worst, likely have set up chip shot field goal attempt. Despite having three timeouts, Coach Elko didn’t call one to give the refs a chance to have the play reviewed. It may not have been overturned given that there didn’t appear to be indisputable evidence of a catch, but you were facing 3rd-and-11, so why not use one of your three timeouts to decide on how best to use both downs to convert? By this I mean try to come up with a plan to use two downs to get the conversion instead of betting it all on 3rd down. You know, try a short pass on 3rd down to get to a more manageable distance and then … What’s that you say? We’re just throwing another incomplete pass on a deep route that leads to a missed 45 yard field goal? Not what I would have done, but okay.

But, that horrible instance of game management aside, the Blue Devils came out in the second half and put together a repeat of the UVA game – they just overwhelmed Virginia Tech physically. The OL started opening up some running lanes, the backs started chewing up yards and Riley Leonard started finding Hagans, Moore and Robertson. Two second half scoring drives later, Duke celebrated a 24-7 victory over a Coastal opponent. While there were a lot of cool moments from this game, like the Hokie quarterback just falling down and giving Duke a sack, I think we can all agree that the best moment of the game was me on TV. Let’s take another look at it

Sorry, ladies, I’m married.

So, what were the big takeaways from Saturday? I’d have to say that the defense continued to hold its own. There were two sacks, two tackles-for-loss and what seemed like a lot of pressure on the opposing quarterback. While the defense struggled at times to contain Virginia Tech when it went tempo, Grant Wells only managed to throw for 177 yards, an early TD and a Three Stooges style interception that landed right in Shaka’s hands. If that weren’t enough, the Blue Devils held the Hokies to just 104 rushing yards. Not a bad day for our defense.

Offensively, we saw several receivers step up in Eli Pancol’s absence. Jontavis Robertson had 5 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Sahmir Hagans had 2 for 20, with both coming at crucial times. The same was true of Nicky Dalmolin’s touchdown and Jordan Moore’s 3 for 37 outing (which included an unreal one-handed catch). Throw in 165 rushing yards on 41 attempts and you have a Blue Devil win. It may not have been perfect, but good teams are able to overcome slow and inconsistent outings by being more methodical, more physical and more determined than the competition. That’s what we saw from Duke on Saturday and that’s why the Blue Devils got the win. It may not have been perfect, but it sure made the drive home a lot more fun.

Before I finish up, I’d like to note that this team is 7-3 with two more games to go. This season is going a heck of a lot better than most of us expected. While there may not be a signature win (other than the one that got stolen), this is turning into what can only be characterized as a truly historic season. I know that I’m not the only that wants to see this team close out the 2022 campaign with three more wins, bowl game included.

And that’s it for the game recap which means we have another old-time tune! This one is called “Walking Up Georgia Row”.

Tim and I need to play this song more.

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

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Season – Restitutor Orbis

Any top ten of Roman Emperors usually includes some combination of Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Diocletian, Constantine, Vespasian (or his son, Titus), Septimius Severus and, of course, Aurelian. Coming from very humble circumstances, Aurelian found Rome broken, fractured and falling apart. In five short years, Aurelian reunited the entirety of the empire, put it on stable footing and set the stage for Diocletian and Constantine to permanently end the Crisis of the Third Century. This, in turn, allowed Rome to continue in the East until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Aurelian’s unprecedented string of success prompted the Roman Senate to give Aurelian the title “Restitutor Orbis”, or “Restorer of the World.” As Mike Duncan said, Aurelian lived in an age of iron. And Aurelian was a man of iron.

Much like Aurelian, Coach Elko found Duke football in a state of disrepair. The team was broken, adrift, lifeless. Despite those monumental challenges, the Blue Devils are one win away from a bowl after being just eight games into a season that some of us (me included) thought would end with a losing record. Duke is 5-3* (you know why the asterisk is there) and is very close to being 8-0 after losing three games by a combined 13 points. Had the ball bounced a little differently, and the refs not stolen a touchdown against UNC (hence the earlier asterisk), this team could be leading the Coastal. While the program may not be ready to compete for conference titles, it is relevant again. The Blue Devils are competitive, hardworking and able to win and compete in each game they play. Put another way, this program is back to where it was from 2012-2018. The world is, in that respect, restored.

