NFL.com reports Duke’s football coach uninterested in Michigan job

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe reportedly turned down an approach for the Michigan job, according to NFL.com’s Gil Brandt. It should also be noted that Michigan’s Rivals site disputes that he was ever offered the job and Duke reporter Laura Keeley denies contact.

On its face, the statement “Duke football coach turns down opportunity at Michigan” is one of the more farcical things one can imagine regarding college football, a sport stuffed to the gills with farces. However, the circumstances surrounding this actually make it plausible.

Cutcliffe has turned perennial doormat Duke into a competent program, winning 19 games over the past two seasons. He’s 40-47 overall at Duke, which doesn’t look great at first glance, but that’s fantastic given the program’s history. Under Cutcliffe, the Blue Devils finished ranked for the first time since 1962, won their first ACC division title, and went to a bowl game for the first time since 1995. He’s been at Duke seven years now, and at age 60, Durham could very well be the place Cutcliffe decides to spend the rest of his coaching career. He’s built himself a treasure chest of goodwill with the university and fans, and can just go about winning games in a relatively low-pressure environment.

Is there more to it than just that? Probably. But in this particular set of circumstances, it’s not unreasonable to think Cutcliffe would be content to stay at Duke rather than take on a high-pressure job at Michigan.