David Cutcliffe not surprisingly stayed in-house to find a new defensive coordinator.
The school announced a slew of staff changes on Friday and the most notable among them was the promotion of Ben Albert and Matt Guerrieri to co-defensive coordinators. Albert will remain the defensive line coach while Guerrieri will shift slightly from handling safeties to being responsible for the entire secondary.
The moves come after Jim Knowles left to be Oklahoma State’s new defensive coordinator last month. Additionally, Lanier Goethie was named linebackers coach for the Blue Devils and Derek Jones earned the title of Assistant Head Coach [Defense]/Cornerbacks.
“First off, I’m really proud of how our defensive staff has handled this situation,” Cutcliffe said in a statement. “We’ve had not good, but great conversations regarding staff organization and responsibilities, and I’m proud of how unselfish Ben, Matt and Derek all have been throughout the process. All three coaches are deserving of their new roles and I’m looking forward to watching them lead our defensive unit starting with spring practice next month. And as for Zac (Roper), his impact on our program goes well beyond coordinating our offense and coaching the quarterbacks. His efforts have been and will continue to be instrumental to our overall success, both on and off the field.”
Goethie heads to Durham after spending the past two years at Louisiana Tech but is plenty familiar with the way Cutcliffe runs a program after having played linebacker for him during their time at Ole Miss. The move to bring him aboard at Duke completes the 2018 coaching staff with a full complement of 10 assistants.