10 years ago, David Cutcliffe took over as head coach of the Duke Blue Devils football team. I was a Junior offensive lineman. In my previous two seasons, we had won a total of 1 game. Some members of the administration had pushed to drop the program all together. Everyone was wondering how he would turn things around? Could he turn things around?
Since taking over, Cutcliffe has absolutely turned the program around. In the last 10 years, he’s won 49 games more than the previous 8 seasons combined. People have noticed. He won both national and ACC coach of the year awards.
How did he do it? I think the best way to understand is through quotes and stories. These are top 10 quotes that are stuck in my head almost a decade after leaving the program. I was heavily impacted by his leadership, and owe a lot of life lessons to him and his coaching staff.
- “Either you do or you don’t'” Sometimes there are no shades of grey. “Either you do or you don’t” forces a decision. It also enforces realistic accountability for your actions. Thinking this way eliminates excuses.
- “You gotta love to run.” No football players love running. What kind of person loves to run? The kind of person who is so relentless, you’re scared of them. I found that if you repeat this to yourself enough times, running gets a little easier. If you convince yourself to love the worst parts of life, what could possibly stop you? Hearing this said 1,000 times was probably what made me decide to run a marathon 5 years after I graduated.
- “Discipline and conditioning.” I learned that these are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes what looks like a lack of discipline is just poor conditioning. See above. Being unfit for a task makes execution difficult or even impossible. Cutcliffe implemented after-practice runs. If one person let up before crossing the finish line, the run didn’t count. He emphasized finishing strong, no matter how tired you felt.
- “It’s not just lip-service” Do what you say you’ll do. If you can do this 80% of the time, you’ll be in the top 5% of business people. It’s so uncommon for people to stick to their word, that people who do can get ahead pretty easily. I learned to take my commitments seriously.
- “The relentless pursuit of excellence” I really appreciated this saying. It’s not about excellence, but the relentless pursuit of it. As Nick Saban says, “It’s the process.” The process based mindset has been powerful for me. As a trader, my losing trades probably totaled in the millions. As a real estate investor, I’ve made thousands of dollars worth of mistakes. When you focus on the process, the outcome is less important. Focusing on the relentless pursuit of excellence helps you stay positive.
- “We are Duke” The best way to championships is to imitate champions. I noticed a lot of details Cutcliffe implemented were copied from other teams. I thought it was weird at the time. 10 years later, I’ve learned that success is based on modeling other successful people. Almost all of my best decisions and processes were based off copying people who know more than me. I’ve already copied some things from Cutcliffe.
- “Stay off the game-day grass!” When Cutcliffe took over, he put up signs on the stadium turf. Every 10ft. they said “STAY OFF THE GRASS.” Our stadium was open to the public. But he made it clear that no one was to walk on the game-day grass. Sometimes local residents or students would ignore the signs. It was hilarious when coaches used a bull horn to ask Duke students, “CAN YOU READ.” Players, students, and locals all learned pretty quickly that the game-day grass was special. You don’t walk on it until game-day.
- “You’re fat and slow” This is how we abruptly ended our first practice under Coach Cut. He said, “I’ve got great news! I can help you! You’re the fattest, slowest team I’ve ever seen, and we can fix that.” We set a goal to lose 1,000lbs as a team. Getting into better physical shape has a life transforming power. It effects you physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Great things have always happened in my life when I decide to do something about my creeping waistline.
- “Everybody want’s to go to heaven, but don’t nobody wanna die” We want the results, but not the pain it takes to get them. There’s a great Loretta Lynn song about this. We learned there’s no substitute for hard work.
- “Do the little things right all the time” In football, all the little things really add up. Every player has to move precisely. As an offensive lineman, our first step was the most important thing we did. We literally practiced taking first steps that were 6 inches forward and 8 inches out. We worked on this every day. This attention to detail may seem silly, but it really is the difference between winning and losing.
Thanks Coach Cut. Your leadership has impacted thousands of young men for the better. I’m glad to count myself among them.