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Duke hires Texas A&M's Tyler Santucci as defensive coordinator

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph•01/24/23
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ANNAPOLIS, MD - DECEMBER 28: Duke Blue Devils defensive back Jaylen Stinson (2) hits UCF Knights wide receiver Kobe Hudson (2) during the Military Bowl between the UCF Knights and the Duke Blue Devils on December 28, 2022 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD. (Photo by Charles Brock/Icon Sportswire)

The Duke Blue Devils have honed in and hired their next defensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s college football expert Pete Thamel, the Blue Devils have hired former Texas A&M assistant Tyler Santucci to be the program’s new defensive coordinator.

After Thamel revealed the news of the hire, Duke confirmed the news with the image below from their social media account.

Former Duke defensive coordinator Robb Smith, who also worked for current Blue Devils head coach Mike Elko when he was the Aggies’ defensive coordinator, recently left the program. Smith returned back to his home state of Minnesota to be closer to his family. Elko released a statement shortly after the Blue Devils’ victory in the Military Bowl on his defensive coordinator’s departure.

“Robb and I have talked about him wanting to get back home closer to his family in Minnesota. In the end, this was just the right time for him. We appreciate Robb’s commitment to our program over the past season and wish him the best moving forward,” said Elko Via Twitter.

Santucci and Elko have a lot of history

Santucci, who is 34, first worked with the Blue Devils’ headman at Wake Forest. Elko was the Demon Deacons’ defensive coordinator, whereas Santucci was a graduate assistant from 2014 to 2015. Later down the line, in 2017, they would work together for a second time with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Again Elko was the defensive coordinator, but this time around, Santucci was a defensive analyst.

Elko’s next stop was with Texas A&M accepting their defensive coordinator position in 2018. Santucci joined him there as a defensive analyst. Santucci would leave the following season, returning to Wake Forest as the Deamon Deacons linebackers coach in 2019. The new defensive coordinator for Duke spent one year at Wake Forest before returning to Texas A&M to coach linebackers in 2020 and 2021 with Elko the Aggies’ defensive coordinator.