July 16, 2025 • 11 mins
Shaking a few things up in the SEC following his long career like others in regards to coaching and the development of players, David Cutcliffe joins Sean and Dan discussing a few great things from his tenure when coaching both of the Manning's mixed with what he does now and the role he fills currently as the Special Assistant to the Commissioner regarding all football relations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We continue her all along here from SEC Media Days
in Atlanta as a Sean Saulisbury show Sports Talk seven ninety,
Dan Matthews here in Atlanta, Sean Tripoli back in studio
and right now, pleasure to be joined by the current
special assistants, SEC Commissioner Greg Sank for football relations. He's
also a guy that knows about coaching football. He is
(00:23):
David Cutcliffe and he joins us right now. Coach, really
appreciate your time today. And you know you had experience
coming through here, sitting down, putting on the headsets, going
to the podium and doing all of those different types
of things. But I mean, how much has this whole
thing changed since you were doing that.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I have to remind our coaches, and I do all
the time. This is called Football Media Days. Come here
not to hit all the hot item buttons. Come here
to talk about your program, your team, the individual players,
your staff. Prepare yourself to focus on what matters most
(01:03):
and that's your people. So it hasn't changed in all
that many ways other than it's gotten bigger. Now I'm
talking to people in Houston, Texas, by the way, one
of the great high school football areas in this whole country.
But yeah, it's it's it's it's bigger, and it's going
(01:25):
to continue to change. But the core value system doesn't
have to change unless you've just let it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Coach at this time of year, first of all, thanks
for joining. It's always great to talk to you at
this time of year. This year start to get beads
of sweat. You're a coach, man, I know you're doing
great things. Absolutely at this time of year has got
to be you're preparing for your opener, getting your team ready.
How are you right now? And are you do you
want to coach again?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I want to, but I won't. I could coach another
seventy years if the Good Lord would let me. I
miss it.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Peyton stays on me all the time. He said, man,
you know things other people don't know. You need to
still be coaching. And then he gets Tom Moore to
call me, and Tom Moore insults me and calls me soft.
You know, Coach Moore still.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Going great boys to Coach Moore, who's been coaching for
like eighty years and is one of the greatest p
He was my coach in Minnesota. Love him and he
gave you that running a good and I'm sure Peyton's imitating.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Just cut you are soap man, going nut you?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
How are you resisted at coach? I mean, you're your guy, Peyton,
We're all we all want to know why? So why not?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I got ten grandchildren. Forty seven years of coaching. I
had in my mind maybe fifty would have been right,
but I stopped at forty seven. And I have one
of the greatest human beings as a life partner in
my wife, and I do. I pray about it, and
I've turned down jobs and opportunities. I think about the
(03:00):
fl because how much fun it would be to take
one guy and have him, you know, for eight or
nine years or whatever it may be. Because I really
think that's the place you can make a difference with
a guy. And that's why I was fortunate that Peyton
and Eli always came back and spent time. And then
I'm doing some coaching right now. Daniel Jones is gone
(03:21):
through a lot. He came and stayed with me a
week and we man, we had fun. I'm coaching him.
I got him moving around so fast. He's like, I
know I could get that tired. And I said, Daniel,
let's get going, man. You need to play faster, think
faster and anyway. Yeah, that's not an answer, but that's
(03:42):
what I feel. You can see I'm all over the play.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well, at least at least we got you can at
least thinking about it. But those grandkids, I get it. Coach,
with the impact you've made there, and you see, you've
been through a lot of changes as a coach when
you first started to where we are now. So all
that time in between and the state of college football,
do you like it?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I don't love where we are. I'm going to start
calling it higher education football because what's been life changing
about it? And Sean, you would know this, and I
believe agreed to this that the education you get on
a football field, on a football team, within the institution
of higher education is what gives you the opportunity to
(04:27):
be a successful person. And one of my favorite words
is community. And we're all involved in a lot of
different communities. And you know what my hope for all
of our players through the years is whatever community they
go to, whether it's their church community, whether it's the
community they live in their own families, that they're going
(04:47):
to have a resourceful, successful life because they're educated people.
So's that's the part, and I don't like transactional relationships.
I won't seer and genuine relationships to still be a
big part of what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
David Cutcliffe again, long time at college football coach, now
working with the SEC, join us here on the Shawn
Salisbury Show. So story comes out yesterday as me and
Sean were just talking about Arch Manning making his rounds here,
you were the first coach to offer him a scholarship.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Absolutely man day was born. I was a head coach
at Ole Missa at the time. I had a courier
to take scholarship papers over there, and I told Cooper
and Ellen, nobody will be behead of me. Now nobody.
