Ex-UM coach Davis' reunion with team 'a little weird'
By Jorge Milian

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 23, 2004

CORAL GABLES — For the first time since he bolted the University of Miami for the Cleveland Browns in February 2001, former UM coach Butch Davis was back at Greentree Practice Field on Wednesday watching the Hurricanes during their 1 1/2 -hour morning workout.

Dressed in a tropical shirt, shorts and loafers, Davis addressed the team at coach Larry Coker's invitation after practice.

"He congratulated the team and just let them know... how special they are to the former 'Canes, how they live and die with our success," Coker said.

Few UM players on the current roster have any connection with Davis. Just a handful — fifth-year seniors Joel Rodriguez, Chris Myers, Derrick Crudup, Santonio Thomas, Alton Wright, Kyle Cobia and Talib Humphrey — were recruited by Davis, and only Thomas played for him.

Davis resigned as UM coach on Jan. 29, 2001, after six seasons with the Hurricanes. He was with the Browns until Nov. 30, when he resigned, two days after a 58-48 loss to Cincinnati.

"We hadn't seen him in person since the day he walked out of here crying, the day he told us he was going to leave," said Rodriguez, a center. "So it was a little weird.

"But I was glad to see him here and in good health. You hear so many rumors on ESPN and on the radio about him having a nervous breakdown and panic attacks and all that stuff."

Peter King of HBO's Inside the NFL reported that Davis had an anxiety attack the night before his final game with the Browns and required medical assistance.

Davis, who is living in Cleveland, called Coker this week and asked permission to attend practice. Coker agreed and asked Davis to speak with the players, who are preparing to play Florida on New Year's Eve in the Peach Bowl.

Davis, accompanied by former UM director of football operations Pete Garcia, was applauded politely when introduced by Coker then spoke for a few minutes.

Myers, UM's starting right offensive tackle, said he appreciated seeing Davis but admitted that some of his teammates had "mixed emotions."

"He kind of left in a weird manner," Myers said. "Some guys didn't like it. But I kind of liked him as a coach."

Davis, who will be paid the remaining $12 million left on his Browns' contract, declined to speak to reporters.

"I'm on vacation," Davis said. "I don't get paid to do that anymore."

(College) Coaches from 2001 Form Superb Class

Notebook: Coaches from 2001 form superb class

By Gannett News Service and The Associated Press



What was it about four years ago? Acumen? A remarkable run of luck?

Twenty-five major colleges went searching for new coaches after the 2000 season, and the men they hired to guide their 2001 teams -- from USC's Pete Carroll to Miami's Larry Coker to Georgia's Mark Richt to Boise State's Dan Hawkins -- stand today as perhaps the finest class in the sport's history.

Count them:

* Three national championships in three years, won by Coker, Jim Tressel at Ohio State and Carroll. Carroll, of course, is seeking another national title in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 in Miami.

* Three more Top 10 finishes by Maryland's Ralph Friedgen (in 2001) and Richt (in 2002 and 2003).

* Fourteen bowl berths this season, including Urban Meyer's with Utah and Dennis Franchione's with Texas A&M. They were hired by Bowling Green and Alabama, respectively, four years ago, quickly found success and moved on.

* Overall, 47 bowl appearances in four years by 18 of the 25 coaches. Also among them are Oklahoma State's Les Miles, Texas Christian's Gary Patterson, Toledo's Tom Amstutz, Virginia's Al Groh and West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez.

"In my memory, it's probably as strong a class of new coaches as I've seen come on the scene," said Roy Kramer, retired Southeastern Conference commissioner.

"What you saw that year, other than maybe Pete Carroll, who'd been in the pros, was there weren't many coaches who'd (previously) made any real name for themselves as head coaches."

Indeed, 10 of the 25 -- including Coker, Richt and Meyer -- were first-time head coaches. Fifteen were first-timers in the NCAA's top-tier Division I-A.

Not everybody panned out.

John Mackovic lasted 2-1/2 seasons at Arizona. Ohio's Brian Knorr and Brigham Young's Gary Crowton were fired this year.

But the hits far outnumbered the misses. Eleven of the 25 have a .600 or better winning percentage. Eight are at .700 or better. Carroll, Tressel, Coker, Richt and Hawkins are a combined 208-42 (.832).

