How Butch Davis’ latest Miami coaching job is similar to his last one

FIU plays Miami in Week 4 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, just about a half-hour from the Panthers’ campus. For FIU coach Butch Davis, it’s a homecoming. He coached the Hurricanes from 1995 to 2000 and has a long history with the program.

He was on Jimmy Johnson’s ‘Canes staff from 1984-88, coaching the defensive line. He was on-staff for Miami’s 1987 national championship season, too. After Johnson took the Dallas Cowboys job, he followed him there. In 1995, Davis returned to Miami to become its head coach, where he went 51-20, including four bowl wins. He did so while dealing with NCAA sanctions thanks a the Pell Grant scandal.

After his Miami days, Davis spent four seasons as the Cleveland Browns head coach, and then went back to the collegiate level at UNC from 2007-10. He went 28-23 over four seasons. He was fired amid an NCAA investigation into academic fraud that had basically nothing to do with him, and the NCAA wiped out two of Davis’ three eight-win seasons in Chapel Hill.

Although Davis didn’t win a national title at Miami, he brought in a lot of the talent that gave the ‘Canes a national championship in 2001 under Larry Coker.

‘Canes blog State Of The U suggests if Davis had stayed at Miami, the program could’ve soared much higher in the early-2000s:

It was clear that Davis had much more of an affect on the program and the players [than Davis’ successor, Larry Coker]. You hear all the time from former ‘Canes who played during that time, that Davis had much more of a presence in and around the Miami program, while Coker felt like a substitute teacher.

One thing that Davis was incredible at, and something he probably had an edge over Coker was recruiting. Davis’ final recruiting class in 2000 featured some future stars, including D.J. Williams, Willis McGahee and Jonathan Vilma.

Davis learned how to be an expert at recruiting, because in fact he had to. During the mid to late ‘90s, the Canes were under NCAA investigation and had sanctions against them that disrupted recruiting. Certain seasons, Miami would only have about 12 or 11 scholarships to give out.

Still, even with the setbacks, he still recruited players like Santana Moss, Damien Lewis and Ed Reed. Though Coker had impressive classes of his own, 2002 and 2003 he still had Davis’ recruits, and following those seasons the program started to fall off.

Given the student body makeups of both schools, and the proximity of the campuses in general, there is some fan overlap in the area. He told SB Nation’s Richard Johnson:

Davis: Just speaking with the board of trustees and some of the people on the board of governors, I think that they really realize that a lot of [FIU students] maybe graduated from the University of Miami, but they may have got their law degree or their medical degree or their masters at FIU, or vice versa. They see what the football program has meant to the University of Miami; they would like the same thing at FIU.

I think there is a quarter of a million [FIU] alumni in Dade and Broward counties. There’s 50,000-plus students at FIU.

Davis: There’s several generations of people that graduated from FIU when FIU didn’t have a football program. So their allegiance — they’re season ticket holders and Hurricane fans. So, obviously, the challenge is to try and flip some of those back. Then to make sure the ones that are graduating over the last six, seven, eight years, that there’s been a football program to make sure they’re interested in the program. It’s not gonna happen overnight.

That means a focus on local recruiting — a no-brainer if you’re in FIU’s position. He also told Johnson:

“I remember that first year I was in Miami in 1984, I’m driving on I-95 and going through downtown Miami, and you can see, at like midnight, park lights were on. All over the whole city, there’s park lights on and kids are playing baseball, kids are playing basketball, they’re out playing soccer. So they’re playing all the time. I think that that unbelievably sets a precedent for the type of athleticism that is developed in the state of Florida.

“I think the roots clearly were because of how much the state focused on recruiting Florida kids. If I would say that there’s ever been any time when guys have made mistakes, is when they’ve gone out and they kinda get the [national recruiting] idea.”

Davis’ first class at FIU was 18/19 Florida prospects. His next one was 17/22, which actually feels small, and his 2019 class is likely to be overwhelmingly Floridian again.

Given his history as a successful recruiter and his connection to the city of Miami, Davis accepting the FIU job was a no-brainer.

“I’d always wondered if FIU wasn’t a potential diamond in the rough,” Davis said after taking the job. “[It’s] an untapped potential because of its tremendous location that is close to a lot of athletes. But there’s a lot more to it,” he continues. “I wanted to know about the vision for the school and what [school leaders] want out of the football program.”

Because he’s familiar with the territory, can identify good players among the hundreds of prospects in the region every year, and can develop players. The Panthers went 8-5 last season, but they did lose by a combined 113-41 to in-state foes UCF and FAU, who are something like what FIU probably wants to be. Then Davis out-recruited them both.

FIU is in the bottom five nationally in returning production this year, so a step back has always been likely. But the Panthers started 2-1 anyway, with both wins against FBS teams and the loss only by 10 to an Indiana team that’s started well. Davis is still basically getting started at FIU, but he has all the tools to have a successful run.