Everyone in Cleveland remembers the Butch Davis era. It was the last time I was truly excited about a head coaching candidate hire in Berea, I think. And actually the Butch Davis era seemed headed in a decent direction until he and his buddy Pete Garcia pulled power moves that made them be-all end-alls in Berea.
As Davis sits in a cushy consultant role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had a chance to talk to the Associated Press about his career and wanting to get back to coaching, despite having been fired from North Carolina. PFT has the commentary.
Given the way his tenure at North Carolina ended, it seems unlikely that another NCAA program would trust him again. And given that Davis went 24-34 and was fired during his fourth season with the Browns, it seems unlikely that another NFL team would give him a shot as a head coach. So while the Associated Press story paints Davis as a man who burns to be a head coach and deserves the opportunity, that doesn’t seem like an opportunity Davis will get.
Too bad, really. I was excited about Butch Davis for some pretty valid reasons. The guy has shown an ability to coach football. It’s apparently many other phases of management (student athletes, NFL draft) that trip him up the most.
For a fun trip down memory lane, read about Dwight Clark’s resignation that handed football control to Butch Davis and his right-hand man, Pete Garcia. Peter King had the story back in 2002 and the quotes from Butch Davis are pretty funny to read now.
“I was surprised and disappointed to learn he was leaving,” Davis said from the NFL meetings in Houston. “I had a very good and easy work relationship with Dwight. I assumed we would be working together again in the 2002 season.”
