... he wouldn't have lasted long at UT anyway.....he was a temporary fix at best, I think they want a young coach a la Saban, Meyer, etc etc.. ..
Wouldn't have lasted long? He already spent almost 20 seasons at UT. Fulmer's success was built on the back of Cut's recruits and his offense. In addition to coaching Shuler, Martin, and Manning at QB he produced 4 1,000 yd rushers in his offense. With the exception of the past 2 years at Duke, a few week association with ND, and 6 years or so at Ole Miss his entire college coaching career was spent in Knoxville.
As for a young coach ala Saban, Nick is 3 years older than Cutcliffe!
The other side of the ledger is Cutcliffe's heart condition and expectation levels. He's already won more games in two seasons at Duke than they won in something like the previous 8 or 9 years. If he wins 8 games at Duke he's a hero. Win 8 games at UT and the moving vans show up at your house and you need a food taster for your dog. Cutcliffe is also a Duke alumnus so he "gets" the place and he probably has a much easier time with his fellow alumni.
On a side note, Cutcliffe was probably Weis's best hire and his untimely resignation for heart issues ensured Weis's demise. Cutcliffe was a reknowned OC and QB mentor. When he depart ND it guaranteed that Weis would spend the major portion of his time as OC/QB Coach rather than Head Coach. Weis might have clashed with Cutcliffe but with his extensive experience as an assistant and years as a Head Coach Cut could mentor Weis during Charlie's "internship". Based upon his offense at UT, ND would have had a more balanced offense. He had some highly successful QBs, RBs, and WRs. He would have been a signifcant improvement over Haywood and Powlus.
