As part of the AFCA 35 Under 35 group last year in San Antonio, I had the chance to sit in and hear David Cutcliffe speak to our select group, and was left amazed with the wisdom he shared...and he was surely just scratching the surface.
A college coaching veteran who got his start in college football back at Tennessee in 1982, where he would stay until 1998 in various roles including most notably as quarterbacks coach / offensive coordinator, Cut has worked under some of the best coaches in football, and with really good college football coaches during that time.
The other day, Cutliffe got to talking about confidence and reflected back on that experience to educate everyone about how confidence is developed in football, and sports in particular.
"You can't give people confidence. It's one of the big mistakes that people make is trying to just give somebody confidence. You have to explain how they earn it...and they have to earn it."
"If you start focusing on your work, instead of what you want it to be, that's a start," Cutcliffe shares. "If you start focusing on what you want your work to be, or what you want the product to be, you forget to live in the moment, and that's not where confidence lives."
With the Blue Devils sitting at 2-1 and a night kickoff to kick off ACC action for them tomorrow night at Virginia Tech, playing with confidence will be key to getting out of Blacksburg with a win.
See Cut's full comments below.