Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that SMU is possibly interested in Texas offensive coordinator [tag]Greg Davis[/tag] for their recently vacated head coaching position. Though Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds said no one from SMU had requested permission to speak to Davis a source did confirm that they had contacted him unofficially.
A surprising amount of coaching rumors today. Before the Davis to SMU rumor this afternoon there was some buzz on the Arkansas message boards that Davis was headed for retirement and former Arky offensive coordinator Guz Malzahn would be Texas’ next OC. When that rumor was brought up on Orangebloods.com, posters claiming to be “in the know” wouldn’t comment on particular coaches coming or going just that there was some smoke that one of the Texas coaches may be headed for retirement.
I’m certainly not going to claim that Davis has no faults (in fact he’s got tons of them), but he’s a solid offensive coordinator and an even better quarterbacks coach. The development of Vince Young and Colt McCoy as quarterbacks has been incredible and Davis deserves a huge amount of the credit. His gameplanning and playcalling often leave a lot to be desired but it won’t be easy to replace him if he leaves.
Texas’ offense might be more exciting with someone like Malzahn calling the shots, but I’m not sure it would be better.
We’ll keep you updated on any other juicy rumors or actual news as we hear it.
reply to #1
Rodney
November 28th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Texas would have been better off losing Greg Davis when Chris Simms was out QB. We have very good talented players and can’t seem to use it correctly, the only reason why Texas won the National Championship is because Vince Young made play after play! If it were someone else we would have still come up short. Enough is Enough… let’s bring in a new OC and get this offense rolling in the big games. We have these huge or big time receivers and can’t throw the ball down the field to stretch the defense. If we are looking to win a National championship I hate to say it but Colt McCoy will not lead the Longhorns, Big in a QB and a Very good OC and we can beat OU and A&M.
reply to #2
chris
November 28th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I agree.
reply to #3
Brian
November 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I don’t like Davis anymore than you guys do but it was his tutelage that made VY the quarterback he was. Darn near half the Texas fan base wanted Vince moved to WR after the Mizzou game in 2004. We don’t win the national championship without Davis either.
I think we need new blood for sure but Davis wasn’t the team’s biggest problem the last two years. In our losses the defense has not only given up way too many points but they’ve allowed long, grinding drives that keep the offense off the field and out of rhythm. That plus the embarrassing lack of turnovers haven’t just meant big points for the other team but hurt the offensive production as well.
reply to #4
Rob
November 29th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Are you kidding me? Davis is an idiot. He almost ruined VY by requiring him to change his throwing motion. Brown said it was a line in a book authored by Dana Bible (something about if the result are there, mechanics are less improtant) that made him get Davis to back off of requiring VY to throw over the top – but personally I believe it was the grumblings of the Houston ISD coaches about UT ruining one of the best high school athletes ever to come out of Texas and not recommending UT in the future for any of their athletes. And don’t get me started about having talents like Roy Williams, Johnson, and Sloan Thomas constantly running hooks and turnarounds intead of posts, flys and crossing patterns.
reply to #5
chris
November 29th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Brian, you are not related to Greg Davis are you? lol
reply to #6
Brian
November 29th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Ha Chris. I probably want Davis gone as much as anybody but because of dumb comments like Rob’s (that Vince succeeded despite Greg Davis) I’ve somehow had to become a Davis defender.
reply to #7
Game Ball Award
November 30th, 2007 at 12:59 am
I think you give Davis too much credit for Vince’s development Brian. It is pretty well documented that Mack Brown made the decision to “stop coaching” Vince, and just let him play. In my opinion, If you had to paint our Longhorns problem with one broad stroke, it would be talent utilization. Texas consistently recruits some of the best highschool talent in the nation, but we shelf them when they get here, via off field problems (arrests) and poor play calling. While the coaches cant make these kids obey the law, they can call better plays. I think this falls on the coordinators’ shoulders. Our defense put up some embarrassing stats this year, but to me it was obvious lack of offense hurt us the worst. Oh well….Go Dallas Cowboys!!
reply to #8
Rick
December 6th, 2007 at 9:37 am
VY himself has stated that Major Applewhite added a ton to his ability to play better. He has stated on numerous occassions that Major’s knowledge of the game is amazing.
reply to #9
Jonathan
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Brian, you are the one making dumb comments. Rob comment is shared by most Texas fans, including me. Greg Davis tried to change his throwing motion and this hurt VY for a while. It wasn’t until AFTER VY stopped running the plays called by Davis, and scrambling and calling audibles that he excelled. Colt McCoy called audibles all the time and was like a coach on the field. It’s hard to mess up great quarterbacks. These two Texas legends were great IN SPITE of Greg Davis. Chris Simms was never developed by Davis. Garrett Gilbert made the same mistakes throughout the year (not setting his feet, throwing it into crowded areas, etc). If Gilbert had been playing for Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, or a number of other teams, he would have been much better!!!
Davis’s play calling is atrocious. He calls sideways screens and reverses and his offense is the most simplistic in all of college football.
He always runs out of the shotgun, which is stupid. When Texas doesn’t use the shotgun, its not likely to be a pass either. He doesn’t mix up play calls with formations. Every other decent offense mixes up their formations, schemes, and play calling. We don’t run enough play action out of the single back formation, and we don’t pass enough when the QB is directly behind center. We run draw plays on 3rd and long. GREG DAVIS IS AT BEST AN AVERAGE PLAY CALLER. Have you watched every Texas football game like I have since 1995? Mackovic had a much better offense.
YOU CLEARLY DON’T KNOW JACK ABOUT FOOTBALL.