DURHAM, N.C. — With lopsided losses piling one on top of another again for Duke this football season, the natural undercurrent of coaching change speculation spilled into the public eye a bit on Monday.
Two days after his Blue Devils were whipped 45-7 at No. 10 Wake Forest, David Cutcliffe was asked if he’s concerned that his 14th season at Duke could be his last.
“I don’t think about job security,” Cutcliffe said. “How can I do that and do justice to the players that I’m coaching right now? I’m not going there. I’m not upset that you ask the question. That’s a normal and natural question to ask. But why would I even consider focusing on that? I have a job to do that is directly related to how well I do my job in relation to putting those players in position to win.”
Cutcliffe remained calm while answering the question during his weekly, regularly scheduled news conference with reporters.
It came as his Blue Devils are mired in a four-game losing streak that’s dropped their record to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in ACC play. The last two losses were noncompetitive as Virginia blasted Duke 48-0 prior to Wake Forest rolling over the Blue Devils.
Entering Saturday’s home game with Coastal Division-leading Pittsburgh (6-2, 3-1 ACC), the Blue Devils have dropped their last nine ACC games. After going 8-5 in 2018 and beating Temple in the Independence Bowl, Duke is 10-21 overall and 4-18 in ACC play over the past three seasons.
Duke entered this season believing that last season’s 2-9 record was mostly the result of pandemic restrictions that severely impacted the team’s overall preparation. A 31-28 loss at Charlotte in the season opener set the team back nevertheless.
The Blue Devils responded with a three-game winning streak, beating N.C. A&T (45-17), Northwestern (30-23) and Kansas (52-33). But Duke hasn’t won a game since beginning ACC play.
A 38-7 loss at rival North Carolina, means Duke’s average margin of defeat in its four ACC games is 30.3 points.
Even while suffering one-sided defeats, Cutcliffe consistently has said his team is practicing well but isn’t able to carry that success into games.
He brushed aside the notion Monday that he’s failing to connect well with his players.
“No, not at all,” Cutcliffe said. “And it’s an interesting question, meaning the players aren’t listening to me. That’s the only peers that I care about to be honest with you. And you can ask the players that question. No, I don’t feel there’s a disconnect or (they) are not listening. There are a lot of issues that are not so obvious to the people that think it’s obvious, a lot of work to be done. But I don’t feel that. Not one inkling. Not one bit.”
Cutcliffe arrived at Duke in December 2007. At that point, Duke had won 10 games over the previous eight seasons combined. By 2012, he took the Blue Devils to their first bowl game since the 1994 season.
In 2013, Duke put together an eight-game winning streak to capture its only ACC Coastal Division championship and finish 10-4 overall.
The Blue Devils played in bowl games six times over a seven-season stretch that ended with the 2018 Independence Bowl win.
But the on-field play has regressed over the past three seasons, raising questions about the 67-year-old Cutcliffe’s future.
Prior to this season, Cutcliffe told the News & Observer the thought of retirement was “not even on my radar.”
He was also willing to acknowledge, though, that the Blue Devils had to play better than last year for that to be fully his decision.
“I would like to coach a lot longer,” Cutcliffe said last August. “Sometimes other people decide for you, right? I’ve had that happen before so I’m not naive to that.”
Duke’s athletic administration has strongly and publicly backed Cutcliffe, even after last season’s struggles. That includes Nina King, who took over as Duke’s athletics director in August following Kevin White’s retirement. She previously worked at Duke as, among other things, Duke’s sport administrator for football.
The football team’s consistently strong academic showing and lack of off-field issues carry weight, they have said. The job Cutcliffe did to build Duke into a regular bowl participant after all those down seasons is also taken into consideration.
