In the end, and not all too surprisingly, it was much ado about nothing.
Tuesday night, a report surfaced that Michigan, still searching for a new head coach, had reached out to Duke’s David Cutcliffe to gauge his interest in the job. A short time later, the NFL.com‘s Gil Brandt, the man who brought you the Bret Bielema-turned-down-Nebraska story, not only confirmed the interest on UM’s part, but put a more serious spin on the interest that just casual overtures.
It remains to be seen whether Michigan actually offered Cutcliffe the job, let alone was snubbed. If Cutcliffe did decline, though, it may say more about the coach than “how times sure have changed.”
Aside from a stint at Notre Dame in 2005 that lasted less than five months because of health issues, Cutcliffe has never held a coaching job north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Mississippi in a career that stretches back to 1976. Cutcliffe, a native of Alabama, was a student-manager under Bear Bryant at UA; coached high school football in the state; spent six years as the head coach at Ole Miss; and had 19 total seasons in two stints at Tennessee before taking over at Duke. The South, obviously, is his comfort zone, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
And then there’s the fact that he’ll be 61 years old next September, and did have the heart issue that forced him to resign his post as quarterbacks coach with the Irish before ever coaching a game in South Bend. As part of that age equation, Cutcliffe has already been part of a massive rebuilding effort with the Blue Devils, turning a program that won 39 games in the 17 years prior to his arrival to one that’s won 40 in his seven seasons; would he want to take on yet another rebuild, and this one in the North no less?
According to Brandt, the answer was no. Whether it was as simple as a times-sure-have-changed no remains to be seen. Credit the Wolverines, though, for at least making the attempt. Reportedly.
UPDATED 10:34 p.m. ET: And here come the denials.
UPDATED 11:31 p.m. ET: And they keep coming...
To be clear, there has been zero contact between Michigan and Duke’s David Cutcliffe. No third party contact, even through search firm
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) December 10, 2014