The group's collective winning percentage (for the schools that hired them four years ago) is .570.

LSU set to interview candidates

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Two or three interviews of candidates to become the new Louisiana State coach are planned for this week with athletic director Skip Bertman, according to Stewart Slack, chairman of the LSU board of supervisors.

Coach Nick Saban announced Saturday that he was leaving LSU to coach the NFL Miami Dolphins.

"Skip Bertman wanted to be prepared in the event that Nick (Saban) made the decision to go to Miami, and so in the last three or four days he's lined up some things," Slack said last night.

LSU officials are not yet revealing any names of interviewees, but among the possible candidates are Butch Davis, former Cleveland Browns coach; Bobby Petrino of Louisville; Kirk Ferentz of Iowa; Jeff Tedford of California; Tommy Tuberville of Auburn; Mike Leach of Texas Tech; Mike Nolan, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator; Brad Childress, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator; Jimbo Fisher, LSU offensive coordinator; and Boise State's Hawkins.

"I think the fans would be surprised at how much work has been done already," said Bertman, who described his working list as "long" and with "huge" names.

LSU began preliminary work for Saban's possible departure days after his first interview with the Dolphins on Dec. 14 and has hired a search firm. Bertman also has talked to Saban and Saban's agent, Jimmy Sexton, about potential candidates.

Bertman is leading the search with the assistance of Slack; Charles Weems, chairman of the board's athletic committee; and Richard Gill of the Tiger Athletic Foundation. Weems and Gill were instrumental five years ago in hiring Saban from Michigan State.

Saban, who was the highest-paid coach in the college game, had six years left on a seven-year, $18.45 million contract.

LSU returns most of the players with major roles on the 2004 team that finished the regular season 9-2 and plays Iowa in Saturday's Capital One Bowl. Saban had the top-rated recruiting class in the nation, according to various polls in 2004, 2003 and 2001, and he proved the Tigers can win a national championship last season when LSU beat Oklahoma for the Bowl Championship Series title in the Sugar Bowl.

Thanks for the info!

Davis had a panic attack prior to his last game as coach of the Cleveland Browns..... What's so horrible about that? I had anxiety and "choked up" feeling that I played my last high school football game, why does a coach have to be any different???

...but when it happens to a kid, people smile, parents will say, "Hey, it was the culmination of some of the best times in your life" and close friends will "rib" you a bit about it. But when it happens to a coach, he's a "wack job" and has mega health issues???? Sorry... :nope: ....I don't buy it.

Davis realized his place is not in the pro ranks. If offered the job here, and he wants it (and who's to say that he even wants it if it's offered???), I'm sure he'll succeed. You don't make it to the NFL by being mediocre. He's a proven thing.

Being an NFL coach can drain a coach, but put him in a college job, and the passion f

Being an NFL coach can drain a coach, but put him in a college job, and the passion for football and coaching return
By NEIL HOHLFELD
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES


Denver Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist says he has seen the look more than once.


Take a man and put him through the rigors of being an NFL coach. Eventually, the passion for football and joy of coaching are wrung out of that man.

Then allow him to coach at the collegiate level. And look for a changed man.

"I think the college atmosphere reinvigorates those coaches who go back," said Sunquist. "They remember why they got into coaching in the first place: to have an influence on a young man's life and to see him develop as a player.

"I've seen some of the guys as they leave the pro game after being fired have so much stress and strain. Then they'll go to the college level — and there's pressure there, too, don't get me wrong — but it seems to reinvigorate them. We're seeing it more and more."

There are increasing numbers of coaches going from the NFL to colleges, a reversal of the normal upward mobility.

This season, there were 10 former NFL coaches leading college programs, including Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey, Virginia's Al Groh and Hawaii's June Jones, all of whom will take teams to bowl games.

But the most celebrated example is Southern California coach Pete Carroll. The No. 1-ranked Trojans will play Oklahoma for the national championship in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4. A year ago, Southern Cal split the national title with LSU.

Carroll was an assistant coach or head coach in the NFL from 1984-99. After leading the New England Patriots to a 29-23 record and two playoff berths in three seasons, Carroll was fired in 1999. It seemed probable that Carroll would resurface as a defensive coordinator in the NFL.


