Tennessee football: The cruel irony of David Cutcliffe, Duke parting ways

The roles are reversed. Back in 2008, Phillip Fulmer hired Dave Clawson to replace David Cutcliffe as offensive coordinator for Tennessee football. Clawson’s tenure was a disaster, and it resulted in Fulmer’s firing after 16 years on the job.

Cutcliffe’s two separate stints as offensive coordinator were largely credited with the success Fulmer had. Clawson was viewed as a huge downgrade. However, 13 years later, Clawson is the one having success, and Cutcliffe is out of a job.

On Sunday, the Duke Blue Devils and Cutcliffe parted ways. The whole reason Tennessee football hired Clawson was because Cutcliffe left for Duke. Early on, Cutcliffe became a rising star there, taking Duke to its first bowl game since the Steve Spurrier era in 2012 and then winning the ACC Coastal Division and finishing in the top 25 in 2013 with a 10-4 record.

At the time, Cutcliffe was easily the most respected coach in the nation. However, in 2014, Clawson arrived at the other ACC private school in North Carolina, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He had spent five years as head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons, where he went immediately after UT fired Fulmer, winning the MAC title in 2013.

Things have changed dramatically since then. In 2014, Cutcliffe and Duke went 9-4. They went 8-5 in 2015. However, he never had a top 25 finish, and they had four losing seasons from 2015 to 2021. This past year, Duke went 3-9, its third straight losing season under Cutcliffe.

Meanwhile, Clawson was rebuilding Wake Forest. He did go 3-9 his first two years. Since then, though, he has never failed to reach a bowl game, and he has finished above .500 in every full season he has coached.

It all peaked this year, as Wake Forest started 8-0, went 10-2 and won the ACC Atlantic at 7-1. They will play the Pittsburgh Panthers for the ACC Championship Saturday and have a 100 percent chance of finishing this year in the top 25 regardless of how the season ends.

So how did this all happen? How could the coach blamed for the end of a Hall-of-Fame era become the big star while a coach credited for that Hall-of-Fame era, one he directly replaced, sees his tenure unceremoniously end when the two are coaching at the same level?

Honestly, the fact of the matter is Clawson is an underrated coach. Dating back to his time as head coach in FCS play, where Fulmer hired him from, Clawson is known for his offenses to take years to develop. He runs complex schemes that requires players to think a lot more, so they have to get used to the change, and he needs players familiar with it.

Fans on Rocky Top should have seen this coming. Let’s go back to Clawson’s first job. He was head coach of the Fordham Rams from 1999 to 2003. In 1999, he went 0-11, and in 2000, he went 3-8. However, he went 7-4,10-3 and 9-3 in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively, winning the Patriot League in 2002.

In 2004, he was named head coach of the Richmond Spiders and went 3-8. Over the next three years, though, he went 9-4, 6-5 and 11-3 with an Atlantic 10 title and then a Colonial Athletic Association title, where Richmond moved in 2007. That’s where Fulmer found him.

This all explains why the Vols’ offense was disastrous in 2008. However, had they waited maybe three years, things would have taken off, especially with Tajh Boyd and Bryce Petty coming in at quarterback. Fulmer’s confidence that the program would be turned around was right.

Here’s the problem. Clawson’s hiring came at a time in which conventional wisdom had grown that the game had passed Fulmer by. His recruiting tanked in 2006 and 2008, and the 2007 class was a bust. Sure, Tennessee football won the SEC East in 2007, but they didn’t play one team from the West that finished in the top 25. That helps matters.

If Fulmer made this hire back in 1999, the first time Cutcliffe left, he would have had a lot more cache to do it. Fans were already getting restless by 2008, though. What shows 13 years later is that Clawson is a hire that could have worked out.

This isn’t to say anything negative of Cutcliffe. He’s a great coach and, honestly, isn’t respected enough. What he did at Duke is amazing. However, Cutcliffe’s natural skill is developing players to be the best they can be and prepare them for the pros. Clawson’s skill is maximizing their abilities at the college level and using analytics to overcome lack of talent.

Either way, Clawson would have worked out long-term for Tennessee football. Ironically, Trooper Taylor has been named Duke’s interim head coach. He was an assistant in 2007 and would have been the short-term and maybe long-term answer for Fulmer as Cutcliffe’s direct successor, but the delay led him to take a job with the Oklahoma State Cowboys.