A week after throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees game, head coach David Cutcliffe took another trip outside of recruiting to be inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Saturday.
Induction ceremony tonight for @DavidCutcliffe into the @ASHOF -- another tremendous honor! #DukeFamily pic.twitter.com/8l0EobKnBh
— Duke Football (@Duke_FB) May 21, 2016
Cutcliffe was born in Birmingham, Ala., and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1976 before becoming an assistant coach at Banks High School—his alma mater—in Birmingham for four years. He became the head coach at Banks before becoming a part-time assistant coach at Tennessee in 1982, the start of Cutcliffe's ascension up the college football ranks.
After becoming the passing coordinator in Knoxville, Cutcliffe became the offensive coordinator and eventually an assistant head coach. During his 17 years at Tennessee, Cutcliffe worked closely with legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, and in 1998 he earned the Frank Broyles Award—which goes to the nation's top assistant coach—as the Volunteers captured the national championship.
Cutcliffe became the head coach at Mississippi in 1999 and worked with two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Eli Manning during his time in Oxford. In 2003, he was named SEC Coach of the Year as the Rebels went 10-3 and won the Cotton Bowl. Cutcliffe was the head coach for six seasons before he was fired after a disappointing 4-7 season in 2004, and he returned to Tennessee for two years as the offensive coordinator before transforming the Blue Devil football program.
He took over as head coach before the 2008 season and resurrected a program that won 10 games from 2000-2007, compiling a 48-53 record in his first eight seasons in Durham. The two-time ACC Coach of the Year recently capped off the most successful three-year stretch in program history, which featured 27 wins, three bowl berths and the 2013 ACC Coastal Division Championship.
Cutcliffe was named National Coach of the Year in 2013 and led Duke to its first bowl game victory since 1961 last December by defeating Indiana 44-41 in the Pinstripe Bowl.
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