Not just that, but with four games left, Duke has an opportunity to go 3-1 (and, just maybe, 4-0 if Sam Hartman finally returns to the realm of the mortals) with games against Boston College, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Wake Forest. Most of us would agree that 7-5 is highly likely and that 8-4 is a possibility for the Blue Devils. Could Duke win 7 games? 8? Sure, it’s possible. 9? Um, let’s not get into that just yet. But why is it that this is possible? Why is it that a team with the same corps of players who put up 5 wins over two seasons is playing so much better this season and could win 8 games this year? Well, it all starts with Coach Elko and his staff.

To begin with, this team is in better shape than previous iterations. We’re seeing an ability to control the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, receivers who can get separation and a running game that puts up more than 200 yards per game. In addition to the improved conditioning, the ability to complete is the result of a mindset that Coach Elko and his staff instilled in the team. The GRIND mentality, similar to Aurelian’s “sword-in-hand” reputation, has taken hold of this team. The players don’t quit, they don’t get overwhelmed and they don’t get down on themselves. We saw it when the Blue Devils battled back against Georgia Tech and UNC. We saw it when Miami took two leads only to watch Duke storm back and win big after two straight close losses.

Offensively, we’ve seen Coach Johns get a lot out of this team. He’s found a way to take a young quarterback and play to his strengths. Put another way, Coach Johns is asking Riley Leonard to do a lot, but only what Leonard is capable of doing. It’s similar to what we saw when Thomas Sirk became quarterback. Now, Leonard is a better passer than Sirk, but Coach Johns is smart enough to let Leonard run and to use Jordan Moore and the tight end position in a way that opens up running lanes and deep routes (which we’ve actually seen this season). Like all good generals, Coach Johns, much like Hannibal during the Second Punic War, is doing his best to pick the battlefield and fight on his terms. It’s worked pretty well so far as this unit is putting up more than 34 points per game.

In a similar fashion, the defense is doing a great job of bending, but not breaking. While spectacular against Miami, this unit is susceptible to giving up a lot of points and a lot of yards. But not so many that the game gets away from them. They get plenty of stops at big moments. Remember when the Blue Devils got a stop on 4th and goal against Kansas on the opening drive? Or how about when the defense locked Georgia Tech down in the 4th quarter? This unit is capable of rising to the moment and, most important, never giving up. It reminds me of what we used to see during the height of the program under David Cutcliffe (2012-2015). They may give up a lot of yards, but not so much that the offense has to abandon the game plan to get back into it.

Now, with all that said, you probably think that I’m ready to crown Coach Elko the Duke equivalent of Aurelian and give him the title “Restorer of the World”. Well, not quite yet. Here’s why – first, Coach Elko is awesome. Do we all agree on that? We do? Good. But, second, just being awesome and having a good start doesn’t always end in long-term success (see Goldsmith, Fred). The real test comes over seasons two, three and thereafter. If the Blue Devils remain relevant over the next several seasons, and we see Coach Elko successfully overcome things like staff changes (unlike the prior head coach and what we saw during the Goldsmith era), then we can talk about what historical title to give to Coach Elko. And, third and final, the main reason I’m not ready to turn Coach Elko into Aurelian is that Aurelian only ruled for five years before he was inexplicably assassinated and betrayed by his staff. I think we all could agree that we don’t want to see Coach Elko leave Durham after five years and we certainly don’t him to get Herm’d if he does decide to leave.

To conclude, I’ll say that I’m very, very happy about where the program is right now. The new regime has pressed all the right buttons and returned the program to relevance. The challenge for me the rest of the season will be to sit back, enjoy the ride and not think too far ahead to next season or the following one. The challenge for the team will be to not get too confident and overlook any of its remaining opponents. But, challenges aside, I’m hoping that Coach Elko’s early success means that Duke will remain relevant over the coming seasons and that the Blue Devils will become a significant ACC player again. I’m also hoping that Coach Elko is here for a long, long time.

