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| Butch Davis(Photo Credit: University of Miami) |
Written By: Nathan Skinner
Canes Rising Contributor
Butch Davis wants to prove that you can go home again, and home for him is Miami. He's been very vocal about the program , he referred to his leaving in 2001 as a mistake in The U, Part 2 and he's been very outspoken about the current regime. Fans have fanned the flames by starting petitions and making comments on message boards. Butch Davis has become a mythical figure in Miami history, more so with the current regime under intense scrutiny. This legendary status has no basis in fact, and is a classic case of revisionist history. Butch Davis is a great evaluator of talent, but is awful on gameday, and lacks the dynamism to lead a major college program. Fans who believe otherwise are people who remember the run of dominance, but have conveniently forgotten everything else. Davis' tenure was one marked by sloppy play, shocking losses, and some horrible misses on the recruiting trail. This isn't to say that Davis didn't do an excellent job in rebuilding The U. He did a great job, but the beatification of Butch is premature.
During his recent interviews, Butch mentioned the "State of Miami" recruiting philosophy and criticized the current staff for deviating from the philosophy. For those that are unaware of this recruiting strategy, the "State of Miami" refers to an area that runs from Orlando south to the Florida Keys. If there's a player of interest in that broad area, Miami should be able to successfully recruit that player. Davis referred to that philosophy and pointed out that the current staff isn't recruiting local talent. Fans came across that statement, and take it as fact. What Davis didn't point out is that when he was struggling, he looked outside of the "State of Miami" for talent. When the local community turned against Butch early in his tenure, he left the state and recruited guys like Bubba Franks, Daryl Jones, Ed Reed and Jeremy Shockey. Yes, those players all turned out to be outstanding, but at the time it was looked upon as a betrayal of the local community. In fact, Butch signed nineteen players from outside of Florida in his first two seasons, compared to ten "State of Miami" recruits. Miami has always gone outside of the "State of Miami" for a significant portion of their roster. The majority of the recruited student-athletes are local, but it's not an overwhelming majority. There's always been a significant non-local contingent on the roster. Miami isn't winning because of a lack of local players, Miami is losing because players aren't being successfully developed.
Whenever Butch Davis comes up in conversation, fans point to his record as evidence of a great coach. However, that same great coach was despised by the same fanbase for that same record. Davis averaged nine wins per season in a conference in which there were 3-5 guaranteed wins per year. The Big East of the late 90s was one of the worst conferences in the country, with an impressive top end. Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Miami were the class of the league, with schools like Temple, Rutgers and Pitt being uncompetitive. Miami usually crushed the bottom feeders, then struggled to beat teams with a pulse. Davis' record against Florida State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech was a combined 6-12, with three of those wins coming in the 2000 season. Davis' struggles weren't limited to the big teams, the 'Canes were inconsistent across the board. A perfect example would be the 31-6 beating East Carolina laid on the 'Canes at the Orange Bowl. Butch Davis only had one "awful" season, going 5-6 in 1997. That season was the result of years of heavy sanctions, so that can't be blamed on Davis. However, Miami fans have to look at Davis' overall record and realize that his record is a pleasant mirage. His teams beat the teams they were supposed to, and usually lost when faced with teams with equal or superior talent. In most cases, those games were ugly routs. Some of that can be attributed to the 'Canes not having depth, thanks to the NCAA mandated scholarship restrictions, but that isn't the only cause. Butch Davis' teams were usually horribly coached and disorganized, there's a reason why Davis was referred to as "Botch" by the same group that is now pushing for his return.
Miami has been home to some outstanding coaches, men who molded players into champions. Butch Davis wasn't a great gameday coach, wasn't a great program manager, but he could identify and successfully recruit talent. Fans, desperate to reclaim the glory of previous decades have participated in a whitewashing of Butch Davis' tenure, a tenure that was mostly unsatisfactory. Miami shouldn't allow the hazy mist of yesteryear to obscure what was a flawed tenure, a tenure that finished well, but was full of awful moments. Miami should be looking towards the future, instead of living in the past.
* Statistics Provided by College Football Data Warehouse Link
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