FIU Athletics

On Nov. 15, 2016, Butch Davis was named the fourth head coach of the FIU football program, returning to South Florida where he made a name for himself as one of the premier minds in football. A man with a proven record of success and an unyielding commitment to excellence, Davis has brought an identity and a swell of energy to the FIU football program. Davis will enter his fifth season at FIU in 2021.

Davis has compiled a 102-64 overall record in 14 years as a college head coach, including three BIG EAST Championships while coaching the University of Miami (1995-00). In that span, Davis recruited and/or coached more than 120 players that made it to the NFL, 35 of which were first-round draft picks. Davis coached in the NFL for 10 years and is still the only head coach to take the expansion Cleveland Browns to the playoffs in 2002, while winning a pair of Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach with the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990s. During his 14-year collegiate coaching career, Davis guided his teams to 10 bowl games, winning six of them, including a 37-20 victory over the Florida Gators in the 2001 Sugar Bowl.

In just three seasons, Davis has transformed the football program and has instilled a winning tradition at FIU after taking the Panthers to three-straight bowl appearances and setting a school-record for wins (9) in 2018. Davis has also won 23 games in his first three seasons at the helm, which is the most by any Panther football coach in a three-year span. Davis is also responsible for the program's biggest victory, after defeating the Miami Hurricanes 30-24 at Marlins Park in 2019. 

Three players have been taken in the NFL Draft under Davis, with two of those being quarterbacks in Alex McGough and James Morgan. FIU joined Oklahoma, LSU and Washington State as the only schools in the country to have multiple quarterbacks drafted from 2018-2020. Furthermore, FIU has had more quarterbacks selected during the 2018-20 span than all other Florida FBS schools (Florida, Florida State, FAU, Miami, UCF and USF) combined in their last five drafts. 

The 2019 season was one of resiliency, as the Panthers bounced back from an 0-2 start and injuries to earn another bowl bid to end the year. FIU finished the year with a 6-7 mark and closed out the season with a first-time trip to the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. The Panthers lost a high-scoring affair to Arkansas State but not without setting numerous individual offensive records in the process. The 2019 season was highlighted by a 30-24 victory over the Miami Hurricanes at Marlins Park in late November, as the Panthers pulled off the biggest win in program history. In addition to claiming bragging rights for the city of Miami, the win also made the Panthers bowl eligible for the third-straight season. 

In 2018, the Panthers capped the season with a 35-32 victory over Toledo at the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl as FIU finished the year with a school-best 9-4 mark. Additionally, the Panthers earned a 6-2 record in C-USA action, which was also a school record. The Panthers broke records statistically as well, most notably on the offensive side as FIU set new season marks in points (450), touchdowns (58), total offense (5,480), yards per play (6.38), passing touchdowns (27), passing yards (3,194), passer efficiency (154.7), completion percentage (65.5), yards per pass (8.3), rushing touchdowns (27), yards per rush (4.80) and sacks allowed (8).

Nationally, the Panthers ranked in the Top 10 among FBS schools for sacks allowed (3rd overall, 8 allowed), tackles for loss allowed (4th overall, 3.77), fumbles lost (9th overall, five lost) and turnovers lost (9th overall, 13 lost) in 2018. The FIU air attack was also highly ranked nationally, with the Panthers’ passer efficiency of 154.7 ranking 12th in the country, while FIU’s 34.6 points per game ranked 27th overall. Davis also saw a school-record 17 Panthers earn All-CUSA honors, highlighted by first team selections Sage Lewis and Maurice Alexander.

Much of 2018’s success on offense was due to quarterback James Morgan, who Davis coached to a C-USA Newcomer of the Year honor in his first season with the Panthers. Morgan set single-season records for touchdowns responsible for (27), total offense (2,708), passing touchdowns (26), passing yards (2,727) and passer efficiency (157.6).

