Butch Davis wants to coach the Miami Hurricanes again
By John Buhler
Butch Davis wants the University of Miami to consider him for their newly vacated head coaching position with the football team.
Fifteen years later, Butch Davis is all about The U! The former head coach of the Miami Hurricanes from 1995 to 2000 wants the University of Miami to seriously consider him as a candidate for the now vacant head coaching gig with the Miami Hurricanes.
Davis went 51-20 (33-9) in his six years leading the Miami Hurricanes to three Big East Conference Championships, helping restore the program to national prominence. Before even winning a championship with The U, Davis left beautiful Coral Gables for … the scenic shores of Lake Erie to coach the reincarnation of the Cleveland Browns.
Under head coach Larry Coker, Miami went on to win the 2001 National Championship over Nebraska and then lost a heartbreaker the next year to Ohio State. Davis did get the Browns into the playoffs in 2002 with a 9-7 record, but the front office of the Browns forced his resignation after a 3-8 start in 2004. Davis went 24-35 as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
From there he went to Chapel Hill to coach the North Carolina Tar Heels from 2007-10, having two of his 8-5 seasons vacated due to self-imposed punishments for major NCAA violations. Butch Davis has not coached since.
Would Miami revere the return of Butch Davis as the head coach of its downtrodden program? If it were to happen, it wouldn’t exactly be a gracious return to the sidelines like Kansas State’s Bill Snyder got after ending his retirement after three seasons. After all Davis DID leave The U for the Cleveland Browns.
A faction of the Miami Hurricanes’ fan base may clamor for Davis’ return to Coral Gables, but it’s not like he will get to play in a stadium that bears his own name like Snyder did in Manhattan. The Miami Dolphins may not want to play in Butch Davis Stadium in Miami Gardens.
The Hurricanes program has not looked this bad since the pre-Howard Schnellenberger days. Even then, Jim Kelly and Mark Richt were on those bad ‘Canes teams. Davis may want to restore glory to a program who was last coached by a man who would wear a dress shirt and tie in tropical South Florida, but Davis hasn’t coached in five years and the kids he will have to recruit were in diapers the last time he was all about The U. The thought of bringing back Butch Davis is a testament to the sad state the Miami Hurricanes football program is in.