Unfortunately I didn't stay in that position to back it
up years later, but Coop would bring Hide and Arch
(05:42):
and we'd spend time together. They Aden came up to
Duke and loved working out with him. I met with
him yesterday morning before it all started, and just you know,
to tell him I love him and wish him well.
And then I gave him the Big two and Shawn,
I'm interested in what you say of the Big two,
and he knew. He looked at me and said big two, right,
(06:03):
and I said yes, I said Number one will always
you work every day at becoming the best teammate in
the program, and right now today is a great way
to display it. Talk about your teammates. You don't have
to center anything. You're going to be asked a lot
of questions. Talk about your teammates. Number two is that
(06:24):
we don't work football. Nobody goes out and say, hey, man,
let's go work some football. You say, let's go play football.
And I said, I want to see you smile some,
but you better not forget we're playing a game. We're
playing football. Enjoy it. And you know, I think he
was appreciative of that feeling. And then I will say this.
I don't know if they'll publicize it, and maybe I
(06:46):
shouldn't say it, but I push people here. The day
before that had Archie's jersey out because Old Miss and
Kiffin were here. So I told him to go find
it and we got some pictures of arch here in
the Hall of Fame holding arch I called his dad.
We sent it to them, and I haven't called Archie yet.
(07:06):
I'm a wait till all this is over, but I'm
certain they've put it in front of them, and I
put it in front of Peyton and Eli. But that
was emotional for me to see Arch Manning holding Archie
Manning's college jersey so many years after his dad been
in the Hall of Fame. And you know, we're just
(07:28):
all of it.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Pretty cool, Well, coach, your impact on the Manning family
and vice versa. I mean, you guys relationship has been
obviously well documented, but those of us who love football
and love what you guys have done together is pretty cool.
And with Arch coming along, and you are so right
about the big two and the fact that I call
when you need to talk about talk about your teammates
to buy in. Your teammates need to buy into the
guy that's leading them, and you've got to be one
(07:50):
of them. So I'll ask you this. You've seen Eli
coached him, You've trained these guys, You've worked with these
guys in quarterbacks all over. You know, the Manning family
love when Art said, you know what, I played two games, man,
I gotta go prove it. What's going to make him
special with all this pressure on him?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, you know, it all goes what I'm and I
told I reminded Cooper of this yesterday on the phone.
He has elite work ethic, he has elite preparation focus.
If and you know this, I mean if you can
sit a lot of time and watch tape, if you're
(08:31):
not watching it correctly, if you're not charting things you're seeing,
if you're not taking notes, if you're not elite in
the process, you have no chance of being elite as
a player. He has boatloads of talent, but I can
show you other people that had boatloads of talent that
did not make an elite status. And he understands that
(08:53):
We've talked about that we're all a product of our
daily habits, not just on the field, but off and
so I think his habits are outstanding. He has a
great love for the game. He's not playing quote for money.
You would know maybe better than I. But the NFL
(09:13):
guys that were extremely successful weren't focused on playing for money.
They had a focus on being great, you know. So
I think every opportunity is there. I pray for good
health for him. That's never guaranteed. I'll remind all of
them the greatest friends you have is a run game.
(09:34):
Don't ever complain about running for four hundred yards. If
you're a quarterback, okay, and then we all know that
we're offensive lineman. Sorry, receivers. Offensive linemen are more important
than receivers, okay, because those receivers don't mind her if
your offensive line's not good enough. So a lot of
things involved. But let me tell you what he knows
(09:55):
how to work. I've worked with him personally. He knows
exactly out of work a watching practice. He makes practice
like a game. And I'm not giving that lip servers.
