David Cutcliffe: "Right Now, We Need Communication and Contact"

Duke coach is meeting with players and staff regularly

Duke coach David Cutcliffe is spending much of his day on Zoom, holding meetings with his staff and players.

“We’re not together,” he said. “We’re all apart. Thank goodness for Zoom. We have staff meetings every day—full staff and we have defensive and offensive staff meetings every day. So we’ve gotten a lot of things accomplished.”

Cutcliffe is also leading the film review in the meetings.

“I was able before all of this stoppage to get a big screen in my house,” he said. “So I kind of run the football part of the meetings, and it’s pretty cool. I have the laser pointer and the clicker, so we can get some things done in that regard.”

Cutcliffe is also meeting with the players on the team, but they aren’t talking schemes.

“The biggest focus for us right now with our team is academics and what they’re accomplishing there,” he said, “and their safety and their mental and physical well-being. I’m not going to get past that right now. We’re not worried about football right now. We’re worried about these guys doing well at school. We’re worried about them and their families in all these unique environments. With young people, we know that mental health has got to be at the forefront of the things we’re thinking about. These meetings are extremely important. We had a good time for example today (last Friday) at this morning’s team meeting, I went to different places all over the country getting weather reports. (Quarterback) Chris Katrenick was telling me that yesterday, they had intermittent sunshine and snow in Chicago. He said it was 36 and windy … well guess what, you’re in Chicago. We jumped to out west. (Quarterback) Luca Diamont gave us a surprise weather report—rain in L.A. It’s been raining for two days in L.A. He’s complaining, because they’re used to bright sunshine.”

There are NCAA regulations on contacting players during the offseason, but the organization is allowing some leeway with teams.

“It’s been good,” Cutcliffe said. “The NCAA is going to listen to us and work with us. Right now, what we need is communication and contact.”