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What Changed for Butch Davis at UM?

pimpcane1 said:
Early in Butch Davis' tenure at UM, much like Mario, he was known to lose games that he had no business losing. But something clicked after losing to Washington in the 2000 season as a favorite.

What changed? And what can Mario learn from it?
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The talent grew up and the roster was super stacked more than any other team in the country by far.
 
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Regarding Butch, as much as I loved him, and not so much Coker, who was riding on Butch’s momentum, it’s all water under the bridge. What happened, happened. Combination and sequences of events matter. I’m happy with where we are today. The 2-decade drought makes today that much sweeter. Great to be a Cane!
 
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You're aware that when Butch took over in 1995, Dennis Erickson left the program in a massive lurch as ramification of Pell Grant fraud had the NCAA dropping the hammer on UM football.

The story dropped December 1995—that UM would lose 24 scholarships over the next couple of seasons—the 8-3 Canes also declining an Orange Bowl invite to play Notre Dame that season, a there was a one-game bowl ban to get out of the way.

Football lost 13 new football scholarships for the 1996-97 academic year and 11 for 1997-98; which absolutely crippled the program depth-wise—as did Erickson's drop-off in recruiting, as even his team in 1994 didn't look like the Canes of old—falling at home to Washington, 38-20, ending the 58 home-game win-streak, as well as getting outworked by Nebraska in the Orange Bowl; gassed in the fourth quarter, which wasn't on-brand for the Canes.

Butch's brilliance was in how he recruited and made every scholarship count in those lean years; no room for any misses. Needed high quality guys. This was also the era where Santana Moss came in on a track scholarship and when an Edgerrin James had the stones to pick UM knowing there would be lean years and he would have to be part of a foundation-building class in 1996. Ed Reed also showed up in 1997, when his dream school Florida State whiffed on him.

Another huge move for Davis was parting ways with maligned defensive coordinator Bill Miller after the 1998 football season and bringing in Greg Schiano in 1999. Miller's defense gave up 66 points in a loss to Syracuse and 45 points in an upset win over UCLA. He was gone after the Micron PC Bowl rout of North Carolina State—which Schiano came in with his "attack, attack, attack" defensive strategy and Miami finally looked the part on that side of the ball the next two seasons.

Miami fumbled Davis' contract, Schiano got the Rutgers offer at the time and when Butch was gone, third-choice Larry slid into the head coaching spot—unable to maintain any level of excellence once Butch's players started moving on to then NFL.

In short, Butch was losing games as a first-time head coach playing with a Miami team that slipped culturally under Erickson (go back and look at the Jammi German debacle, the Collins versus Costa quarterback controversy that Luke Campbell involved himself in, as well as the pell grant stuff that happened on his watch.) Davis had to rebuild the program culturally, which took time—while also hamstrung with the lack of scholarships early on.


Look at that 1995 team in comparison to 1993-1994—which was already a shell of the glory years. Collins / Clement quarterback carousel. The underachieving Danyell Ferguson at running back (with workhorse Daryl McMillan). German and Yatil Green at receiver and a young line; that erratic offense was brutal. Knew Miami was in big trouble after losing 31-8 at UCLA—but also the 13-7 road loss at Virginia Tech two weeks later; first times Canes ever fell to the Hokies. 41-17 at Florida State after that.

Low-scoring late-season wins: 17-14 against Boston College, 17-12 against West Virginia, etc. This was a far cry from the team Erickson inherited in 1989.
 
Speaking generally, Butch had a vision while coming into his own. His decision/regret for not staying, was his growth process, we were the casualty. Mario has a vision as well. The difference is, he’s already strides ahead of where Butch was, in coaching, not to mention the financial support the program has come into almost overnight, today.
 
filmcane said:
CFB itself would have been different if Butch had stayed. With him absorbing the BAMA-level athletes and making the Big East relevant, or at least entering the ACC and running that place like we were supposed to do, CFB would have been different and I would claim it would have been better.

Kind of reminds me of this video I saw about this forested area and how it was dying and then they re-introduced wolves and it re-vitalized the forest instead of these predators killing everything. There's a multiverse version where Butch stays and it's a MUCH better CFB world because the wolves are there to keep the balance.
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Agree. In an alternate reality Butch ends up leaving to the NFL after winning 3 natty’s from 2001-2006. We probably hire Schiano who was just off an 11-2 season at Rutgers. He gets canned a few years down the road but our 2007 like season probably comes around 2010 instead. Mario still ends up becoming coach at some point though. That was his destiny.
 