That's real.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Hey, coach, you know what, We definitely know that he
got grandpa's jeans. That'll give him an advantage. He may be
able to backpedal with better feet than both Peyton and
he like a bind. So he's got that advantage on question.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
He can take off and run with it. But I'm
going to remind him there's other people on that other
side of the line of scrimmage that can run right
to be smart.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Okay, that's exactly right. There you go again.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
SEC Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Football Relations and
also former college football coach David Cuckluff joined us here
on the Shawn Salisbury Show. Coach really appreciated again, and
we'll like thank you again.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Sometimes I love what you guys are doing. And we
got a great game and remember higher education football.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
There you go, coach. It's always great to talk to Sure,
appreciate you can.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Talk to you.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, there you go, David Cuckle
We continue her all along here from SEC Media Days
in Atlanta as a Sean Saulisbury show Sports Talk seven ninety,
Dan Matthews here in Atlanta, Sean Tripoli back in studio
and right now, pleasure to be joined by the current
special assistants, SEC Commissioner Greg Sank for football relations. He's
also a guy that knows about coaching football. He is
(00:23):
David Cutcliffe and he joins us right now. Coach, really
appreciate your time today. And you know you had experience
coming through here, sitting down, putting on the headsets, going
to the podium and doing all of those different types
of things. But I mean, how much has this whole
thing changed since you were doing that.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I have to remind our coaches, and I do all
the time. This is called Football Media Days. Come here
not to hit all the hot item buttons. Come here
to talk about your program, your team, the individual players,
your staff. Prepare yourself to focus on what matters most
(01:03):
and that's your people. So it hasn't changed in all
that many ways other than it's gotten bigger. Now I'm
talking to people in Houston, Texas, by the way, one
of the great high school football areas in this whole country.
But yeah, it's it's it's it's bigger, and it's going
(01:25):
to continue to change. But the core value system doesn't
have to change unless you've just let it.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Coach at this time of year, first of all, thanks
for joining. It's always great to talk to you at
this time of year. This year start to get beads
of sweat. You're a coach, man, I know you're doing
great things. Absolutely at this time of year has got
to be you're preparing for your opener, getting your team ready.
How are you right now? And are you do you
want to coach again?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
I want to, but I won't. I could coach another
seventy years if the Good Lord would let me. I
miss it.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Peyton stays on me all the time. He said, man,
you know things other people don't know. You need to
still be coaching. And then he gets Tom Moore to
call me, and Tom Moore insults me and calls me soft.
You know, Coach Moore still.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Going great boys to Coach Moore, who's been coaching for
like eighty years and is one of the greatest p
He was my coach in Minnesota. Love him and he
gave you that running a good and I'm sure Peyton's imitating.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Just cut you are soap man, going nut you?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
How are you resisted at coach? I mean, you're your guy, Peyton,
We're all we all want to know why? So why not?
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
I got ten grandchildren. Forty seven years of coaching. I
had in my mind maybe fifty would have been right,
but I stopped at forty seven. And I have one
of the greatest human beings as a life partner in
my wife, and I do. I pray about it, and
I've turned down jobs and opportunities. I think about the
(03:00):
fl because how much fun it would be to take
one guy and have him, you know, for eight or
nine years or whatever it may be. Because I really
think that's the place you can make a difference with
a guy. And that's why I was fortunate that Peyton
and Eli always came back and spent time. And then
I'm doing some coaching right now. Daniel Jones is gone
(03:21):
through a lot. He came and stayed with me a
week and we man, we had fun. I'm coaching him.
I got him moving around so fast. He's like, I
know I could get that tired. And I said, Daniel,
let's get going, man. You need to play faster, think
faster and anyway. Yeah, that's not an answer, but that's
(03:42):
what I feel. You can see I'm all over the play.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well, at least at least we got you can at
least thinking about it. But those grandkids, I get it. Coach,
with the impact you've made there, and you see, you've
been through a lot of changes as a coach when
you first started to where we are now. So all
that time in between and the state of college football,
do you like it?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I don't love where we are. I'm going to start
calling it higher education football because what's been life changing
about it? And Sean, you would know this, and I
believe agreed to this that the education you get on
a football field, on a football team, within the institution
of higher education is what gives you the opportunity to
(04:27):
be a successful person. And one of my favorite words
is community. And we're all involved in a lot of
different communities. And you know what my hope for all
of our players through the years is whatever community they
go to, whether it's their church community, whether it's the
community they live in their own families, that they're going
(04:47):
to have a resourceful, successful life because they're educated people.
So's that's the part, and I don't like transactional relationships.
I won't seer and genuine relationships to still be a
big part of what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
David Cutcliffe again, long time at college football coach, now
working with the SEC, join us here on the Shawn
Salisbury Show. So story comes out yesterday as me and
Sean were just talking about Arch Manning making his rounds here,
you were the first coach to offer him a scholarship.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Absolutely man day was born. I was a head coach
at Ole Missa at the time. I had a courier
to take scholarship papers over there, and I told Cooper
and Ellen, nobody will be behead of me. Now nobody.
