GREENSBORO
David Cutcliffe harbors no illusions about being Duke's football coach.
He knows that he has one of the toughest coaching jobs in America, one that will call upon almost everything that he has ever learned in the game and can dream up. And he is savoring every second of it.
Much hard work lies ahead during the next several seasons in turning around the fortunes of the ACC's most downtrodden program but Cutcliffe has no regrets since leaving Tennessee, where he was offensive coordinator, and going to Duke last December.
"Usually newness wears off and you think, ‘What have I done?' and ‘There's too many problems,' and I haven't even come remotely close to having a feeling of, ‘I shouldn't have done this,' " Cutcliffe said last night at a stop of the Duke Athletics Tour, sponsored by the school's booster organization, the Iron Dukes.
Cutcliffe's appearance here was his third of the tour. He has welcomed the chance at each stop to meet Duke's former players, alumni and fans. He wants their help and support at the school, which has had one winning season since 1989 and none since 1994.
"It's awesome; every day I get more excited about getting up and going in (to my office) and seeing what the day brings and what the opportunities are going to be," Cutcliffe said.
Cutcliffe knows how to shape quarterbacks. He knows how to craft a sly, highly productive offense. And he proved in his other coaching job at Mississippi for six seasons, starting in 1998 that he can take a struggling program and win games and go to bowls.
His first five months at Duke have gone at least slightly better than he thought possible, given the coaching change in which he replaced Ted Roof, who was fired after four and a half seasons.
He landed an outstanding quarterback, Sean Renfree, in the time left in the recruiting year. He never wanted to stop spring practice and start over a drill. He did want his players to run the drills better but he never saw a lack of concentration, energy or effort.
Cutcliffe does say that Duke has more concerns right now than he and his staff have solutions. He can't predict a time when the program might become competitive. The ACC is a tough league in his book, and he is not sure that any school in America has three rival coaches in its backyard as Duke has with North Carolina's Butch Davis, N.C. State's Tom O'Brien and Wake Forest's Jim Grobe.
"What we have to do is prioritize the things that we know we've got to do well," Cutcliffe said. "We can't fix everything at one time. We can't recruit 70 players right now. We've got to take the guys we've got and develop them into hopefully better players and better competitors."
Some Duke fans have suggested to Cutcliffe that three wins next season would make them happy. He is seeking more, if possible. He is looking as a coach to do something significant and would first like to help a senior class that has played in two winning games in the previous three seasons.
"The energy that's out there right now for Duke football, I'm feeding off that," he said. "It's been real positive. I think our excitement (as coaches) is pretty obvious to most people.
"I don't think I've ever had this much fun in my life coaching. We have a great group of people. And in any business it's all about people. Do we have a lot of things to do? Yeah, we've got a lot of things to go. But we've got good people and it all starts with them."
■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.
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