That’s it for the post. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Steve Wiseman

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It may not be a game preview or a game recap in the traditional sense, but we have a bonus interview with Steve Wiseman! Steve is a reporter for the Durham Herald Sun and the Raleigh News & Observer. He’s covered Duke Athletics since 2010 and recently started co-hosting a podcast on the Bleav network, Bleav in Duke, with The Landlord, Shelden Williams.

After a discussion about Steve’s background and the changing landscape of local and regional sports journalism, we recap the Blue Devils beating UVA, the upcoming game against Georgia Tech and talk about what to expect during the remainder of Duke’s schedule. We get into the current state of the Coastal, dissect what is going on at UVA and Miami and talk about Coach Elko’s rehabilitation of the Blue Devils. We discuss what it will take to keep Coach Elko in charge of Duke football going forward and what the fans need to do to show him their support. HINT – SHOW UP AT GAMES. Seriously – the Blue Devils are having a great season and the turnout last Saturday was awful.

And, before you ask, we have another guest picker. I won’t reveal the person’s identity here, so you’ll have to listen to find out who it is!

This was a great talk with a top-notch reporter. Thanks again, Steve, for stopping by. Let us know what you think about what we think in the comments or on Twitter.

As always – Go Duke!

2022 Season – Five Things I’m Looking Forward To

With the 2021 season in the past, I’m cautiously optimistic about the 2022 season. I’ve said it on the podcast already, and I’ll say it again here, I’m going to be patient this season and look for signs of improvement. Given the massive hit Duke took in the transfer portal, including at quarterback, we have a lot of unknowns coming into this season. And while Coach Elko is doing all the right things to get the Elkra – Elkera – Era? Forget it, I’ve got nothing good for a combo of Elko and Era. Anyway, Coach Elko is doing all the right things as far as putting his stamp on the Blue Devils and getting things off on the right foot. That said, preseason and regular season are two different things. With that in mind, here’s what I’m looking forward to this season:

  1. A new offense. Readers of the site will know that I complained a lot about how predictable the offense got over the last several years. I’m excited to see what Coach Elko and the OC, Kevin Johns, can bring to the table. Johns has a good track record having worked at both Texas Tech and Memphis. He was also on the coaching staff for an Indiana team that put up a lot of points against Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015.
  2. Moving the student section. It’ll be interesting to see the student section behind the opposing team’s bench this year. Given that the cameras are generally pointed towards the opposing team’s sideline, we always see the opposing team’s fans and colors during home games. It’s a little annoying, and I’m glad Coach Elko is taking steps to try and fix this. Hopefully the students will show up and we’ll see a lot more blue on camera this season. But, again, that depends on students showing up. Let’s hope that happens.
  3. Getting down to Durham. I checked with my dad who thinks that the following is correct, but I’m pretty certain I’ve been able to get to a home game for every coach since Spurrier. We can’t recall if we went to games for both Franks and Roof, but feel like we were there for at least one of them. I can’t wait to get to Durham this season for the first of what will hopefully be many successful seasons under Coach Elko.
  4. Players from the new coaching era on the podcast. Since Duke FB Talk has been getting guys on who are current players, I’ve taken a different approach and, with a few exceptions, tried to get former players on. That way we aren’t overlapping and doing the same thing. Blue Devil football fandom is a bit of a niche market and we don’t need to water things down by doing the same thing. That said, I’m hopeful I can get a player or two to come on who is currently on the team. I’ve had players from every coaching era since Coach Sloan with the exception of Ted Roof (I’m efforting to solve that problem, believe me) and I want to keep that streak going.
  5. Becoming relevant again. As I detailed previously, Cutcliffe did a lot for the Duke program. Perhaps most important, he made the Blue Devils relevant for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, we fell from that standard and that is why we got a new head coach. I’m really, really hopeful that this new era will get us relevant again.

What are you excited about for the 2022 season? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

Go Duke!