David Cutcliffe will retire from his 40-year career in football, effective March 31, the Southeastern Conference announced Tuesday. Cutcliffe has worked as the SEC's special assistant to the commissioner for football since 2022.
“I leave this game with a full heart and a deep sense of gratitude, especially for the young men I’ve had the privilege to coach,” said Cutcliffe. “The players have always been the reason and the reward. Watching them grow, not just as players, but as students, leaders, sons, husbands, and fathers, has been the greatest joy of my career.
“I’m equally thankful for the outstanding coaches, staff members, and administrators who worked alongside me, but it’s the relationships with our players that I will treasure most,” Cutcliffe said. “They taught me as much as I ever taught them. College football has given me a lifetime of memories and friendships, and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to be part of so many young lives.”
One of the first major college football coaches not to play the game in college, Cutcliffe attended Alabama and entered coaching as an assistant at Banks High School in Alabama in 1976. He became Banks's head coach in 1980, then entered college football as an assistant at Tennessee in 1982.
Cutcliffe remained a Volunteers assistant through 1998. He coached tight ends and running backs before moving to quarterbacks in 1990. There, he recruited and developed Peyton Manning, and helped Phillip Fulmer build one of the top programs of the 1990s. The Vols won at least 10 games and finished in the AP top-10 annually from 1995-98, capped by the program's 1998 national championship -- the first of college football's Championship Era, and the program's only claimed national championship since 1967.
That success landed Cutcliffe the head coaching job at Ole Miss, where he went 44-29 across six seasons. He recruited and developed Peyton Manning, and together the Rebels came the closest the program has come to reaching the SEC Championship, falling to eventual national champion LSU 17-14 in a de facto SEC West championship game.
Fired after one down season at Ole Miss, Cutcliffe returned to Tennessee in 2006, and then landed the head coaching job at Duke in 2008, where he won 77 games in 14 seasons and led the Blue Devils to the ACC championship game in 2013. Duke's 19 wins in 2013-14 remain the most in program history.
Cutcliffe won the Broyles Award in 1998, the SEC Coach of the Year in 2003, the ACC Coach of the Year in 2012 and '13, and five national coach of the year awards in 2013. He served on the AFCA's Board of Trustees.
“Coach Cutcliffe had a huge impact on me. During my time at Tennessee, he didn’t just coach me on throwing mechanics and reading defenses. He taught me about preparation, discipline, and what it means to be a team leader. He pushed his players because he believed in them and wanted the best for us. I’m incredibly grateful for the role he played in my career and my life, and I’m proud to call him my coach and my friend," Peyton Manning said.
“David Cutcliffe has devoted more than four decades to shaping young men and strengthening the game of football, and his influence reaches far beyond wins and championships,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “Throughout his career as a coach, mentor, and most recently as a special assistant in our SEC office, David has served college football with wisdom, integrity, and a genuine care for people. He is a teacher at heart and someone whose counsel and friendship have meant a great deal to many of us across the conference and throughout the game. We are deeply grateful for his leadership and the example he has set. I wish David and Karen every happiness in this well-earned retirement.”