Victor San German // Contributing Writer
Welcome to a new era, FIU football fans. The expectations have changed drastically with the signing of former ESPN analyst, Butch Davis, who has had an impressive reputation during his time in the NFL as well as the NCAA football programs.
He helped lead the Dallas Cowboys in back-to-back Super Bowl championships in 1992 and 1993 under legendary Head Coach Jimmie Johnson as the defensive coordinator. From 1995 to 2000. he bolstered an overall 51-20 record as the head coach for the Miami Hurricanes. Then, he constructed one of the most dominating teams in college football history: the 2001 Miami Hurricanes.
In a short three-year stint with the Cleveland Browns as their head coach, Davis led the Browns to the playoffs in only his second year. After resigning from the Browns in 2004, he returned to college football as the head coach for the Hurricanes’ division rival, Carolina Tar Heels. He led the Tar Heels in back-to-back bowl appearances in 2008 and 2009 before being fired in 2011, due to NCAA investigations of academic misconduct and allegations of players receiving improper benefits from agents.
His previous tenure in college football didn’t exactly have a happy ending, Davis has a proven track record. After yet another losing season, Davis might be the coach the University’s football program has been looking for.
“There is unbelievable passion,” said Davis during his press conference. “There was not one time that I ever spent any time in the presence of people that had an association that you couldn’t get excited about the opportunity about being here, people love this school, they love this institution, they love the kids that are on this campus. Not just the athletes, but every student that goes to school here.”
With an entire program to work with, Davis is determined to make the football program a contending team and bring undergrad students and alumni together to support the new era of FIU football.
“We’ve got to unite those fans and those alums and get those people back in that stadium,” said Davis. “I’ve already started talking to Pete [Garcia] we got to double deck this stadium, it’s not nearly going to be big enough.”
Davis plans to get acclimated with the University and its students and show them his new Panther pride.
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