This year’s ALFCA Convention, scheduled for January 24th-26th at the Embassy Suites in Montgomery, has some of the nation’s top coaches slated to appear.
Executive Director Jack Wood has announced that Thursday night’s opening schedule will include Duke’s David Cutcliffe, as well as Alabama’s Nick Saban and one of the Tide’s coordinators.
Cutcliffe has been the head coach at Duke since 2008, leading the Blue Devils to unprecedented consistent success. Under Cutcliffe, in 2012 the Blue Devils ended an 18-year bowl drought and also brought the Victory Bell back to Duke after beating arch-rival University of North Carolina in 2012. The following season, 2013, Cutcliffe led the team to a second straight bowl appearance, another win over North Carolina, an ACC Coastal Division championship and the first 10-win season in school history. He also earned multiple college football coach of the year awards from the Walter Camp Foundation, the Maxwell Football Club, and the Bobby Dodd Foundation.
Cutcliffe was the head coach at Ole Miss for six seasons from 1999 to 2004. He had been a long time assistant at Tennessee prior to that, and won the Frank Broyles Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 1998 when he helped the Vols win the National Championship as offensive coordinator. He is also known as the coach of both Peyton Manning (at Tennessee) and Eli Manning (at Ole Miss).
Coach Cutcliffe has Alabama roots. He graduated from Banks High School in Birmingham and the University of Alabama. He served as an assistant coach at Banks from 1976-79 and as head coach there from 1980-1981 before taking a job on the Tennessee staff.