Interesting Greg Davis article in the DMN

[Vito Corleone]

Color me as one of the guys who has hated Greg Davis over the last 5 years. And I have blamed him for the gridlock in Austin.


UT's Davis the strong, silent type
UT offensive coordinator lets his coaching do the talking – no matter what his critics might say

10:33 PM CST on Saturday, December 24, 2005
By CHIP BROWN / The Dallas Morning News


AUSTIN – What will it take for offensive coordinator Greg Davis to finally win over the Texas faithful? Win the national title and find some way to keep Vince Young around for another year?

Is that asking too much?

Davis' offense leads the nation in scoring – ahead of Rose Bowl opponent USC, which is being talked about as the best offense in college football history.

This season, Texas (50.9 average) is on pace to shatter the school record of 41.4 points per game. With 611 points this season, UT could break the NCAA record of 624 set by Nebraska in 1983. And the team, with 508.4 yards a game, is also on pace to wipe out the record of 472.1, set by the school's last undefeated national championship team in 1969.

Yet there are still those who post on Internet message boards that as soon as Young moves on, Davis will return to being the evil weak link responsible for the one or two losses per year UT averaged in seven previous seasons under Mack Brown.

This comes despite Davis having directed six of the top seven passing seasons in Texas history, seven of the top nine total yardage campaigns, and the top five scoring seasons in 112 years of football.

"Greg Davis is as good a football coach as there is in the country," said Gil Brandt, former Cowboys scouting director. "I sit up there in the booth with him during games and watch him break everything down. He's smart, analytical and a great recruiter.

"A lot of guys thump their chest, and this guy doesn't say anything. He just works, keeps his head down and gets it done."

His peers have recognized Davis, 54, as one of six finalists for the Frank Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in college football. It's the second time he's been a finalist (1999).

Yet off and on for the last eight years, Davis has been blamed for everything except the gridlock rush-hour traffic in Austin.

An easy target
Davis doesn't light up a room. He's deliberate and quiet, even when misplaced blame comes his way.

"Sometimes I make the decision that Greg gets criticized for," Brown said. "But he doesn't care about credit and blame. He just wants to win."

Davis has a dry sense of humor, loves movies and country music and is a voracious, speedy reader.

Brown often has Davis read 300-page books that Brown doesn't have time for. Two days later, Davis will return them to Brown with the best parts highlighted in yellow. Davis doesn't read the sports section of the newspaper, hasn't listened to talk radio since he was a quarterback at McNeese State in the early 1970s and wants no part of the Internet.

"He's not a guy who calls a bunch of offensive meetings so he can hear himself talk," said former Texas quarterback Major Applewhite, now the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse. "He only speaks when he thinks it's absolutely necessary. His players respect him for that and look up to him like a father figure."

Davis married his wife, Patsy, while he was a freshman at McNeese State, where he led the Cowboys to the Grantland Rice Bowl in 1971. She sat in the stands and heard the boos if her husband had a bad day. After a win, the same people who booed him wanted to buy him lunch.

Brown's wife, Sally, said the criticism of Davis has been harder on Patsy than on Greg.

"Greg is willing to put up with whatever they put on him to coach at Texas," Sally Brown said. "He loves football in this state and doesn't care what people say. It's much harder on Patsy."

Davis hates that his wife and two children – daughter Stacey and son Greg Jr., who is the running backs coach at Tulane – sometimes get dragged into his work. Patsy doesn't give interviews.

"She understands you're only as good as the last 24 seconds," Greg Davis said. "That being said, I get up at 4:15 every morning during football season. Sometimes she doesn't know why."

Right now is not one of those times.

Trust goes long way
Davis' offense is balanced and fearsome. His offensive line mauls opponents, thanks to line coach Mac McWhorter, whom Davis recommended to Brown after Davis worked with McWhorter at Georgia.

Young won the Maxwell and Davey O'Brien national quarterback awards. Running backs Ramonce Taylor and Jamaal Charles average more than seven yards per carry. Receiver Billy Pittman has the nation's best yards-per-catch average (23.2), and David Thomas set every major career tight end receptions and receiving yards record at Texas this season.

"The most important thing you can have between the quarterback and the play-caller is trust," Brown said. "Vince and Greg both have a great feel for each other."

Young credits Davis with forcing him to sit down and watch film at 6 a.m. over and over during the spring and summer. Now, Young says he walks to the line of scrimmage and knows what the defense is going to do before the play begins.

"Coach Davis taught me the importance of the pre-snap read," Young said. "He's played a huge role in my development, just sitting me down and making me understand the game more. He let me know it isn't about the physical ability. It's about learning the game in the film room and also getting the guys around you to play. He's taught me a whole lot about that."

Always looking for ways to improve, Davis flew in Jim Caldwell, the Indianapolis Colts' assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach, during the off-season. Davis wanted Caldwell to teach him better ways to create play-action passes out of the Shotgun.

It paid off. Young not only leads the team in rushing (850 yards), he leads the nation in pass efficiency and leads all quarterbacks in Division I-A in yards per pass attempt (9.1).

Young said Davis is relaxed and having fun this season.

"He doesn't feed into the negative stuff, what the critics say," Young said. "He's going to call what he wants to call. He's enjoying using all the playmakers he has."

Young, a Houston native, said it took him a while to open up to Davis because Davis was the first white coach he'd ever had.

Now, Young has become Davis' staunchest defender.

"At Missouri, when I told him he was done and we were taking him out, he said, 'OK Coach, I love you,' " Davis said. "I said, 'I love you.'

"I've only done this 33 years, and that doesn't come up much on the headsets. But that's the way he is. He's a great competitor, but he's also a wonderful young man."

