Butch Davis

Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach.

He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant college football coach at Oklahoma State University and the University of Miami before becoming the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL).

Davis was born on November 17, 1951, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to Paul and Pat Davis.

He attended high school at Bixby High School in Bixby, Oklahoma where he was an all-state fullback and defensive end for the Spartans football team and graduated in 1970.

After graduation, he attended the University of Arkansas and played defensive end for the Razorbacks.

Due to a knee injury, Davis was sidelined after his freshman year and became a student assistant for the rest of his college career.

After graduation from college, he held assistant coaching positions at several high schools, including Fayetteville High School in 1973, Pawhuska High School from 1974 to 1975, and Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, Oklahoma from 1976 to 1977.

He held his first head coaching job at Will Rogers High School in 1978.

In 1979, Butch began a successful 15-year association with Jimmy Johnson, first as a receivers and tight ends coach at Oklahoma State University for the Cowboys, then later as defensive line coach at the University of Miami.

During that time, the 1987 Miami Hurricanes football team won the NCAA Division I-A national football championship.

As defensive coordinator and coach of the defensive line, he helped Johnson and new owner Jerry Jones win back-to-back Super Bowls with a Dallas Cowboys team that had gone 1–15 in 1989, Johnson's first year as head coach.

After Johnson left, Davis continued at Dallas for one more year as assistant coach under Barry Switzer.

During Davis' final year as head coach, the Hurricanes finished 11–1, their best season since coming up one win short of the 1992 national championship.

Davis followed Jimmy Johnson to Dallas, where Davis was promoted to defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 after the departure of Dave Wannstedt.

He was head coach of the University of Miami's Hurricanes football team from 1995 to 2000 and the NFL's Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2004.

Davis was hired as the head football coach at the University of Miami in January 1995.

Not long after Davis' arrival, the Hurricanes were found to have committed several violations of NCAA rules during the tenure of his predecessor, Dennis Erickson.

As a result, the Hurricanes were barred from postseason play in his first year (despite an 8–3 record) and lost 31 football scholarship spots over several years.

Davis earned a 51–20 record during his tenure as head coach.

Despite finishing second in both human polls, a quirk in the Bowl Championship Series formula resulted in the Hurricanes being shut out of that year's national championship game, the 2001 Orange Bowl.

The Hurricanes were passed over in favor of the Florida State Seminoles, even though the Seminoles had lost to the Hurricanes that year when a last-second field goal attempt sailed wide right.

The Seminoles ultimately lost the Orange Bowl to the Oklahoma Sooners 13–2.

The Hurricanes used the snub as motivation in the following season for a run to their first undisputed national championship in two decades under Davis' offensive coordinator, Larry Coker.

Ultimately, the BCS added a "quality win" bonus to its formula, which gave extra credit for beating a top-ten team.

The Hurricanes earned recognition from the American Football Coaches Association for outstanding graduation rates in each of his six seasons at Miami.

Numerous professional football players were coached or recruited by Davis in his time at Miami, such as Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Andre Johnson, Clinton Portis, Edgerrin James, Reggie Wayne and Jeremy Shockey.

Davis became head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2001, inheriting a team that won five games combined in the previous two years.

Davis led the team to a 7–9 record in his first year, missing the playoffs by a game.

In his first year, one of the most controversial refereeing moments in NFL history was Bottlegate.

His defense that year forced a league leading 33 interceptions.

The Browns posted a 9–7 record and got a playoff berth in Davis' second year, getting in after winning two close games in a row against the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons.

In 2003, a quarterback controversy erupted between Tim Couch and backup Kelly Holcomb after Holcomb, starting the 2002 playoff game for the injured Couch, threw for 429 yards and three touchdowns.

Davis would ultimately give the starting job to Holcomb, though Couch did start a few games.

Davis served as the head coach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Tar Heels football team from 2007 until the summer of 2011, when a series of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) investigations resulted in his dismissal.

He was hired by the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an advisor in February 2012.

Davis returned to head coaching duties in 2017 when he assumed the role with Florida International University.

He led the team to three consecutive bowl games from 2017 to 2019.

Davis had an acrimonious exit from the position in 2021.

Shortly before his contract expired, he accused the FIU administration of intentionally undermining the football program.