Like a Phoneix From the Ashes: David Cutcliffe Rebuilding Duke Program

Believe it or not there, is a lot of buzz surrounding the Duke football program these days.

Much has been made about Head Coach David Cutcliffe's rebuilding job, and while most still know how far Duke has to go, I don't believe many on the outside truly understand how far the Blue Devils have come.

Cutcliffe took over a program without any positives. In reality, he may as well have been starting a program from scratch.

I was reminded of this when I was listening to an interview on a local radio station with the head football coach of Campbell University, Dale Steele.

Campbell, like Duke, is a small private school. It is located in rural North Carolina and had been without a football program for five decades. It has almost seemed that long for Duke.

Cutcliffe, like Steele, has had to basically recreate almost every facet of a football program. However, unlike Campbell, Duke plays at the FBS level in a major conference.

Cutcliff was rebuilding a ship while it was already afloat.

When he arrived at Duke almost two years ago, Cutcliffe inherited a program with poorly-conditioned players, poor recruiting, a poor fan base and arguably the worst facilities in all of Division I football.

He also took over a program that no one had any confidence in—despite a history of success.

Most don't remember Duke as a football powerhouse. As the years passed and the Devils got worse, so too did the overall look of the team and the program. I remember commenting at one point in a game against Louisville that Duke's players looked like high school players compared to their opponents' players.

They were smaller, slower and weaker and the football was simply pathetic. Wade, while a nostalgic stadium, has been in desperate need of renovations for quite some time.

In one word, Duke Football was sad and it needed either some serious attention or to be put out of its misery.

Enter Cutcliffe, whose background in the football-rich SEC crank-started the program. It began on the field, with improvements to player conditioning, discipline and overall performance. It translated into a 4-8 record.

That glimmer of hope from last season has turned into even higher expectations for this year. The program itself is full of life and excitement. Even old Wallace Wade is getting the first part of major facelifts that Cutcliffe has pushed for since being hired.

Having attended football games at Duke since the 1980s, I've personally seen very little changes to Wallace Wade Stadium or the surrounding football areas aside from the construction of the Yoh Football Center. 

Fans this year will actually be able to go the restroom without having to hold it until they get home, which in years past was probably shortly after halftime. They can even buy concessions from stands that don't resemble little league baseball concession huts.

The overall quality of the football is also better, as Cutcliffe has begun to develop the talent on hand while appearing to add to the arsenal with his first full recruiting class.

Cutcliffe is saying this year's team is bowl bound. To do so, they must win seven games, something Duke hasn't done in more than 15 years and not something most Duke detractors or even fans would expect.

Yet many are buying into the coach's optimism and jumping on the bandwagon.

Duke's image is changing on the field, in the public eye, and even online. The website Bluedevilsfootball.com is an impressive site that displays all facets of the Duke Football program.

It is attractive, interactive, and informative. It has links to Duke's football past and its bright future. Up until last year, searching for Duke Football online would have yielded more jokes than serious talk. That is now changing.

Even members of the media are no longer counting Duke completely out and some are even predicting a near-.500 record this season.

All of this coming from one season when the Blue Devils managed as many wins as the previous four years combined. Cutcliffe has done a masterful job taking the charred remains of a once proud football program and attempting to make them a viable contender once again.

Only time will tell whether this year’s corps of Blue Devils will continue to build on last year's successes and if the program can truly turn things around for the long term. But for now, just to see the excitement surround a program that was once as low as it gets is a great feeling for Cutcliffe, his players and the fans.