Unfortunately I didn't stay in that position to back it
up years later, but Coop would bring Hide and Arch
(05:42):
and we'd spend time together. They Aden came up to
Duke and loved working out with him. I met with
him yesterday morning before it all started, and just you know,
to tell him I love him and wish him well.
And then I gave him the Big two and Shawn,
I'm interested in what you say of the Big two,
and he knew. He looked at me and said big two, right,
(06:03):
and I said yes, I said Number one will always
you work every day at becoming the best teammate in
the program, and right now today is a great way
to display it. Talk about your teammates. You don't have
to center anything. You're going to be asked a lot
of questions. Talk about your teammates. Number two is that
(06:24):
we don't work football. Nobody goes out and say, hey, man,
let's go work some football. You say, let's go play football.
And I said, I want to see you smile some,
but you better not forget we're playing a game. We're
playing football. Enjoy it. And you know, I think he
was appreciative of that feeling. And then I will say this.
I don't know if they'll publicize it, and maybe I
(06:46):
shouldn't say it, but I push people here. The day
before that had Archie's jersey out because Old Miss and
Kiffin were here. So I told him to go find
it and we got some pictures of arch here in
the Hall of Fame holding arch I called his dad.
We sent it to them, and I haven't called Archie yet.
(07:06):
I'm a wait till all this is over, but I'm
certain they've put it in front of them, and I
put it in front of Peyton and Eli. But that
was emotional for me to see Arch Manning holding Archie
Manning's college jersey so many years after his dad been
in the Hall of Fame. And you know, we're just
(07:28):
all of it.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Pretty cool, Well, coach, your impact on the Manning family
and vice versa. I mean, you guys relationship has been
obviously well documented, but those of us who love football
and love what you guys have done together is pretty cool.
And with Arch coming along, and you are so right
about the big two and the fact that I call
when you need to talk about talk about your teammates
to buy in. Your teammates need to buy into the
guy that's leading them, and you've got to be one
(07:50):
of them. So I'll ask you this. You've seen Eli
coached him, You've trained these guys, You've worked with these
guys in quarterbacks all over. You know, the Manning family
love when Art said, you know what, I played two games, man,
I gotta go prove it. What's going to make him
special with all this pressure on him?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, you know, it all goes what I'm and I
told I reminded Cooper of this yesterday on the phone.
He has elite work ethic, he has elite preparation focus.
If and you know this, I mean if you can
sit a lot of time and watch tape, if you're
(08:31):
not watching it correctly, if you're not charting things you're seeing,
if you're not taking notes, if you're not elite in
the process, you have no chance of being elite as
a player. He has boatloads of talent, but I can
show you other people that had boatloads of talent that
did not make an elite status. And he understands that
(08:53):
We've talked about that we're all a product of our
daily habits, not just on the field, but off and
so I think his habits are outstanding. He has a
great love for the game. He's not playing quote for money.
You would know maybe better than I. But the NFL
(09:13):
guys that were extremely successful weren't focused on playing for money.
They had a focus on being great, you know. So
I think every opportunity is there. I pray for good
health for him. That's never guaranteed. I'll remind all of
them the greatest friends you have is a run game.
(09:34):
Don't ever complain about running for four hundred yards. If
you're a quarterback, okay, and then we all know that
we're offensive lineman. Sorry, receivers. Offensive linemen are more important
than receivers, okay, because those receivers don't mind her if
your offensive line's not good enough. So a lot of
things involved. But let me tell you what he knows
(09:55):
how to work. I've worked with him personally. He knows
exactly out of work a watching practice. He makes practice
like a game. And I'm not giving that lip servers.
That's real.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Hey, coach, you know what, We definitely know that he
got grandpa's jeans. That'll give him an advantage. He may be
able to backpedal with better feet than both Peyton and
he like a bind. So he's got that advantage on question.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
He can take off and run with it. But I'm
going to remind him there's other people on that other
side of the line of scrimmage that can run right
to be smart.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Okay, that's exactly right. There you go again.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
SEC Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Football Relations and
also former college football coach David Cuckluff joined us here
on the Shawn Salisbury Show. Coach really appreciated again, and
we'll like thank you again.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Sometimes I love what you guys are doing. And we
got a great game and remember higher education football.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
There you go, coach. It's always great to talk to Sure,
appreciate you can.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Talk to you.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, there you go, David Cuckle
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