Notre Dame-Duke: David Cutcliffe Maximizes Blue Devils' Skill Level

In the coaching world, job performance is judged primarily on wins and losses. However, that approach does not necessarily always reflect just how effective one has been.

An example from the past is Notre Dame’s Ara Parseghian at Northwestern from 1956‑63, where he was “only” 36‑35‑1. Considering what he inherited and the constraints he was working under, his results there were perhaps even more impressive than his 95‑17‑4 ledger at Notre Dame, with two consensus national titles, from 1964‑74.

Duke’s David Cutcliffe is a more recent example. On paper and to someone with no knowledge of college football, Cutcliffe’s 49‑55 record at Duke since taking over in 2008 looks unremarkable and would be grounds for dismissal at a lot of schools.

Upon closer inspection, it has earned the 61-year-old huge plaudits as one of the nation’s finest leaders.

When various outlets rank the best 128 coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Cutcliffe’s name routinely appears among the top 15 or 20. This summer, Athlon ranked him No. 15 (Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly was No. 10), FOX Sports had him at No. 16 (Kelly was No. 10 again) and USA Today listed him at No. 18 (Kelly was No. 13).

Meanwhile, CBS Sports had Cutcliffe No. 15 among Power Five conference teams, while Kelly was No. 12.

When Cutcliffe was hired by the Blue Devils in 2008, Duke football had experienced one of the worst stretches in college football history ever by a major conference team. In the 13 seasons from 1995‑2007, Duke was 22‑125 — a .1496 winning percentage, including 0‑11 seasons in 2000 and 2001, and 0‑12 in 2006. The Blue Devils never came close to finishing above .500.

Cutcliffe inherited the rubble and was only 15‑33 his first four years, which would have led to getting the axe at 99 percent of the other major Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Duke was a special case, though, and enough progress was seen to justify continuing his building process.

• By Cutcliffe’s fifth season in 2012, Duke finished the regular season 6-6 to earn a bowl bid, where it lost.

• In 2013, Duke incredibly won the Coastal Division of the ACC and played eventual national champion Florida State in the league playoff. Its 10‑4 record led to a No. 23 placement in the Associated Press poll, the first time the Blue Devils finished ranked since 1961.

• After a 9‑4 encore in 2014, Duke dropped to 8‑5 last year — but for the first time since the 1960 season, the Duke Blue Devils won a bowl game, a 44‑41 overtime victory versus Indiana in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

In the 51 seasons from 1961‑2011, Duke received only two bowl invitations (1989 with Steve Spurrier as head coach and 1994), but it has now gone to four straight under Cutcliffe.

It is the epitome of making a silk purse from a sow’s ear, which is why Cutcliffe has become such an esteemed figure. He also was 44‑29 at the University of Mississippi from 1999‑2004, highlighted by a Cotton Bowl win in 2003 with quarterback Eli Manning during a 10-3 campaign in which the Rebels won a share of the SEC West title. Cutcliffe had coached Eli’s older brother, Peyton, as a Tennessee assistant in 1994‑97.

The firing of Cutcliffe at Ole Miss in 2004 resulted in him accepting a job as first-year head coach Charlie Weis’ assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame in 2005. However, heart bypass surgery for Cutcliffe that March resulted in a medical leave and prompted him to step down from the post June 1, 2005 before resurfacing at Tennessee in 2006‑07 as an assistant and then taking the Duke job.

Under Cutcliffe, Duke has developed a reputation for overachieving the way Wake Forest did from about 2001‑08 under head coach Jim Grobe, although it probably has reached its plateau and might be trending downward. (Now Baylor’s coach, Grobe led the previously moribund Demon Deacons to a 77-82 record and five bowl games, including the Orange in 2006 with an 11-2 regular season record after stunningly winning the ACC.)

A fourth straight winning season in 2016 was and is going to a tall order for Duke with road games at Northwestern (where it lost 24-13 last week), Notre Dame, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Pitt and Miami.

Still, Cutcliffe is further proof that winning percentage alone does not define exceptional job performance at certain places. Duke is sort of a non-triple-option version of Navy: well coached, competitive beyond its means, and resourceful.

Because of its success under Cutcliffe the past three seasons, Duke’s recruiting has been upgraded a notch. In the five years from 2010‑14, Duke signed only one Rivals four-star player. In the last two cycles (2015 and 2016) it landed five.

Overall, Duke is a long way from being a football force on the recruiting trail. Its Rivals class ranking from 2012‑16 are No. 56 (2012), No. 69 (2013), No. 59 (2014), No. 63 (2015) and No. 33 (2016).

Compare that to Notre Dame’s Rivals class rankings from 2012-16: No. 20 (2012), No. 3 (2013), No. 11 (2014), No. 11 (2015) and No. 12 (2016).

The offense this year suffered a huge setback when fifth-year senior quarterback Thomas Sirk (2,625 yards passing and a team-high 803 rushing last year) was lost for the season this winter because of an Achilles injury. The Blue Devils also graduated leading rusher Shaquille Powell and top receiver Max McCaffrey (brother of Christian).

The standout defensively is rover/safety DeVon Edwards, a third-team All-ACC pick on defense but also an All-America game-breaking kick returner who has scored six times on kickoffs, three of them last season.

Duke also needs to replace one of the nation’s best kicker/punter tandems in Ross Martin (78-of-93 on field goals) and punter Will Monday.

Instead of winning shootouts like in recent years, Duke might need to lean on its defense a little more, as evidenced in the 24‑14 loss to Wake Forest Sept. 10, or the aforementioned 24-13 setback at Northwestern.

Hired as associate defensive coordinator and line coach was Ben Albert, who coached the past three seasons at Boston College. In 2015, the Eagles led the country in total defense (254.3 yards allowed per game), third-down conversion defense (24.1 percent) and tackles for loss per game (9.6), while also ranking among the nation’s top five in rushing defense (second, 82.8 yards allowed per game), scoring defense (fourth, 15.3 points allowed per game) and passing efficiency defense (fifth, 104.66 rating).

On paper, there is a reason why Notre Dame is a three-touchdown favorite. Under Sutcliffe, though, the Blue Devils have often proven an ability to overachieve.