Mouse Davis
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Darrel "Mouse" Davis (born September 6, 1932 in Palouse, Washington) is a veteran high school, college, and professional football coach. He helped to popularize the use of the Run & Shoot offense.
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[edit] Early life
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Mouse Davis lists Independence, Oregon as his hometown, and he is a 1955 graduate of Western Oregon University (then Oregon College of Education). Mouse gained his nickname from older brother Don while a freshman shortstop on the Central High School team in Monmouth, Oregon. Despite his 4’10” (1.47 m) stature at the time, Mouse already excelled at sports. He played quarterback and halfback on three straight championship teams from 1952-54 under Coach Bill McArthur at OCE (WOU). Davis also played basketball and baseball in college.
[edit] Coaching
Davis is the man who made the Run & Shoot offense famous, revolutionizing football back in the 1970s.[citation needed] In developing his Run & Shoot offense, Davis espoused the theories of Middletown (Ohio) High School coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, who wrote the book Run & Shoot Football: Offense of the Future. Ellison was a mentor during Davis' tenure at Hillsboro High. Davis avidly read Ellison's manual, eventually modifying and polishing it into the "Run & Shoot" that has terrorized defenses, amassed yardage and scoring records and turned quarterbacks into supermen at every level of football.
[edit] High school
Davis spent 15 seasons coaching high school football in Oregon, culminating in a 1973 state championship at Hillsboro High School. Davis also was head coach at Sunset and Milwaukie high schools in Oregon, building a combined 79-29 record among those three schools.[citation needed]
[edit] College
Mouse Davis then moved on to take the head coaching position at Portland State University, where he coached from 1975 to 1980. While at Portland State from 1975 to 1980, and at each of his subsequent stops, he helped popularized the "Run & Shoot" offense.[citation needed]
There he led the PSU football program to a 42-24 record over six seasons, averaged 38 points and nearly 500 yards of offense per game. PSU led the nation in scoring three times. The unique passing game made stars out of Davis’ two main quarterbacks, June Jones and Neil Lomax. In 1975, Jones, now the current Southern Methodist University and former University of Hawaiʻi head coach, threw for a Division II - record 3,518 yards. Davis' next quarterback, Lomax, set NCAA records of 13,220 yards and 106 touchdowns in 42 games. Under Davis' direction, Portland State set 20 NCAA Division II offensive records in addition to the Vikings being named the NCAA's all-time point producers in 1980, scoring 541 points in 11 games for 49.2 points per game, along with 434.9 yards passing and 504.3 yards of total offense per game.[citation needed] After coaching at Portland State, Davis went on to coach at UC Berkeley.
The past three seasons, Davis served as an assistant coach for Jones at Hawaiʻi. The Warriors employed the Run & Shoot offense and averaged 559.2 yards of total offense, 46.9 points and produced a 10-3 record in 2006. Hawaiʻi led the nation in passing offense (441.3), total offense, scoring offense and pass efficiency (185.95).[citation needed] Then in February 2007, he returned to Portland State to serve as offensive coordinator for new PSU head coach Jerry Glanville's staff.
Davis was an inaugural member of the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1997.
[edit] Professional
Davis has been head coach of the now-defunct USFL's Denver Gold, the WLAF's New York/New Jersey Knights, and the Arena Football League's Detroit Fury. He was also an assistant coach with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions and with the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League.
In 1982, Davis joined the Toronto Argonauts as offensive coordinator and turned the team into a contender instantly with his pass-happy club. Led by his tandem of QB's Condredge Holloway (Tennessee) and Joe Barnes (Texas Tech), Davis' Argos lost in the Grey Cup in 1982 to the Warren Moon led Edmonton Eskimos.
In 1983, Davis helped lead the Argos to their first Grey Cup in 31 years with an 18-17 win over the British Columbia Lions in the 1983 final. One of his successful players was WR Terry Greer who caught a league record 113 passes.
In 1984, Davis headed back to the US to take the offensive coordinator job with the USFL expansion Houston Gamblers. His quarterback was a rookie from the University of Miami named Jim Kelly. The "Mouseketeers" offensive unit lit up the USFL in their first year of existence passing for 5,793 yards and 45 passing touchdowns - ending their expansion season with a 13-5 record. The Gamblers offense became the first team in pro football history to have two receivers with over 100 receptions in a single season (Richard Johnson - 115, Ricky Sanders - 101).
In 1985, Davis took his first head coaching job at the professional level when he took the reigns of the Denver Gold, bringing his run-and-shoot offense to the Mile High City. He once again had a tandem of QB's in Vince Evans and Bob Gagliano. The Gold finished the season with its first playoff berth with an 11-7 mark but lost in the first round to the Memphis Showboats.
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