Duckett was born on August 3, 1957, in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to parents Herbert Duckett and Doris Burrell. Duckett graduated from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979 and began his coaching career as the first African-American graduate assistant for the
North Carolina Tar Heels during the 1979–80 season. He was the head coach of the freshman squad of the
Harvard Crimson from 1980 to 1982. Duckett served one season stints as an assistant coach for the
Jacksonville Dolphins,
UCF Knights and
South Carolina Gamecocks from 1983 to 1986. He was an assistant coach for the
Wichita State Shockers from 1986 to 1992 and then returned to Reynolds High School as an assistant coach from 1992 to 1993. Duckett left the Rams in 2001 to return as an assistant coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks, where he served for seven seasons and was known as the team's defensive coordinator. He coached the Tigers to a 6–23 overall record and 4–14
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) record. Duckett and two of his assistant coaches, Steve Portland and Phillip Stitt, were fired by Grambling State on September 25, 2009, in the wake of the death of Tigers player Henry White, who died on August 26, 2009, as a result of a preseason training exercise; Duckett was not present at the training as he was undergoing surgery. Duckett returned to coaching when he was hired as an assistant coach for the
Tennessee State Tigers in 2011. He joined the
Miami RedHawks as an associate head coach in 2012. He had been a candidate to return as head coach of Winston-Salem State in 2018 but they hired another coach and he stayed with the Buccaneers. He then worked as a consultant for the
Houston Texans of the
National Football League until he medically retired. ==Personal life==