Cutcliffe changing culture at Duke : govolsxtra.com

David Cutcliffe is coming back to Tennessee.

Not as a University of Tennessee football coach, mind you, but a promoter of Duke football.

Cutcliffe will speak at The Foundry for the inaugural Iron Dukes' "Duke Athletics Tour" on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Cutcliffe, who was hired by Duke in December, answered questions about the transition from UT offensive coordinator to Duke head coach on The News Sentinel's radio show, The Sports Page.

What must change for Duke to have a winning football program?

Probably the difficult thing was just some of the culture here as to how our facilities may have been a little disrespected in my mind.

I made a lot of people mad. I closed off our practice facility and had some cars towed from some other coaches that were parking where they weren't supposed to be parking.

I made some enemies, but they found out real quick that we're going to have a football program here that's not going to be disrespected.

I'd say it to their face. They're not going to disrespect football. It's the dawn of a new day.

How have Duke's players responded to the new staff?

The players are willing. That's the beginning of all of it. When you talk, they listen and they respond.

I can promise you, we're a lot better football team right now than we were when we came in here in January.

Will we be good enough that it will compute to wins? I can't say that just yet. We've got a summer to go.

By gosh, we're going to win some football games. You wait and see.

How have prospects responded to the change?

It was slow to begin with. It's very different for them to understand what's happened in terms of change. Once people get around our staff, they immediately see the energy, the passion and the commitment.

There is no doubt we're going to be in the hunt if we get them on campus.

Will academics be a major hurdle in recruiting?

They don't all have to be great students. That's a misnomer and an excuse that's been used.

How can Duke basketball help you?

The first thing we have is name recognition. Lord, if we didn't have a basketball team, we wouldn't have any name recognition.

How is recruiting for 2009 going?

People know we're going to throw the football and be putting great offenses on the field.

We're going into the same areas as (Duke) basketball and lacrosse and getting great receptions.

We intend to sign really good North Carolina football players. We've already gotten a really good jump start on that. We've gotten tremendous interest. Once we get one or two of these young men committed, the ball is going to start dropping in our direction.

How difficult was it to leave good friend/UT head coach Phillip Fulmer for another job a second time?

It was difficult. But I let him know up front (when Cutcliffe was re-hired following the 2005 season) that I would be looking for a head coaching opportunity and if I did (get another job), I'd probably be taking some people with me. With that knowledge on the front end, it wasn't as difficult as you might think.

It's a perfect time (for UT). Look at the veteran offense. When you have a veteran offensive line, they can handle change. You don't want to do that with a bunch of rookies coming back. You've got depth and veteran players in receiver and running back.

What do you think of UT quarterback Jonathan Crompton?

He's a playmaker. He's a really fierce competitor. You have to bridle guys like that because they think they can make all the throws.

He's a guy that has a really quick throwing motion. If he'll take the ball to the right place and do the right thing, he's going to make a bunch of big plays.

You saw it in flashes when he played as a freshman in very difficult games against Arkansas and LSU.

I didn't have him bridled enough to not make the mistakes that are going to get you beat. I think his maturity level, from what I could tell at the end of my tenure there, had just gone up leaps and bounds.

He was ready to take off.