Bob Davie

Robert Edwin Davie Jr. (born September 30, 1954) is an American former college football coach and player.

Davie was the first assistant to become a head coach at Notre Dame since 1954, when Terry Brennan replaced Frank Leahy.

Fans were not excited about Davie's promotion.

His habit of referring to the traditions of Texas A&M University rather than those of Notre Dame alienated many fans.

Within months of his hiring, Davie and the university were sued by Joe Moore, who had been fired by Davie.

Moore alleged that Davie had defamed him, and that his firing was a result of age discrimination.

Although a judge dismissed the defamation charges, the university was later found guilty of age discrimination, and Moore received a small settlement.

Throughout much of the proceedings, fan sentiment had been on Moore's side, with many fans very unhappy with Davie.

During Davie's tenure, Notre Dame was also placed under NCAA sanctions for the first time over the actions of a booster (Kim Dunbar) who stole $1.2 million and spent it on Notre Dame players during Lou Holz time as head coach.

The school was placed on probation and lost two scholarships, and the university subsequently disbanded all booster clubs.

Following his graduation from Youngstown State in 1977, Davie took a job as a graduate assistant for the University of Pittsburgh football team, working under head coach Jackie Sherrill.

Davie then spent two years as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona before returning to the University of Pittsburgh for the 1980–1982 seasons.

He then moved to Tulane as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach from 1983 to 1984.

From 1985 to 1988, Davie served as the outside linebackers coach at Texas A&M University before serving as the school's defensive coordinator from 1989 to 1993.

During his stint at A&M, he helped further develop the "Wrecking Crew" defense, which, in 1991 was No. 1 in the nation in total defense.

In 1994, Lou Holtz, the head coach at the University of Notre Dame, offered Davie a job as defensive coordinator, at the recommendation of Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Moore.

Although Davie twice turned down this job offer, after discussing the matter with his wife he agreed to work for Holtz.

In September 1995, Davie served as interim head coach when Holtz missed a game in order to have surgery.

Under Davie, Notre Dame beat Vanderbilt 41–0.

Under Davie, the Notre Dame defense improved, and in 1996 the team set a school record for number of sacks and allowed the lowest total yardage of any Notre Dame team since 1980.

In November 1996, Holtz retired from Notre Dame after eleven seasons as head coach.

Notre Dame interviewed four candidates, including Gary Barnett, Tom Clements, and Davie.

Davie had applied for several other head coaching jobs, and was offered a position at Purdue University.

He turned down Purdue when offered the opportunity to become the next head coach at Notre Dame.

He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1997 to 2001 and the University of New Mexico from 2012 to 2019.

Following a 7–6 campaign in 1997 which saw Notre Dame overcome a 2–5 start, the Irish were poised for a major bowl bid with a 9–1 record going into their 1998 season finale against USC upon closing the door in the final seconds against LSU.

They led 39-36 with 21 seconds left in their own territory but had to kill time for four plays due to LSU having three timeouts.

On 4th down, having killed all but eight seconds, instructed his quarterback Jarious Jackson to try and scramble around in the end zone and try to take as much time as possible before taking a safety.

In five seasons at Notre Dame, Davie compiled a 35–25 record including three bowl games, most notably the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, a 41–9 loss to Oregon State, which was the first Bowl Championship Series game in school history.

His final season included the 2001 AFCA Academic Achievement Award when the Notre Dame football team posted a 100% graduation rate.

Notre Dame's performance on the field was inconsistent from year to year during Davie's tenure.

Davie worked for ESPN as a college football color commentator from 2002 to 2011.

Robert Edwin Davie Jr. was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania to Robert Sr. and June.

Davie was raised in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania.

As a student at Moon Area High School, Davie excelled in sports, lettering three times each in football, baseball, and basketball.

During his senior year, Davie served as captain of both the football and basketball teams.

The same year, his elder brother died of cancer.

Davie received a football scholarship to attend the University of Arizona.

After two weeks in Arizona, however, Davie became homesick and returned to Pennsylvania.

He soon enrolled in nearby Youngstown State University, where he was a starting tight end for three years.