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FL Cane said:
Agree. In an alternate reality Butch ends up leaving to the NFL after winning 3 natty’s from 2001-2006. We probably hire Schiano who was just off an 11-2 season at Rutgers. He gets canned a few years down the road but our 2007 like season probably comes around 2010 instead. Mario still ends up becoming coach at some point though. That was his destiny.
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Man, I LOVE this version!! Where's the portal to enter that universe?? That really is how it should've gone down.
 
pimpcane1 said:
Early in Butch Davis' tenure at UM, much like Mario, he was known to lose games that he had no business losing. But something clicked after losing to Washington in the 2000 season as a favorite.

What changed? And what can Mario learn from it?
Click to expand...

Firing Bill Miller and hiring Schiano as DC was major upgrade
 
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He kept recruiting great players until his team was so talented it was nearly impossible to beat.

There’s no secret coaching textbook. There’s nothing specific that Butch, Schiano or Clappy were doing on the field that made them great. They signed the best players.
 
FromDeeeeep said:
Firing Bill Miller and hiring Schiano as DC was major upgrade
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That was his "Al Golden" moment of truth and he passed the test. He was good friends with Miller, but Miller should've been replaced after 97'. However, we got hammered that year because of scholly reductions, so I guess he got a pass. Miller was too freaking passive. After defensive debacles in 98', Butch knew he had to make a business move and he did.
 
Butch himself admits it was wrong to leave and if he could have a do over he would stay. He had been a coach at the NFL level and probably thought he could lead a NFL team to the championship. Money also played a part in the decision.

If Mario has the success in bringing UM back that has eluded other coaches, he has to turn a deaf ear to all of the offers from other schools and the NFL.


EGO can be a b**ch.
 
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ItsAUThing.com said:
You're aware that when Butch took over in 1995, Dennis Erickson left the program in a massive lurch as ramification of Pell Grant fraud had the NCAA dropping the hammer on UM football.

The story dropped December 1995—that UM would lose 24 scholarships over the next couple of seasons—the 8-3 Canes also declining an Orange Bowl invite to play Notre Dame that season, a there was a one-game bowl ban to get out of the way.

Football lost 13 new football scholarships for the 1996-97 academic year and 11 for 1997-98; which absolutely crippled the program depth-wise—as did Erickson's drop-off in recruiting, as even his team in 1994 didn't look like the Canes of old—falling at home to Washington, 38-20, ending the 58 home-game win-streak, as well as getting outworked by Nebraska in the Orange Bowl; gassed in the fourth quarter, which wasn't on-brand for the Canes.

Butch's brilliance was in how he recruited and made every scholarship count in those lean years; no room for any misses. Needed high quality guys. This was also the era where Santana Moss came in on a track scholarship and when an Edgerrin James had the stones to pick UM knowing there would be lean years and he would have to be part of a foundation-building class in 1996. Ed Reed also showed up in 1997, when his dream school Florida State whiffed on him.

Another huge move for Davis was parting ways with maligned defensive coordinator Bill Miller after the 1998 football season and bringing in Greg Schiano in 1999. Miller's defense gave up 66 points in a loss to Syracuse and 45 points in an upset win over UCLA. He was gone after the Micron PC Bowl rout of North Carolina State—which Schiano came in with his "attack, attack, attack" defensive strategy and Miami finally looked the part on that side of the ball the next two seasons.

Miami fumbled Davis' contract, Schiano got the Rutgers offer at the time and when Butch was gone, third-choice Larry slid into the head coaching spot—unable to maintain any level of excellence once Butch's players started moving on to then NFL.

In short, Butch was losing games as a first-time head coach playing with a Miami team that slipped culturally under Erickson (go back and look at the Jammi German debacle, the Collins versus Costa quarterback controversy that Luke Campbell involved himself in, as well as the pell grant stuff that happened on his watch.) Davis had to rebuild the program culturally, which took time—while also hamstrung with the lack of scholarships early on.


Look at that 1995 team in comparison to 1993-1994—which was already a shell of the glory years. Collins / Clement quarterback carousel. The underachieving Danyell Ferguson at running back (with workhorse Daryl McMillan). German and Yatil Green at receiver and a young line; that erratic offense was brutal. Knew Miami was in big trouble after losing 31-8 at UCLA—but also the 13-7 road loss at Virginia Tech two weeks later; first times Canes ever fell to the Hokies. 41-17 at Florida State after that.

Low-scoring late-season wins: 17-14 against Boston College, 17-12 against West Virginia, etc. This was a far cry from the team Erickson inherited in 1989.
Click to expand...

This man knows.☝️
 
HRIKN said:
Butch himself admits it was wrong to leave and if he could have a do over he would stay. He had been a coach at the NFL level and probably thought he could lead a NFL team to the championship. Money also played a part in the decision.

If Mario has the success in bringing UM back that has eluded other coaches, he has to turn a deaf ear to all of the offers from other schools and the NFL.


EGO can be a b**ch.
Click to expand...
Cleveland Brown Head Coaches to make the playoffs since 1990 (there have been 14):

Bill Belichick
Butch Davis
Kevin Stefanski
 
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