Sometimes it's easy to forget that head coach David Cutcliffe has past allegiances because of the way he has resurrected Duke's football program.
But although he has transformed the Blue Devil football culture, many would still say that the 2013 National Coach of the Year's greatest accomplishment has been his coaching and close personal relationship with the Manning brothers, whom he has been coaching for more than 15 years.
Showtime Sports made a documentary detailing the special relationship between Cutcliffe and the brothers as part of its recurring 60 Minutes Sports program. The film will air Tuesday evening, but a preview of the documentary was released last week and includes some of its most compelling moments
In the preview, the makers of the documentary explain how close the relationship is between Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Cutcliffe, pointing out that the decorated professional signal-callers normally don't reveal much to the media, but were more than willing to participate in the making of the documentary for their primary mentor.
The football focus of the film appears to show Cutcliffe's calming influence on the pair of Super Bowl champions, and the familiarity that both players have when the 59-year-old coach puts them through drills and exercises to improve their fundamentals and mechanics.
Last year's MVP in the NFL, Peyton compares Cutcliffe to a swing coach in golf, saying that his old offensive coordinator at Tennessee will always be his coach, and that is the primary reason he and his brother spend so much time in Durham during the offseason.
Among the aspects of Cutcliffe's entertaining personality that are recognized in the film are his southern drawl, sense of humor and complete honesty when it comes to football.
A good portion of the documentary also seems dedicated to Cutcliffe's role in helping Peyton return from neck surgery in 2011, assisting the 6-foot-5 quarterback in rebuilding his throwing motion from scratch to accommodate the changes his body was going through.
When the documentary airs Tuesday, at the very least it should serve as a reminder to Duke fans that they are extremely fortunate to have one of the greatest offensive minds of all time leading their team onto the field on Saturdays.
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