Duke University Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White announced on Monday the school and head football coach David Cutcliffe have agreed to a contract extension through June 30, 2021.
“Simply put, Duke University is terribly honored and very proud to have one of the truly pinnacle football coaches in the country leading the Blue Devil program into the next decade,” said White. “To be sure, what Coach Cutcliffe has accomplished over nine seasons at Duke is nothing short of extraordinary! With David’s innovation, vision, passion, not to mention well-seasoned expertise, our student-athletes will continue to enjoy, both academically and athletically, the very best – actually the ‘gold standard’ – experience within the broader enterprise that is college football.”
Hired on December 15, 2007, Cutcliffe has directed the Blue Devils to 52 wins over nine seasons – 42 more victories than the program’s cumulative total for the previous eight years (2000-07). He has twice earned ACC Coach of the Year honors (2012 & 2013), and was the National Coach of the Year choice by five major outlets following the 2013 campaign when Duke won a school single-season record 10 games, captured the ACC’s Coastal Division championship and appeared in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Prior to Cutcliffe’s arrival, Duke had played in eight total bowl games and never appeared in postseason contests in consecutive seasons. In succession from 2012-15, the Cutcliffe-led Blue Devils participated in four straight bowl games. A 44-41 overtime triumph over Indiana in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl on December 26, 2015, provided the school’s first bowl victory since a 7-6 decision over Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl on January 2, 1961.
Off the field, Cutcliffe’s nine-year tenure at Duke has produced ACC-leading totals for Academic All-ACC selections (67), National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award recipients (4), AFCA Good Works Team honorees (7), ACC Jim Tatum Award choices (4) and Academic All-America picks (5). In addition, Duke secured the AFCA’s annual Academic Achievement Award in both 2014 and 2015 to push its nation’s-best total to 14.