'Why not us?': Butch Davis tells FIU to start thinking big
'Why not us?': Butch Davis tells FIU to start thinking big | The Herald
MIAMI
Butch Davis kept the message simple when he met with his new FIU football team for the first time Tuesday.
He rattled off a list of schools who aren't in major conferences and still found a way to get into major bowls in recent years, the likes of Boise State and Northern Illinois and Central Florida and Houston.
"If they can get into Jan. 1 bowl games, why not us?" Davis said. "Why not us?"
And with that, Davis' next rebuilding project began.
Davis' five-year contract — one that's worth about $1 million annually — was finalized Tuesday, his first day on the job as FIU's newest football coach. He hasn't seen the team play yet and is leaning against going to either of the Panthers' final two games this season, choosing for now to spend the majority of his time getting a staff together and preparing to start culling South Florida's super-fertile recruiting ground once again.
"I love this opportunity," said Davis, who has been an ESPN analyst for the last three years and sought the Miami job — his old job — that went to Mark Richt last December. "I am grateful to be here and to be the head football coach at FIU. And I look at this challenge as one that has no limits for the ceiling."
Davis was introduced to the FIU community at the school's stadium, one that hasn't had much to cheer about in the last few years.
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'Why not us?': Butch Davis tells FIU to start thinking big | The Herald