DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke has agreed to a contract extension with
coach David Cutcliffe, who has the Blue Devils bowl eligible for the
first time in nearly two decades.
The school announced the agreement Wednesday. It will run through June 2019, though contract terms were not released.
The fifth-year coach -- who was Peyton
Manning's offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Eli Manning's head
coach at Mississippi -- had been mentioned as a possible candidate for
several coaching jobs after leading Duke (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast
Conference) to bowl eligibility for the first time since 1994. The Blue
Devils were also in the mix for the league's Coastal Division
championship into November and close the regular season against Miami
this weekend.
In a statement, athletic director Kevin
White said school officials are "extremely excited, if not euphoric!"
when looking into the program's future.
"To be sure, `Coach Cut' represents just
a great fit at Duke," White said. "David and the staff have done an
exemplary job of leading the program while subscribing to the highest
institutional ideals, both academically and athletically."
Cutcliffe took over in December 2007
and has a record of 21-38, which is 11 more wins than the program had
managed in the eight seasons before his arrival.
In a statement, Cutcliffe said he and
his wife, Karen, "could not be happier with the people we've associated
ourselves with here at Duke."
"We've accomplished some of the goals
we laid out five years ago," Cutcliffe said, "but are nowhere close to
where we want to be."