Trojans come calling
Instead, he went back to his roots. Carroll was an assistant coach at five different colleges from 1974-83. Remembering his fondness for coaching at that level, he took the job at Southern Cal. In four seasons, the Trojans are 41-9, including a 35-3 mark the last three years.

"There is no question there is a difference," Carroll said shortly after taking the Southern Cal job. "The best way I can categorize it is after the draft when you bring in your new free agents and rookies. They follow you around and want to learn new information. That is what the college players are like all the time.

"There is a different level of enthusiasm. It's exciting to coach in that element. As a coach, you want your players to do what you ask them to do."

In many cases, the coaches who have returned to college washed out in the NFL. The number of coaches returning to college will grow by at least one next year when Steve Spurrier takes over at South Carolina after going 12-20 with the Washington Redskins in 2002-03.

Spurrier is the latest example of a hugely successful college coach who goes pro and flops.

Earlier this season, Butch Davis resigned under pressure as coach of the Cleveland Browns after going 3-8 this year and 24-36 in 3 1/2 seasons. Davis had been an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys from 1988-94 and a highly successful coach at Miami from 1995-2000 before going to Cleveland.

When the season began, Davis was the only NFL coach who had come directly from the college ranks without experience as an NFL head coach. After the flops by Davis, Spurrier, Dennis Erickson, Rich Brooks and Mike Riley within the last decade, there might be a red flag among NFL general managers for all but the most qualified college coaches.

"I think most NFL teams, if they had their druthers, would like to have somebody who has experience in the NFL," said Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese.

"The NFL is a unique place. You have to adapt to the environment, the personnel, the length of the season and all of those issues. Some guys can do it very well; other guys struggle with it a little bit."


First-hand experience
Interestingly, Reese has firsthand experience with two of the main players in this arena. He hired Carroll to be secondary coach at Minnesota in 1985 when he was defensive coordinator for the Vikings. Reese and Nick Saban were assistant coaches together with the Oilers from 1988-89.

LSU's Saban was offered the Miami Dolphins' coaching job Wednesday. According to some reports, Reese could be moving from the Titans to the Dolphins, too, as Saban's general manager. Reese denied those rumors Tuesday.

If Saban does accept the Dolphins' job, he would be wise to heed advice from Jimmy Johnson, who won a national championship at Miami (Fla.) and then went to the Cowboys and won two Super Bowls.

Let someone else worry about putting the team together and watching the salary cap and concentrate on coaching, Johnson said.

"The mistake in hiring a college coach in the NFL is that you need to hire a strong personnel man to make those decisions so a coach can just coach," Johnson said on Fox NFL Sunday. "Butch Davis didn't have that, and that's why he failed."

Howard Schnellenberger, the 70-year-old coach at Florida Atlantic University, believes that if any organization would allow a college coach to single-handedly make decisions about personnel, it is in "worse shape than anyone thinks."

"If a guy (coach) is coming out of college, he doesn't know the league and the personnel," said Schnellenberger. "So you have to put people in place who will advise you. You have to use their expertise and not let your ego get in the way.

"It takes a special kind of person to go from college to the NFL. But that doesn't mean it can't be done."

Schnellenberger was one of the originals at going from the NFL to the college game with enormous success. He coached the Baltimore Colts in 1973 and for three games in 1974.


Taking on Irsay
Schnellenberger said he was fired when team owner Robert Irsay came down to the field during a game and told him which quarterback to play. Schnellenberger said he politely asked Irsay to go back upstairs, then was fired the next day for what Irsay called insubordination.

"That just shows you there are 100 reasons why you don't succeed," said Schnellenberger. "At least in college, one guy can't fire you like that."

In 1979, Schnellenberger took over at Miami (Fla.) and won a national championship in 1984. He coached at Louisville from 1985-94.

Schnellenberger believes there is no basis in the belief that college coaches come to the NFL and fail more often than NFL assistants who are promoted. What he believes is that every coach — no matter who he is or where he is — will be fired at some point in time.

"The life expectancy of a new coach is about 3 1/2 years," said Schnellenberger. "I don't think it's only college coaches and not NFL assistants. It's just about every coach. There's luck and happenstance and more. Most jobs are open because the team doesn't have talent, so a lot of your success will have to do with getting talent, but there are a lot of other things."

