Duke HC David Cutcliffe retires / Mike Elko hired

[Frozen]

A lot of folks in this board don’t care for Thamel but he has a ton of contacts and often has the scoop on a lot of stories and coach hirings.

 

[syrBossHogg]

That's a good hire, was really impressed with their defensive game vs Bama

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Seems like a bad fit for both Duke and Elko.

Duke is the hardest P5 job IMO. Cutcliffe is a good HC but his record was pumped up by weak OOC schedules and a down Coastal. Even then he had only 2 winning ACC seasons and 11 under .500 ACC seasons, including his last 6 seasons.

For Elko he knows what it is like to coach at a small private ACC school as he was DC at Wake. His 1st two seasons there his D was mediocre at best. His 3rd season their D was good. It will be even harder at Duke. He is the DC at A&M couldn't he get a better job than Duke? That is a huge risk. For his career Temple would probably be a better job.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[HRE Otto IV]

The Coastal really is a mess, although the Atlantic is also a mess.

Pitt- losing their very good QB and their OC
Miami- new HC
VA Tech- new HC
UVA- new HC
UNC- HC who can't coach but gets talent
GA Tech- HC on his last legs
Duke- new HC

Cristobal should win that division easily. Really wish we were on that side of the ledger.

Wake- they seem to be in pretty good shape
NC State- also seem to be in good shape
Clemson- losing OC and DC but should be fine
Louisville- have underachieved under Satterfield. Hard to break through in Atlantic.
FSU- HC on his last legs
SU- HC on his last legs
BC- should bounce back to mediocre

It is all about coaching and the ACC either has new HCs or HCs on their way out.

 

[kcsu]

He is a very good hire.

 

[SuFTW]

Seems like a bad fit for both Duke and Elko.

Duke is the hardest P5 job IMO. Cutcliffe is a good HC but his record was pumped up by weak OOC schedules and a down Coastal. Even then he had only 2 winning ACC seasons and 11 under .500 ACC seasons, including his last 6 seasons.

For Elko he knows what it is like to coach at a small private ACC school as he was DC at Wake. His 1st two seasons there his D was mediocre at best. His 3rd season their D was good. It will be even harder at Duke. He is the DC at A&M couldn't he get a better job than Duke? That is a huge risk. For his career Temple would probably be a better job.

Seems fine to me for both of them.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Seems fine to me for both of them.

Turning Duke around which is very very very difficult is a 5-6 year job. If you are a young coach looking for a bigger job it is a bad fit. The chances of failure are high. It took Clawson 4 years at Wake which was in better shape than Duke currently is. Also Cutcliffe's recent success means 8-5 is needed. 7-6 won't be impressive. This isn't 1-11 Duke in perception even though in reality they are that bad.

For Duke you need someone who can coach up 2-3 star kids not someone who has been coaching 4-5 star kids and has no HC experience. If SU made this move I would be very worried about it working out.

 

[supp]

Turning Duke around which is very very very difficult is a 5-6 year job. If you are a young coach looking for a bigger job it is a bad fit. The chances of failure are high. It took Clawson 4 years at Wake which was in better shape than Duke currently is. Also Cutcliffe's recent success means 8-5 is needed. 7-6 won't be impressive. This isn't 1-11 Duke in perception even though in reality they are that bad.

For Duke you need someone who can coach up 2-3 star kids not someone who has been coaching 4-5 star kids and has no HC experience. If SU made this move I would be very worried about it working out.

Agreed. You need an older guy with patience who's going to make it his last stop. Cutcliffe was perfect. There's a reason he had success.

 

[CU44SE]

In my opinion the ACC needs to reshuffle the divisions. Pod system is the best idea, but if they don’t then they need to reshuffle divisions. Atlantic is stacked compared to the coastal.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

In my opinion the ACC needs to reshuffle the divisions. Pod system is the best idea, but if they don’t then they need to reshuffle divisions. Atlantic is stacked compared to the coastal.

Pods would be nice.

FSU always Atlantic
Miami always Coastal

Pod 1- Clemson, NC State, Wake
Pod 2- UVA, UNC, Duke
Pod 3- SU, BC, Pitt
Pod 4- VA Tech, Louisville, GA Tech

That gives you each team home and away over 6 seasons vs the current 12 seasons.

 

[SWC75]

Turning Duke around which is very very very difficult is a 5-6 year job. If you are a young coach looking for a bigger job it is a bad fit. The chances of failure are high. It took Clawson 4 years at Wake which was in better shape than Duke currently is. Also Cutcliffe's recent success means 8-5 is needed. 7-6 won't be impressive. This isn't 1-11 Duke in perception even though in reality they are that bad.

