Tennessee Football: David Cutcliffe tells Vols he has no interest in job

David Cutcliffe is staying put with Duke leaving Tennessee football scrambling to find their next head coach after the Greg Schiano fiasco.

According to a report by ESPN, Cutcliffe has told Tennessee officials he is not interested in joining the program and plans to finish out his coaching career with the Blue Devils.

On Sunday, it appeared Tennessee had found a new head coach to replace Butch Jones in Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano. However, immediate backlash from the community and supporters nation-wide ended that discussion.

Cutcliffe is in his 10th season with Duke and has the Blue Devils bowl eligible for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The 63-year-old ended Duke’s 18-year bowl hiatus in 2012, following that up with a 10-win season and the Coastal Division title.

The Blue Devils won nine games in 2014, eight a year later and are now headed for the postseason once more.

Cutcliffe is 58-67 with Duke and 102-96 overall in his career, as he was the head coach at Mississippi for six-plus seasons, going 44-29 with wins in the Independence Bowl (three times) and Cotton Bowl. The Rebels went 10-3 in 2003 under his guidance.

The decision by Cutcliffe to ignore Tennessee comes as a bit of a surprise, as he was an assistant with the school from 1982-1998, coaching everything from tight ends to quarterbacks. Prior to heading to Ole Miss, Cutcliffe was the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterback coach from 1995-98, taking on those same three positions from 2006-07 after his stint with the Rebels.

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Under Cutcliffe’s direction, Heath Shuler and Peyton Manning had standout careers at Tennessee. In all, six quarterbacks who played for Cutcliffe have made it to the NFL including Shuler, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Erik Ainge, Thaddeus Lewis and Sean Renfree. He has also coached two current MLB players in Todd Helton and Seth Smith.