Sundquist, the Denver GM, sees several reasons why college coaches might struggle at first in the NFL. First, he agrees with Johnson and Schnellenberger that a coach should stick to coaching.

"College coaches come from an environment where they recruit players, but the recruiting process and the NFL process of drafting and free agency are entirely different," he said.

"Let's say you stumble and (fail in) the first draft. Then maybe the second draft is not as good as you thought. Well, you're into your third year and people are expecting results. If you don't have the pieces in place, you're in trouble."

Sundquist says other factors that throw off college coaches are the length of an NFL season, the intensity and depth of game preparation and the caliber of opposition. As Sundquist put it, there are no non-conference games or homecoming opponents in the NFL.


Allen had it
As far as coaches who have success when they return to college from the NFL, Tampa Bay general manager Bruce Allen perhaps put it best. Allen, the son of legendary NFL coach George Allen, recalled when his father took over the Long Beach State program at the age of 72 after being out of college football for more than 30 years.

"My father started out 0-3, but he finished that season with a winning record," said Allen. "What it comes down to is this: A good coach is a good coach no matter where he's at. They know that players want direction and discipline and that you have to put in the work on preparation.

"Nothing against the current coach, but if Dick Vermeil went back to UCLA, he'd have them in the Rose Bowl in three years. If you can coach, you can coach. It helps if you know the system, but the coach and situation dictate more than anything."

Don't blame Butch: The worst coach in Browns history? Belichick, not Davis

by Peter King

Posted: Monday December 6, 2004 10:16AM; Updated: Monday December 6, 2004 4:04PM

PHILADELPHIA -- It's tough being a pro football coach in Cleveland. Butch Davis found that out last week.

When you get the gas, the talk shows are all over you. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's morning paper, wrote that "no amount of effort could knock down the walls [Davis] built between himself and his players, between himself and the people who wanted to love the team" and he was "the most inept coach of all, of whom it would have been said that his team took on his personality, except that he doesn't have one." The Akron Beacon-Journal, just down the street, wrote: "He believed that we Midwestern hayseeds knew nothing about football. We were supposed to believe this man invented the game ... The fans and media had every reason to wonder if this man had a heart ... All most players did was mess up his brilliant game plans."

The Beacon-Journal called Davis the "Browns' worst coach, ever."

But that man was still coaching at Cleveland Browns Stadium yesterday: Bill Belichick.

Patriots 42, Butch Davis-less Browns 15.

I was on a talk show on WKNR in Cleveland last week. The host, Greg Brinda, a longtime Clevelander, said something along the lines of: If Davis felt big-time pressure here, imagine what he would have felt in a market like New York or Boston or Philladelphia. Not so fast, I replied. In New York, when the Giants stink, the public turns its attention to Jason Giambi or the Knicks or the Jets or whatever else. When the Giants stink (and I know, having covered them for Newsday for four years), the media bury them and move on to find another team or player to glorify or condemn. In Cleveland, the Browns are big 365/24/7. The Indians are large, too, but it's not the same. I might be exaggerating, but it's similar to the respective attention the Cowboys and the Rangers get in Dallas, or maybe the Red Sox and the Bruins in Boston. In Cleveland, there's a No. 1 and a No. 2, and you're never confused about who's No. 1.

Cleveland likes a scapegoat, as many sports fandoms do. And last week, Davis was that scapegoat, fed to the wolves. I don't blame the Browns for cutting the cord. Not at all. It wasn't working. And while I'm not suggesting Davis will emulate Belichick and in nine years have two Super Bowl rings on his fingers, I am saying there's not a single Browniac who ever thought Belichick would have two Super Bowl championships either, unless he got them while working for Bill Parcells.

Belichick and Davis had other things in common. They were both ultra-controlling. Belichick learned from his Cleveland experience, and he also put a guy in place in New England as vice president of player personnel, Scott Pioli, who has become his sounding board and isn't afraid to tell him he's downright wrong sometimes. I never got the sense in Cleveland that Davis had that aide-de-camp who'd tell him he was screwing up. You need that as a coach. You need to know if the players, at least a majority of them, dislike and do not trust you, as my SI.com NFL colleague Don Banks reported about Davis.

