Although earlier reports were circulated that Michigan had contacted head coach David Cutcliffe about its head coaching vacancy, no contact was ever made between the parties.
Steve Wiseman of the Herald Sun reported Wednesday morning that Cutcliffe and vice president and director of athletics Kevin White actually actually had no contact with the Wolverine program.
This report came after multiple others Tuesday that suggested that Michigan had reached out to Duke's head coach, but been turned down.
247Sports.com first reported Tuesday afternoon that Michigan "gauged the early interest" of Cutcliffe. The 60-year old has repeatedly and openly expressed his desire to remain in Durham in the long-term and build a Duke program that has gone 19-7 during the past two seasons.
After initial rumors that Cutcliffe would likely not be interested in the position, Tuesday evening NFL senior analyst Gil Brandt confirmed the initial opinions and reported that Cutcliffe was offered the Michigan head coaching job, but turned it down to remain at Duke.
But it appears that the Tuesday reports were misconstrued, as sources close to the Duke football program confirmed in Wiseman's report that the Wolverines never actually contacted Cutcliffe.
Michigan's reported interest in Cutcliffe came after the firing of former Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke, who was 31-20 during his four years in Ann Arbor. Michigan went 5-7 this season and will not be making a postseason bowl appearance.
A number of college and NFL head coaches, including Louisiana State's Les Miles and the San Francisco 49ers' Jim Harbaugh are suspected to be possible candidates for the prestigious head coaching position, but Michigan has been tight-lipped about a set candidate list.
This is not the first time a big-name program has reportedly been interested in trying to lure Cutcliffe away from his rebuilding project at Duke. In January, 2010, he turned down a head coaching offer at Tennessee, where he was a tight ends coach, quarterbacks coach and later an offensive coordinator between 1982 and 1998. The Volunteers eventually hired then-Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley, who was fired in 2012 after going 15-21 in Knoxville and only winning four SEC games in three seasons.
Since turning down the offer, Cutcliffe has won 31 games, an ACC Coastal Division title and has led the Blue Devils to three straight bowl berths. He is expected to welcome the program's most talented incoming recruiting class in February and Duke currently has one of the top-ranked 2016 recruiting classes.
Check back with the Blue Zone and follow us on Twitter at @chroniclesports for the latest updates on all breaking news related to Cutcliffe and Duke football.
This blog was updated early Wednesday morning after it was officially reported that Michigan never actually made contact with Cutcliffe; earlier versions were only based on the reports that came out Tuesday.
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