Duke's David Cutcliffe: I Think Our Leadership Needs to Step Up
College football appears to be rudderless right now, with the major conferences split on whether or not to even try playing in the fall. It’s a leadership void that bothers Duke coach David Cutcliffe.
“The subject, to be honest with you, is bothering me personally,” he said. “I was hoping at the beginning of this thing, I had great hope that we would have an American Football Coaches Association board meeting, that we’d be in communication with the NCAA, and that we would get a uniform approach. I felt like from the beginning that was going to be necessary.”
Cutcliffe has been involved with the AFCA for years, but the organization was not able to provide any stability and guidance as conferences scrambled to decide what to do.
“I do have a fear of never seeing college football be the same,” he said. “It’s just a unique time. I realize it’s 2020 and you can always recover from this.”
Cutcliffe still holds out hope that someone will take charge.
“The players, the game itself, thirdly our profession,” he said. “I hope the leaders, the people involved with these very difficult decisions. I hope coaches and players alike can find some common ground and make this work. One of my greatest concerns is that we have one group going one way and one going the other. What are we going to see in the future? I can’t even fathom it. I don’t see how we could be the same. I love college football. I have all my life, and I certainly don’t want to see changes to our great game. The great form of amateur football provides a platform for a lot of great young men, both educationally and athletically. I guess we’re the cheapest minor league for any major sport. The NFL doesn’t have to fund us. So it’s providing a lot of things to a lot of people. I think our leadership needs to step up at this time.”