I have since found out that two events in Davis' tenure turned off several key people in the Cleveland front office. One was Davis -- insanely, in my opinion -- last year ignoring the advice of consultant Ron Wolf, the best general manager in recent NFL history. Wolf analyzed every Browns player but never got a return call from Davis asking to learn the results of Wolf's film study. But this was the incident that got Davis off on the wrong foot with the Browns' scouts, according to an employee with access to the Cleveland draft room: After weeks of analyzing prospects and interviewing them, the Browns set their 2001 draft board with Georgia defensive end Richard Seymour No. 1 and Florida defensive tackle Gerard Warren No. 3. Both were available when the Browns were on the clock with the third overall choice in the first round. And the Browns picked Warren. Seymour has been a very good end (mostly) and tackle (sometimes) for Belichick's world champion Patriots; Warren has been a disappointment, and occasional miscreant, for the Browns.

Davis also was too much of a control freak. When his players were on the road, they were confined to the road hotel. If there was just a so-so restaurant in the hotel and a Ruth's Chris two blocks away, too bad. If in Cincinnati a player wanted to walk down Vine Street to get a plate of Skyline Chili, sorry. That would drive me out of my cotton-picking mind. There's a difference between discipline and telling your players you don't trust them. This clearly was a case of the latter. Maybe Davis had a reason, but locking players in the hotel on the road sends an awful message to your team.

But scapegoating in the NFL -- while a widespread practice -- is also short-sighted. The rebuilt Browns, who re-entered the NFL in 1999 after the Art Modell defection four years earlier, have a recent history of awful moves. In his book, False Start: How the New Browns Were Set Up to Fail, Beacon-Journal columnist Terry Pluto wrote that club president Carmen Policy went to owner Al Lerner in December 1998 and told him the franchise wasn't ready to get up and running by the next year. Policy asked Lerner to push the Browns' debut to '00. Lerner refused, telling Policy too much of the business plan (season tickets, sponsorships, NFL scheduling) was ready to go in '99. Pluto also says Policy admitted he never intended for Dwight Clark to be the all-decisive general manager, but that's the flow the front office took.

Clark's tenure, to be charitable, was an unmitigated disaster. Of the 61 combined picks in the '99 expansion draft and the '99 and '00 college drafts (those were double-draft picks years in rounds three through seven for Cleveland), only one, cornerback Daylon McCutcheon, is a full-time starter. So when Davis walked in from the University of Miami in '01, he was basically taking over an expansion team -- without the built-in advantages an expansion team has.

I want to say that again, just so you get the enormity of how pathetic the player selection was by this front office in 1999 and 2000: One player of the 61 picked in the first two years is a regular starter now. That is so alarmingly bad it's hard to fathom. Let's take away the 37 expansion draft picks. One of the 24 draft choices, picking first overall each year, is a regular starter in 2004.

When you want to roast Davis on the open fire, think of that.

When I talked to Davis last week, he told me what killed him with the players was having to shed $25 million from the Browns' cap after their playoff season in '02. He's right, though it's a little misleading. When he cut the injured Jamir Miller then, that lopped $14 million off the cap. So it was really only $11 million that had to be cut. And the loss of respected locker-room guys like Corey Fuller and Dave Wohlabaugh -- for subpar performance as well as money reasons -- reverberated in the locker room long after they were gone.

Davis deserves a chunk of the blame today. But more goes to Policy, Clark and the first coaching staff. On Wednesday, the day after I talked to Davis, I got a call from someone in the Browns' organization, asking if I would like to see a personnel sheet entailing the team's roster movement from '01 to '04. Sure, I said. When the e-mail came, I knew why Davis wanted me to see this. (I assume it was he who directed it be sent to me.) The salient points:

· Of the 63 players on the roster in Davis' first years, 43 of them (68 percent) are out of football.

· Only two of the 31 inherited offensive players -- Dennis Northcutt, Aaron Shea -- are still Browns.

· Not a single quarterback, offensive lineman or linebacker from the '01 team is still with Cleveland.

"When up and down the roster high picks don't make an expansion team long-term, you're going to have a problem," Davis said.

For those wondering, I simply did a keyword search on Yahoo for "Butch Davis" then clicked on recent news.

Quite a bit of information.

I'm on the fence when it comes to Butch, honestly. His credentials are impressive, but there are a ton of negative stories out there about the guy and his personality.

Just posting this stuff as I find it. Draw your own conclusions.