Sat next to Butch Davis, the former Miami Hurricanes, North Carolina and Cleveland Browns head coach, at an ESPN-hosted function at a local restaurant (D.C. Reeves and Aaron Suttles were also at our table). He was very engaging and entertaining and talked, of course, a lot of football.
I thought I'd share some highlights:
* Davis confirmed that he was indeed approached about the Alabama job in 2000, after Alabama fired Mike DuBose. (For timeline purposes, this occured in November as Alabama announced DuBose's firing before the end of the season.) Davis was still at MIami, where he had assembled an incredibly talented roster.
He said the approach was made initially by Larry Lacewell on Mal Moore's behalf, and that he then talked at length with Mal (whom he holds in high regard). He made the decision at the time that he wanted to stay at Miami and intended to do so -- said negotiations broke down not over money, but over a buyout clause that MIami wanted that would have paid him pennies on the dollar if he was fired but would have required a huge buyout if he choose to leave; he wanted equity so that the buyout matched what he would get paid if fired. That's why he made the decision to go to the Cleveland Browns.
He said not taking the Alabama job (UA eventually hired Dennis Franchione) was one of his biggest regrets career-wise.
* He visited Alabama in August during preseason practice. He said with the hiring of Lane Kiffin that Alabama made no changes in the running game -- plays or terminology (although I will add that at some point along the way Kiffin seems to have introduced "Student Body Left/Right," the bread-and-butter sweep used by Southern Cal) -- but that Kiffin had introduced a lot of West Coast concepts to the passing game.
He also said that a lot of things Kiffin/UA has done with Amari Cooper are taken straight from the Jerry Rice playbook and how he was used with the 49ers in their West Coast offense -- lining him up in the backfield, motioning him, moving him around in the slot, etc.
Davis spoke very highly of Kiffin and what he brought to Alabama.
* I don't remember anyone specifically asking him to pick the playoff games, but he spoke very highly of Alabama, which seems to be the team he likes best of the final four, and had questions about Florida State, particularly on defense.
* I asked him about Mario Cristobal, who got his coaching start as a graduate assistant under Davis, who said Cristobal is a very, very tough guy and that he's tough on his players and puts them through a grinder to test them and toughen them.
https://alabama.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=427&tid=208346404&mid=208346404&sid=885&style=2
I thought I'd share some highlights:
* Davis confirmed that he was indeed approached about the Alabama job in 2000, after Alabama fired Mike DuBose. (For timeline purposes, this occured in November as Alabama announced DuBose's firing before the end of the season.) Davis was still at MIami, where he had assembled an incredibly talented roster.
He said the approach was made initially by Larry Lacewell on Mal Moore's behalf, and that he then talked at length with Mal (whom he holds in high regard). He made the decision at the time that he wanted to stay at Miami and intended to do so -- said negotiations broke down not over money, but over a buyout clause that MIami wanted that would have paid him pennies on the dollar if he was fired but would have required a huge buyout if he choose to leave; he wanted equity so that the buyout matched what he would get paid if fired. That's why he made the decision to go to the Cleveland Browns.
He said not taking the Alabama job (UA eventually hired Dennis Franchione) was one of his biggest regrets career-wise.
* He visited Alabama in August during preseason practice. He said with the hiring of Lane Kiffin that Alabama made no changes in the running game -- plays or terminology (although I will add that at some point along the way Kiffin seems to have introduced "Student Body Left/Right," the bread-and-butter sweep used by Southern Cal) -- but that Kiffin had introduced a lot of West Coast concepts to the passing game.
He also said that a lot of things Kiffin/UA has done with Amari Cooper are taken straight from the Jerry Rice playbook and how he was used with the 49ers in their West Coast offense -- lining him up in the backfield, motioning him, moving him around in the slot, etc.
Davis spoke very highly of Kiffin and what he brought to Alabama.
* I don't remember anyone specifically asking him to pick the playoff games, but he spoke very highly of Alabama, which seems to be the team he likes best of the final four, and had questions about Florida State, particularly on defense.
* I asked him about Mario Cristobal, who got his coaching start as a graduate assistant under Davis, who said Cristobal is a very, very tough guy and that he's tough on his players and puts them through a grinder to test them and toughen them.
https://alabama.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=427&tid=208346404&mid=208346404&sid=885&style=2