Davis' satisfaction doesn't come from quieting critics this season.

"I take great satisfaction in walking into that dressing room and seeing those kids dancing around," Davis said. "There's nothing like it. It must be like what you hear about people who can't get off an illegal substance. There's no feeling like it."


GREG DAVIS

Position: Texas offensive coordinator

Hometown: Groves, Texas

College: McNeese State (quarterback)

Experience: Offensive play-

caller at Tulane (1988-91), Ark- ansas (1992-93), Georgia (1994- 95), North Carolina (1996-97) and Texas (1998-present).

Notable: With injuries to his top two QBs, Davis used WR Hines Ward at quarterback for Georgia in the 1995 Peach Bowl. Ward set a school bowl record by completing 31 of 59 passes for 413 yards in a 34-27 loss to Virginia. ... Began college coaching career at

Texas A&M as QB coach (1978-84).

REUNITED

Mack Brown and Greg Davis have worked together at three schools – Tulane (1985- 87), North Carolina (1996-97) and Texas (1998-present).

They met in 1982 while recruiting the same regions of East Texas and Louisiana. Brown was the offensive coordinator at LSU, and Davis was the quarterbacks coach at Texas A&M.

Brown's two most successful seasons at North Carolina – 10-2 in 1996 and 11-1 in 1997 – came after he gave up play-calling and hired Davis as offensive coordinator. Davis became available after being let go at Georgia when coach Ray Goff was fired after the 1995 season.

THE BLAME GAME

Fans' praise for the 82 victories in eight seasons under Mack Brown seems to elude offensive coordinator Greg Davis, whereas the blame for the 19 losses seldom does.

Some of the things Davis has been blamed for (with a counterpoint):

• Failing to develop former quarterback Chris Simms. (Even Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden has said Simms can be hardheaded. And Davis doesn't seem to get credit for developing Major Applewhite and Vince Young.)

• Texas' 12-0 loss to Oklahoma in 2004, the first time the Longhorns had been shut out in 24 years. (Mack Brown wanted a conservative game plan because Young was still developing a rapport with his receivers.)

• In the four losses to the Sooners between 2000 and 2003, including 63-14 and 65-13 blowouts, receivers Roy Williams, B.J. Johnson and Sloan Thomas never caught a touchdown pass. (Simms threw seven interceptions against Oklahoma in 2001 and 2002 – more than half of those deep in OU territory – or they might have.)

• The 2003 Holiday Bowl, in which Texas abandoned its staple running play – the zone read. Instead, the Horns tried to pass against a defense that led the nation in sacks in a 28-20 upset loss to Washington State. (UT was going to the Fiesta Bowl until Kansas State upset Oklahoma that year. Brown said his players didn't want to be in San Diego, as their lack of focus indicated.)


Greg Davis - Dallas Morning News

[the_ouskull]

God Bless Greg Davis...

the_ouskull

[Van]

Brown often has Davis read 300-page books that Brown doesn't have time for.

Why do I have zero trouble believing this...

"Here ya' go coach Dubya, I even added little pictures and stuff for ya' and evurthing..."

"Sweet! Let's head on over to the titty bar!"

[Vito Corleone]

Brown often has Davis read 300-page books that Brown doesn't have time for.

Why do I have zero trouble believing this...

"Here ya' go coach Dubya, I even added little pictures and stuff for ya' and evurthing..."

"Sweet! Let's head on over to the titty bar!"

I have no problem believing this as well, Mack and his staff are the hardest working staff in America. Even before Spring practice Texas will have 4 to 6 kids committed and by the end of summer the majority of the Texas recruiting class will be committed. The guy usually only takes about 2 weeks off the entire year. Even that time is spent with the money boosters and keeping them happy.

[Vito Corleone]

God Bless Greg Davis...

the_ouskull

As much of a dumbass I think Greg Davis has been, I think he has finally found his game. Of course it is a lot easier to be the OC when you know ging in that you have the best Oline coach, WR coach and RB coach in the game preparing your guys. Even Chuck Long wasn't considered a dumbass when you were sporting a dominate Oline.

[Van]

I have no problem believing this as well, Mack and his staff are the hardest working staff in America.

How on earth can you make a sweeping claim like that? How in the fuck do you know what they do vs what Stoops' crew does vs what Tedford's crew does and all down the line, all across America...

Dude, I'm sure they're no lazy slugs but c'mon, back away from the steer cock. Get a grip. (But not on the steer cock.)

[King Crimson]

we'll see how Davis does without VY.

[Vito Corleone]

we'll see how Davis does without VY.

thats a loaded situation, no one on campus is close to Young's ability and if Vince leaves early he will be replaced with either a true freshmen or a redshirt freshmen, thats a tough situation for any team. But even if Vince does leave early I still expect to see Texas finish with no less than 9 wins.

[Jimmy Medalions]

Dude, I'm sure they're no lazy slugs but c'mon, back away from the steer cock. Get a grip. (But not on the steer cock.)

I laughed. Lots.

[War Stoops]

Vito, you might want to look for a flock of pigs flying around outside the Rose Bowl on January 4th...because it looks like I might be going to the game. A UT buddy of mine has two tickets but could only get flights into and out of Las Vegas. He wants someone to go along with him so he's not by himself on the drive to Pasadena. 10 hours of gambling + 2 hours of sleep + 3 hour drive in the desert = precarious situation. Since I've got Southwest tickets out the arse, I'm thinking of tagging along.

Are you going?

[Vito Corleone]

A couple of Ex's up here have tickets to the game and can't go so they offered me a pair for a straight Grand but I've got some projects coming up at the end of January that are too important to leave early.