Cross 2 off the Tennessee list.
Duke coach David Cutcliffe quashed any speculation about him returning to Knoxville to replace his good friend and former boss, while Steve Spurrier said his current job at South Carolina will be his last as a college football coach.
“I’m at Duke, staying at Duke,” Cutcliffe said Tuesday.
Cutcliffe twice served on Tennessee’s staff and spent eight years as the Volunteers’ offensive coordinator. He came to Duke last December after a two-year stint in Knoxville and has called Fulmer “the best football coach I’ve ever been associated with.”
Cutcliffe said he was being proactive because he spoke to recruits who said other coaches had told them that he was headed to the Volunteers.
The 63-year-old Spurrier, who grew up in Tennessee rooting for the Vols, had great success during the 1990s while coaching Florida against Fulmer’s Vols. He once roiled Fulmer when he said “You can’t spell Citrus without UT,” a reference to Florida’s SEC dominance that left Tennessee to a lower-tier bowl appearance.
“Maybe five years ago I would’ve [been interested in the Tennessee job], but it wasn’t open five years ago,” Spurrier told The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C. “I’m at my last gig right here [at South Carolina]. And we’ve got a pretty good team if we can get a little offense going.”