In Davis’ first season at FIU, the Panthers matched a school record in wins (8), before later breaking the mark in 2018. The Panthers also earned the school’s first bowl berth since the 2011 season as FIU played Temple in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. The 8-5 mark during the regular season was the best record of any first-year head coach at FIU.

FIU finished the 2017 regular season leading the nation in red zone scoring offense converting 98 percent of its red-zone chances (39-of-40), which includes 30 touchdowns. Davis’ 2017 FIU squad not only matched the school record in wins, but the 2017 Panthers finished the regular season throwing for the second-most yards (3,031) and rushing for the third-most yards (2,069) in school history. The offense also totaled the third-most yards (5,100) and FIU scored the third-most points (333) in a season. Defensively, the Panthers’ 28.0 sacks ranked third in a single-season and the 75 tackles for loss tied for seventh overall. Davis also saw 12 Panthers earn All-CUSA honors highlighted by first team selection Thomas Owens.

Davis came to FIU after serving as a college football studio analyst, while also contributing to coverage on College Football Live, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and SportsCenter since 2014.
 
Before joining ESPN, Davis served as a consultant to the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2012 and '13 seasons. Prior to that, Davis had a long successful coaching career, including head coaching positions with the University of North Carolina (2007-10), the Cleveland Browns (2001-04) and the University of Miami (1995-00).

Davis spent four seasons at North Carolina, taking the Tar Heels to three-straight bowl games to end his tenure in Chapel Hill. Davis' UNC teams earned eight wins in his final three years, while capping the 2010 season with a thrilling, 30-27 victory over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. 

Davis was head coach for six seasons at Miami (1995-2000) and led the Hurricanes to a 51-20 record, three Big East Conference championships and four postseason bowl wins in as many appearances. His Hurricane teams finished ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 on four occasions, including No. 2 in the nation in 2000, when the Canes went 11-1 and beat Florida, 37-20, in the Sugar Bowl. 

Davis left Coral Gables following the 2000 season to join the Cleveland Browns. In his first season in Cleveland in 2001, Davis led his young team to an impressive 7-9 record, exceeding by two the expansion club’s combined victories from 1999 and 2000 (5-27). His second season as head coach resulted in the Browns earning their first playoff appearance and best regular season mark since 1994, despite 34 of the 53 players on the team’s final active roster having four years of NFL experience or less. 

Cleveland was Davis’ second stint in the NFL. While with the Cowboys from 1989-94, Davis helped Dallas post one of the most spectacular turnarounds in sports history as the Cowboys went from a lowly 1-15 squad in 1989 to one of the most dominant NFL programs in the 1990s. He was the defensive line coach in the Cowboys’ 52-17 win over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII and served as defensive coordinator in the Cowboys’ 30-13 win over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVIII. Davis was also defensive coordinator during Barry Switzer’s first season as head coach in 1994 and helped Dallas reach the NFC Championship Game, where eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco denied its bid for a three-peat. He coached three Pro Bowl starters while with the Cowboys – future Hall of Famer Charles Haley, Leon Lett and Darren Woodson. 

From 1979-94, Davis had a successful 15-year association with Jimmy Johnson, first as a receivers and tight ends coach at Oklahoma State University (1979-83), then as a defensive line coach at the University of Miami and ending with the Dallas Cowboys, where he started as a defensive line coach and was promoted to defensive coordinator. 

His coaching career began as a volunteer assistant in 1973 at Fayetteville High School in Arkansas. He had stints in Oklahoma at Pawhuska High School (1974-75) and Sand Springs High School (1976-77) as an assistant coach and at Tulsa Rogers High School (1978) in his first head coaching assignment before joining Johnson’s staff at Oklahoma State in 1979. In addition to coaching, Davis also spent 1973-78 as a biology and anatomy teacher on the high school level. 
 
A native of Bixby, Oklahoma, Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and life science from the University of Arkansas in 1974, where he played tight end and defensive end for the Razorbacks under Head Coach Frank Boyles.