For Duke you need someone who can coach up 2-3 star kids not someone who has been coaching 4-5 star kids and has no HC experience. If SU made this move I would be very worried about it working out.

I've always said that coaching a non-powerhouse power-five school is the toughest gig. In High school it's about community involvement, youth programs and coaching the game. At Division III it's about coaching the game and getting a reputation so students who played high school ball and wanted to playing in college are more likely to go to your school. In Divisions II, FCS and the non-power-five schools of FBS, it's about evaluating and coaching up talent while playing schools that are in the game boat. With the powerhouse schools, if you contact a player, you're automatically on his short list. They often use relatively simple strategical concepts because they have better athletes than 80% of the schools they play. In the pros, the front office obtains the players and the ones that make are elite athletes with a tremendous work ethic who train and motivate themselves. Your job is game planning.

But the non-powerhouse power fives have to compete with powerhouses in their conference and to try to fulfill fan's dreams of the successes their schools had in an earlier era. It's the hardest row to hoe.

 

[Cuse69]

We'll know in a few years but I think this is a fantastic hire. He can coach a D which they so badly need, with the transfer portal and all of his connections he might get them bowling rather quickly.

Keep in mind he has something that not many others have which is the value of a Duke degree. Of course, that has downsides with not being able to recruit certain players, but IMO he'll be a great hire for them.

 

[SuFTW]

Turning Duke around which is very very very difficult is a 5-6 year job. If you are a young coach looking for a bigger job it is a bad fit. The chances of failure are high. It took Clawson 4 years at Wake which was in better shape than Duke currently is. Also Cutcliffe's recent success means 8-5 is needed. 7-6 won't be impressive. This isn't 1-11 Duke in perception even though in reality they are that bad.

For Duke you need someone who can coach up 2-3 star kids not someone who has been coaching 4-5 star kids and has no HC experience. If SU made this move I would be very worried about it working out.

Not sure why you are making the assumption he is taking the job as a stepping stone.
He is an Ivy League grad and has spent more of his career coaching 3 star players or lower than 4 or 5 stars.
Any hire seems like a 50:50 proposition at best at most places.

1999	Stony Brook (GA/ILB)
2000	Penn (DB)
2001	Merchant Marine(DC/DB)
2002–2003	Fordham (co-DC / LB)
2004–2005	Richmond (LB/RC)
2006–2008	Hofstra (AHC/DC/DB/LB)
2009–2013	Bowling Green (DC/LB)
2014–2016	Wake Forest (DC/S)
2017	Notre Dame (DC)
2018–2021	Texas A&M (DC/S)
2022–present	Duke

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Not sure why you are making the assumption he is taking the job as a stepping stone.
He is an Ivy League grad and has spent more of his career coaching 3 star players or lower than 4 or 5 stars.
Any hire seems like a 50:50 proposition at best at most places.

1999	Stony Brook (GA/ILB)
2000	Penn (DB)
2001	Merchant Marine(DC/DB)
2002–2003	Fordham (co-DC / LB)
2004–2005	Richmond (LB/RC)
2006–2008	Hofstra (AHC/DC/DB/LB)
2009–2013	Bowling Green (DC/LB)
2014–2016	Wake Forest (DC/S)
2017	Notre Dame (DC)
2018–2021	Texas A&M (DC/S)
2022–present	Duke

Every job outside of the Top 5 jobs is a stepping stone. You don't go to Duke in your 40s and say I am done.

 

[SuFTW]

Every job outside of the Top 5 jobs is a stepping stone. You don't go to Duke in your 40s and say I am done.

I disagree that he is taking the job primarily as a stepping stone. Why would he be “done” when he is just starting as a head coach? Maybe he wants to settle down in one spot while his kids grow up?
The Duke job may be more in line with his background and what he wants than some other job. We don’t know his thought process so we shouldn’t make dogmatic statements.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I disagree that he is taking the job primarily as a stepping stone. Why would he be “done” when he is just starting as a head coach? Maybe he wants to settle down in one spot while his kids grow up?
The Duke job may be more in line with his background and what he wants than some other job. We don’t know his thought process so we shouldn’t make dogmatic statements.

Duke is by far the worst P5 job. Why would any HC want to plant there?

 

[SuFTW]

Duke is by far the worst P5 job. Why would any HC want to plant there?

Cutcliffe chose to be there and Elko chose the job. Expectations are lower. It’s still a P5 job. I can see why, just use a little imagination.

 

[Whitey23]