'I accepted without ever asking what he was going to pay me' - David Cutcliffe details how he landed at Tennessee after attending Alabama

One of the most beloved non-head coaches in Tennessee Vols history is easily former assistant coach David Cutcliffe. 

Cutcliffe, who graduated from Alabama, was a Tennessee assistant coach from 1982 to 1998 and from 2006 to 2007. He served as a tight ends coach, running backs coach, quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator, and assistant head coach during his time on Rocky Top. 

The Alabama native is most well-known for being Peyton Manning's offensive coordinator at Tennessee and Eli Manning's head coach at Ole Miss (Cutcliffe was the head coach at Ole Miss from 1998 to 2004 and he was the head coach at Duke from 2008 to 2021). 

Cutcliffe joined 102.5 The Game this week and he detailed how he went from being an Alabama graduate to one of the most famous assistant coaches in Vols history. 

"Well, it's an interesting story. I had developed a friendship with Coach (Phillip) Fulmer when he was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt," explained Cutcliffe. "And he was recruiting -- he signed one of our kids. I was a head high school football coach, doing exactly what I wanted to do -- because that's what saved my life at 15, was George White and his staff. And then Phillip went to Tennessee, and then he called me and said that Coach (Johnny) Majors -- in that era, college football didn't start quite as early -- was going to come to an August practice.

"So he came down and went to an August practice. He was supposed to be there 15 minutes, and he stayed the whole practice. And I didn't talk to him, because in that era, I was the offensive and defensive coordinator and the head coach. I had four assistants. That's how we ran it. And I didn't know what he wanted, so I called the team up and let them go. And then he came over and said, 'Can I see you in your office a minute?' I thought I was in trouble. And then he said, 'Where'd you learn to coach like that?' And I told him at Alabama how things were done. And I told him that my high school coach was exceptional.

"Coach Majors was a great practice coach," continued Cutcliffe. "He was a great strategist of the game because he'd been a single wing tailback and a free safety man. He called it a safety man, but he was calling things as a player. But he looked at me and he said, 'That may be the best high school football practice I've ever seen'. He said, 'I'm gonna call you after the season and offer you a job'. And I'm in my mind like, 'Yeah right, tell me which [player of mine] do you want?'

"And sure enough, Phillip called me and said, 'Coach Majors wants to fly you up and talk to you about the job. So that's how I ended up at Tennessee. It was an interesting trip up. I was single [at the time]. He offered me the job and I accepted it without ever asking him what he was going to pay me. And when I got my first check, I went to check with him. I said, 'Excuse me, Coach, what length is this for?' He said, 'That's for a month'. He said, 'It's not healthy for a young, single SEC assistant football coach to make too much money'. So about two years later, we're in Miami recruiting, and I had met my wife to be and I knew I wanted to get married. And I said, 'Coach, I hadn't thanked you properly'. He said, 'For what?' And I said, 'Coach, I am the healthiest assistant football coach in all of college football, but I need a raise'. But that's how I ended up at Tennessee, and very fortunate to develop the relationship with Coach Fulmer through those years, and the other coaches that we worked with."