IIRC, it was heavily rumored that Hammy offered Cut after Kiffin left, and he accepted on the condition that he be allowed to bring over his entire Duke staff en masse. In hindsight, that would've been better than hiring Dooley for sure. But it was certainly less than ideal. We had already employed a couple of those guys (Roper, Luke), and knew that they brought absolutely nothing to the table. So Hamilton passed, and I don't blame him.
He made it work at Dook, and so long as Cut is in charge I think he could overide those guys. Not sure who his DC would be though, and that is what perhaps the weakness would have been.
I don't care who his staff is, the offense would at least be competent with Cut as HC (note how Roper is stinking it up at Florida and Dook has not missed a beat?). IMO...