So..How Has Duke Turned It Around?

G

GoldenIsle

Damn Good Rat
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Dec 17, 2017
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I know they are not world beaters but I was really surprised at the athletic talent they had on the DL last year. It looks like Cutcliff has gotten a commitment from the admin to improve the program. As I've said before, it seems like a lot of teams in our conference are stepping up their program, are we going to keep up?
 
From my understanding, their being a private school gives them more latitude to recruit as well as alter academic offerings than we have. That could be wrong. But there it is anyways.
 
killerbuzz42 said:
From my understanding, their being a private school gives them more latitude to recruit as well as alter academic offerings than we have. That could be wrong. But there it is anyways.
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I'm not sure it's the sole cause, but it's true and other schools do the same. At most schools, if you have a recruit you really want but who can't make the grades, admit him to a low-effort major, whether that's Communications at Stanford; African, African-American, and Diaspora Studies at UNC; Family Studies at Florida, etc. GT doesn't have a low-effort major. Then private schools have an additional advantage because they do not have public oversight of their admissions processes, so they can further bend the admissions guidelines (waive required HS classes, waive SAT requirements, etc). Though the fact that 60% of UNC players have a 3rd grade or below reading level tells you public schools can do it, as well.

Frankly, GT could do this as well if it got creative. We could dual-admit with Kennesaw State / Southern Poly, which would allow football players to take KSU courses but play football for GT. Tech already does this but defers the Tech admission until completion of the REPP transfer courses. Just change that to dual admission for athletes in a non-engineering major. Take 2 years of general education at KSU, then 2 years of digital communications at Tech (Tech really needs to look at expanding majors, not just because of sports) and get 2 degrees. Meanwhile, play for Tech the entire time.

We just need a president who sees the marketing value of sports and makes it a priority.
 
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We are not the cool school in our state or region. Duke has some appeal in that respect. We are not even beloved in the community in which we reside. In fact upon learning I attended Georgia Tech a woman from Atlanta called me a rich white bastard.
 
Duke has done nothing that we have not done. In fact, his tenure at Duke looks somewhat similar to CPJ's, only much shittier and without really any signature wins.

His overall record there is 61-67.

He only made a bowl 5 out of 10 years.

In 2013, his marquee 10-4 season, the Coastal was probably the worst division in P5 with zero ranked teams. A Vad Lee led GT still stomped a mudhole in Duke that year, 38-14. Their non-conference schedule consisted of UNC-Central, Memphis, Troy, and Navy. They lost 45-7 in the ACCCG.

He's 4-8 and 7-6 the past two years, despite playing a weak OOC schedule and getting Wake Forest as their cross-divisional opponent, whereas we play Clemson.

Here are his ACC Coastal Division finishes:

6th
5th
5th
6th
5th
1st
2nd
4th
6th
4th

I think he's a pretty solid coach, but let's not act like Duke has reached some level we need to aspire to.
 
GTCrew4b said:
We are not the cool school in our state or region. Duke has some appeal in that respect. We are not even beloved in the community in which we reside. In fact upon learning I attended Georgia Tech a woman from Atlanta called me a rich white bastard.
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Their football team doesn't. They usually play in front of like 30k in a shitty high school stadium, although they at least removed the track a few years ago.
 
johncu said:
Duke has done nothing that we have not done. In fact, his tenure at Duke looks somewhat similar to CPJ's, only much öööötier and without really any signature wins.

His overall record there is 61-67.

He only made a bowl 5 out of 10 years.

In 2013, his marquee 10-4 season, the Coastal was probably the worst division in P5 with zero ranked teams. A Vad Lee led GT still stomped a mudhole in Duke that year, 38-14. Their non-conference schedule consisted of UNC-Central, Memphis, Troy, and Navy. They lost 45-7 in the ACCCG.

He's 4-8 and 7-6 the past two years, despite playing a weak OOC schedule and getting Wake Forest as their cross-divisional opponent, whereas we play Clemson.

Here are his ACC Coastal Division finishes:

6th
5th
5th
6th
5th
1st
2nd
4th
6th
4th

I think he's a pretty solid coach, but let's not act like Duke has reached some level we need to aspire to.
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Agreed, I wouldn't trade our past 10 years for Duke's. Cutcliffe has brought them from total dogshit to mediocre, that's it.
 
johncu said:
Duke has done nothing that we have not done. In fact, his tenure at Duke looks somewhat similar to CPJ's, only much öööötier and without really any signature wins.

His overall record there is 61-67.

He only made a bowl 5 out of 10 years.

In 2013, his marquee 10-4 season, the Coastal was probably the worst division in P5 with zero ranked teams. A Vad Lee led GT still stomped a mudhole in Duke that year, 38-14. Their non-conference schedule consisted of UNC-Central, Memphis, Troy, and Navy. They lost 45-7 in the ACCCG.

He's 4-8 and 7-6 the past two years, despite playing a weak OOC schedule and getting Wake Forest as their cross-divisional opponent, whereas we play Clemson.

Here are his ACC Coastal Division finishes:

6th
5th
5th
6th
5th
1st
2nd
4th
6th
4th

I think he's a pretty solid coach, but let's not act like Duke has reached some level we need to aspire to.
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In fairness to Cut, he took over for Ted Roof, who was 4-42, so he probably gets a mulligan for his first few years. His results at Ole Miss were probably more indicicative of what he might have done here. Still about the same as CPJ. Consistent 7 game winner with a high and low outlier season.
 
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gtphd said:
CPJ has brought us from perennial bowl games to once-and-a-while bowl games.
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I'm not saying Paul is doing a good job currently, just comparing the results over that period. Paul has taken us to more championships, more big bowls, and beaten better opponents a lot more often than Duke has, and Duke has generally played a weaker schedule than Tech has over that span too.
 
GoldenIsle said:
I know they are not world beaters but I was really surprised at the athletic talent they had on the DL last year. It looks like Cutcliff has gotten a commitment from the admin to improve the program. As I've said before, it seems like a lot of teams in our conference are stepping up their program, are we going to keep up?
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They outrecruit us and have a better football coach, pretty simple
 
gtphd said:
CPJ has brought us from perennial bowl games to once-and-a-while bowl games.
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I would say Dabo Swinney has more to do with that than CPJ. The recruiting impact that Clemson has by being good is really detrimental.

the entire ACC is better than it was before CPJ getting here.
 
Isn't Tech's football major still Industrial Management? All schools have a "football major". UNC and Auburn, though, apparently have several majors to pick from.
 
Private schools like Duke, Vanderbilt and Stanford can admit anyone they choose to with no oversight. They can also customize majors if necessary.
 
GTCrew4b said:
We are not the cool school in our state or region. Duke has some appeal in that respect. We are not even beloved in the community in which we reside. In fact upon learning I attended Georgia Tech a woman from Atlanta called me a rich white bastard.
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But was she lying?
 
GTCrew4b said:
We are not the cool school in our state or region. Duke has some appeal in that respect. We are not even beloved in the community in which we reside. In fact upon learning I attended Georgia Tech a woman from Atlanta called me a rich white bastard.
Click to expand...

It’s a mistake to pick up women at the laundromat. If they can’t afford a washer and dryer, they can’t afford to take care of you.
 
GTCrew4b said:
I would say Dabo Swinney has more to do with that than CPJ. The recruiting impact that Clemson has by being good is really detrimental.

the entire ACC is better than it was before CPJ getting here.
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So, you’d be happy with Duke’s record over the past few years?
 
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