Keeping Duke Football Connected

As Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe paces the sideline of Wallace Wade Stadium this Saturday, he'll count on in-person interaction with players to will the Blue Devils to a victory over North Carolina State University.

But, he'll have a technological boost when it comes to talking with assistant coaches perched hundreds of feet away in the Finch-Yeager Building, overlooking the football action. For that, he turns to Tom Falcon and Phillip Massey.

Football fans may not know these two Duke employees, but they play a pivotal part in maintaining Duke football's technological needs for game day communications. Whether home or away, they spend upward of 12 hours on Saturdays making sure Cutcliffe can chat through his headset with coaches like Kurt Roper, who coordinates offensive plays from coach's boxes high above.

"Tom and Phil are simply the best," Cutcliffe said. "They are experienced and extremely dedicated to their trade and because of their efforts, we as a coaching staff are able to effectively communicate with each other during games. Tom and Phil play critical roles within our program and we are very appreciative of their services."

Even though working with the football team is a perk, it's just part of what Falcon and Massey do. Falcon provides maintenance for DukeCard machines at campus eateries, parking lots and more, while Massey installs and repairs phone lines across campus. Their everyday responsibilities may not be as unique as game day, however.

"It's not really work, it's something we do because we enjoy football, we enjoy the direction Duke football is going and we enjoy being a part of the program," said Falcon, an electronics service technician with the Office of Information Technology (OIT). "It's fun to listen to the coaches because you hear a lot of different conversations that help you learn about plays and the game."

Hear from Kurt Roper about what it's like to call games from high up in the Finch-Yeager Building.

During Duke's upset win at Virginia Tech on Oct. 26, the pair was on the lookout during the closing minutes, as they suspected Cutcliffe would be receiving a celebratory "shower" of Gatorade from players. If his headset and other communications got wet, it would've meant hours after the game trying to dry every inch of equipment with towels.

"Gatorade gets real tacky when it dries, so we made sure to get the headset off of him before they doused him," said Massey, a communication technician with OIT who has worked Duke football games for eight years. . "We knew it was coming, it was just a matter of getting to him quick enough."

That can be the least of worries for Falcon and Massey, however. The biggest change in the job over the 30 years Falcon has worked with Duke football has as much to do with action on the field as what goes on in the stands.

"The biggest issue nowadays is wireless," Falcon said. "Everyone wants to bring their iPhones and iPads while they watch the Duke game and the bandwidth they use is within ours, so our system for the coaches hops frequencies to keep finding the best channel for a wireless connection."

Despite all the challenges they may run into, Falcon and Massey said they love their job with Duke football because of the insight it's provided them into the game, the coaches and the players.

"Fans don't see all that goes on along the sideline, they can't see the emotion on players faces and how much they care," Massey said. "I've learned a whole new respect for football."