Duke is losing defensive coordinator Robb Smith and already has his replacement lined up, according to the Raleigh News & Observer on Saturday. The paper reports Elko is pursuing Texas A&M co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Tyler Santucci for the spot.
Smith is leaving the staff to be closer to his family in Minnesota, according to the paper. Smith was Minnesota's defensive coordinator from 2017-18.
Elko and Santucci go back nearly a decade. Santucci was Elko's graduate assistant at Wake Forest from 2014-15. The former landed the safeties job at Texas State in 2016, then re-joined Elko as a defensive analyst at Notre Dame in 2017. Santucci joined Elko at Texas A&M in 2018 in the same role.
Santucci took the linebackers job at Wake Forest in 2019, then re-joined Elko a third time in 2020, returning to College Station as linebackers coach. When Elko took the Duke head coaching position in 2022, Jimbo Fisher promoted Santucci to co-defensive coordinator.
So, Santucci has plenty of experience in Elko's system and plenty of experience coaching in North Carolina and along the East Coast. (Santucci hails from New Kensington, Pa., and played at Stony Brook.)
On the surface, Santucci joining Elko's operation a fourth time makes all the sense in the world for both sides.
In his first year at Duke, Elko improved the Blue Devils from 3-9 to 9-4. Duke lopped a yard and a half off its yards per play numbers from 2021 to '22 (7.11 to 5.52) and cut 17 points per game off its scoring average, improving from 127th (39.8 points per game allowed) to 31st (22.1).
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
"lose" - Google News
January 21, 2023 at 10:59PM
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Duke set to lose, replace defensive coordinator - Footballscoop
"lose" - Google News
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