Rivals posted a very interesting article about David Cutcliffe.
One particular paragraph stood out to me.
"Cutcliffe, who was Tennessee's offensive coordinator when Duke hired him, already proved in his last head-coaching stint that he knew how to rejuvenate a program. Ole Miss went 44-29 and reached four bowls in six seasons under Cutcliffe. The Rebels have gone 10-25 with no bowls in the three seasons since his departure."
It seems to me like that's not rejuvenating. That's running a program into the ground. I'm not here to bash Cutcliffe. I think he did some good things for Ole Miss. It's just that paragraph made me laugh a little bit and question logic. Let's look at this again. He proved at Ole Miss that he could rejuvenate a program. He went 44-29 at Ole Miss. After he was fired, we went 10-25. Sure seems to me like he left the program better than he found it.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
so he lived off of Tubby's kids the first 3 years, and then was able live off his first 3 classes but after 03 we where left with Flatt and Spurlock? Way to build a program
I won't say anything bad about the man... He was a good guy... gave family tickets he had set aside for his own family to me and my dad several times. When he lost his assistants, He lost the ability to recruit. He's got the same guys with him now.. I wish him luck.
I'm not a huge Cut guy but what is there not to get? He won while he was here and then OM lost when he wasn't here. He isn't respodsible for what happens after he leaves. The coach after Cut (won't speak his name) is the real one who ran it into the ground. If you don't think anyone else would have won at least 6 games in 2005, you're crazy
I always liked Cut. Still do. But it was time to make a change. The fact that we totally fucked up the process of replacing him doesn't mean we should have kept him.
Two major factors led to Cut getting canned:
1. Inability to retain valuable assistants/replacing them with unqualified former Vol players
2. Bad health
The combination of those things led to weaker coaching and weaker recruiting. Cut got too comfortable in Oxford and paid the price. I wish him the best and think he'll do well at Duke (by Duke standards) now that he has his original staff back together.
I think we all agree that Cut was a good person. He was well mannered, polite, and an overall good representative for our university and athletic programs. However, if you objectively analyze the situation it becomes obvious that we hired him to bring Eli to Oxford. After Eli was gone, it was apparent that Cut had served his purpose. Furthermore, it is not at all difficult to see that he is not true, high-level head coach material because, after his firing, AD's weren't exactly stumbling over one another to hire him for a solid HC job.
That you know of.
Can you honestly say who might have hired the man... who was in poor health and wouldn't be all there anyway?
Hell he'd make more as OC at Notre Dame than head coaching at some places.
Actually, Tommy Tubberville rejuvenated the program. Cutcliffe maintained it, and then left it in worse shape than he found it.
I've got nothing against the guy, and I will say that our program wasn't in as bad of shape as our results showed. That had more to do with the bad coaching hire we made.
However, I will say that the program he inherited was on the verge of being the type of team that could have competed for an SEC title. The program he left was not going to be capable of getting more than 6 or 7 wins even with spectacular coaching.
I agree with red solo adm, Cut is a great guy. But his #1 priority was to get Eli to UM and he did his job, and we as fans enjoyed the ride. I think Cut knew on the front end that, after Eli left, he would only be welcome as long as UM continued to win
"I think Cut knew on the front end that, after Eli left, he would only be welcome as long as UM continued to win"
Isn't that the siutation for just about every coach at every school?
To anon. who said that anyone could have won 6 games in '05, then how come Cutcliffe didn't do it in '04?
To anthony: He wasn't hired as Notre Dame's OC, he was hired as the QB Coach, Weiss was going to run the offense from the beginning.
Cutcliffe still speaks amicably with top brass at Ole Miss. I think this is largely due to a recognition on his part that his health was seriously hampering his performance when we let him go.
For all who give him a pass for his health, I say if he was such an honorable person he should have resigned.. A good leader would never let his health destroy the success of his mission. I don't understand why so many give him a pass for the way he left our program.
Post a Comment