Duke football’s David Cutcliffe hires new cornerbacks coach
With spring practice less than two weeks away, David Cutcliffe found an up-and-coming coach to fill the opening on his staff.
On Friday morning, Duke announced the hiring of Chris Hampton, a Tulane assistant the past four seasons, to coach cornerbacks.
Hampton fills the staff opening caused when Derek Jones, who coached defensive backs at Duke for the past 12 seasons, left last week for Texas Tech.
“We are excited for Coach Hampton to join us here at Duke,” Cutcliffe said in a statement released by the school. “His experience both as a student-athlete and coach will pay immediate dividends within our program. Coach Hampton has earned the respect of many coaches and administrators within the coaching industry and I’m confident he will make a smooth transition into our defensive staff room.”
Hampton played safety at South Carolina from 2004-07, winning the team’s award for the highest grade point average, before embarking on his coaching career. He coached as a graduate assistant at Arkansas State (2008) and Georgia Tech (2009-10) before coaching full time at Central Arkansas (2011), McNeese State (2012-14) and Tulane (2015-19).
“I’m both honored and excited to be joining the Duke football family,” Hampton said in a statement released by Duke. “I’m extremely thankful that Coach Cutcliffe has given me this opportunity and I’m looking forward to learning under him. I can’t wait to get to work with our current players as well start recruiting future Blue Devils.”
Duke begins spring practice on March 2, also holding practices March 4 and 6 before spring break begins. The Blue Devils resume their practices on March 18. The team’s spring showcase event is scheduled for April 4.
Hampton and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri, who is Duke’s co-defensive coordinator and play caller, will have experienced players on their watch in the defensive secondary. The Blue Devils return four starters, including junior cornerbacks Josh Blackwell and Leonard Johnson and senior safeties Marquis Waters and Michael Carter.
Duke finished tied for ninth in the ACC with nine interceptions while going 5-7 last season. The Blue Devils were tied for last in the league in passes break-ups with 42.
That said, Duke’s opponents completed only 52.4 percent of their passes. Only one other ACC team, Pittsburgh (51 percent), had a lower percentage against it.
Last season when Hampton was at Tulane, the Green Wave intercepted 12 passes — third-best in the American Athletic Conference. In 2018, Tulane led the AAC and were second nationally with 88 passes defended.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Duke football’s David Cutcliffe hires new cornerbacks coach."