bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM — “Loyalty is a two-way street.”
In the wake of David Cutcliffe’s decision Friday to remain Duke’s head football coach, Cutcliffe talked a lot about loyalty.
In this case, Cutcliffe was referring to his staff. After having asked his assistants to leave prominent positions to join him at downtrodden Duke two years ago, he couldn’t conceive of leaving for Tennessee and not taking them with him.
That’s just one of countless ways that Cutcliffe’s legendary loyalty helped Duke retain its football coach.
When Mississippi fired Cutcliffe following the 2004 season, his 4-7 record on the heels of four consecutive winning seasons had less to do with his dismissal than his unwillingness to be pressured into making staff changes.
Friday, Cutcliffe’s decision to stay at Duke had something to do with Tennessee wanting to retain some of former coach Lane Kiffin’s assistants. Though Cutcliffe said he honestly believed he’d still be at Duke regardless of staffing concerns, it’s no coincidence that his prepared statement earlier in the day announcing his intentions made mention of the “best coaching staff in the country.”
In addition, Cutcliffe continued a two-way street of loyalty with Duke the university, the school that gave him the second chance at being a head coach that he so craved, and the school that has shown unprecedented commitment to football success since his arrival.
Cutcliffe also showed loyalty to his family — the one at home and the one at work. He discussed the decision thoroughly with his wife, Karen, the couple concluding among other things that, “We really love Durham, and not just Duke; we absolutely love Durham.”
As for his football family, Cutcliffe showed the kind of loyalty that seems in short supply these days.
“In this era it’s just happening way too often, and it’s just not right,” Cutcliffe said. “It goes back to friendship, loyalty, and doing things right.
“Today we all were just as happy as we could be. It was a good feeling to see them.”
That feeling, without a doubt, was mutual. Players went to bed Thursday night believing their coach likely was going to take one of his dream jobs, but they found out otherwise Friday when he addressed some of the team during an early-morning weight lifting session.
“This is a great big relief right here. It’s really important that he is staying,” running back Jay Hollingsworth said. “The program is on the up-and-up right now, and for him to stay and continue to build the program, it’s a great thing.”
Now that Cutcliffe has displayed his loyalty to the larger Duke community, he’s hoping the community will treat it as a two-way street as well.
Cutcliffe’s tireless efforts to promote the program have produced promising but mixed results so far, but he’s hopeful that the message sent by his decision will be received loud and clear.
“The way my stomach has hurt the last two days, I hope this means a lot moving forward,” he said. “There’s no doubt that you couldn’t hire a New York P.R. firm to get what we’ve gotten on ESPN this time of year. There was no intention there, but it is a by-product.
“We’ve still got great seats available, and we’d love for people in the community to come out and find out how much they would enjoy Duke football.”
