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What if Butch Davis would've stayed at Miami? (Article)

There's a lot of revisionist history when it comes to Butch Davis' time in Miami. He was not nearly as popular as people today want to believe. He was the original "fly the banners" coach. That said he was good at assembling talent and maybe, had he stayed, the Miami machine wouldn't have fallen apart as soon as it did. The thing is, even if Butch turned down the Browns, it would only have been a matter of time before some other team threw a basket of cash at him.

Miami got lucky with a bunch of bargain basement hires and general lack of funding towards the football program when compared to other power house programs. It took the failure of Cooker, Shannon and Golden for the administration and BOT to finally admit that if they wanted to compete on a national level, they were going to have to spend some money. Those low years were inevitable as long as the program was going to try to remain cheap.
 
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Pickle Richt said:
I guarantee you were a "Fire Butch Davis" kinda guy after going 5-6 in year 3. **** the 1999 team was way more talented than the 2017 team and they lost to East Carolina and got housed at Va Tech. There's no way that someone like you who ******* about everything would be calling the coach of that team a football god.
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Yeah, 99 was a tough year. I see a lot of similarities between 99 and 17. A talented team with erratic QB play, with some frustrating losses. East Carolina and Pitt losses are similar, as they were both lost because of pitiful QB play. Wisconsin was a loss where we literally ripped a loss from the jaws of victory, much like the Penn State loss in 99. And VT was our Clemson beatdown. Clemson in 17 was much like VT in 99. A title contender, while we are still not quite there yet.

My biggest problem with Butch in 99 was not giving Dorsey a shot, since Kelly was struggling so badly at times. Against ECU you could see our guys running around wide open. I didn't want him fired, but I did want to see a new QB ASAP. Anyone with a functional brain could see what Butch was building, and how quickly he was doing it. Very, very similar to what is happening right now.

But yeah, I remember people wanting Butch fired in 99. I also remember people thinking him leaving after 2000 wasn't such a bad thing. We have some short sighted fans, that's for sure.
 
marshallrc13 said:
Even 1 step further... What if JJ had stayed. He was the best coach/talent evaluator.
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And lost more big games than anyone wants to remember. We SHOULD have won the title in 85, 86, and 88. In 88 he should have called a timeout to get the refs cleared up at ND. They gave the ball to ND on downs, not on a fumble. They were incorrect thinking it was 4th and goal. It was not. Had JJ called a timeout they could have worked it out. HUGE mistake on his part not doing everything in his power to get them to get it right. Heck, even the officials came out after the game and said they made the wrong call, that it should have been Miami's ball 1st and goal at the one. I kept the newspaper clipping until it fell apart. I'll never forget it.
 
ThomasM said:
Yeah, 99 was a tough year. I see a lot of similarities between 99 and 17. A talented team with erratic QB play, with some frustrating losses. East Carolina and Pitt losses are similar, as they were both lost because of pitiful QB play. Wisconsin was a loss where we literally ripped a loss from the jaws of victory, much like the Penn State loss in 99. And VT was our Clemson beatdown. Clemson in 17 was much like VT in 99. A title contender, while we are still not quite there yet.

My biggest problem with Butch in 99 was not giving Dorsey a shot, since Kelly was struggling so badly at times. Against ECU you could see our guys running around wide open. I didn't want him fired, but I did want to see a new QB ASAP. Anyone with a functional brain could see what Butch was building, and how quickly he was doing it. Very, very similar to what is happening right now.

But yeah, I remember people wanting Butch fired in 99. I also remember people thinking him leaving after 2000 wasn't such a bad thing. We have some short sighted fans, that's for sure.
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Kenny got his shot...unfortunately not until Kelly was injured....Butch liked KK....and to be honest...KD was killing it at Practices in 99....So yeah....Butch might of made an error in that case....
 
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3GC said:
Didn't he inherit Ray Lewis?
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And??....I said a couple of others....The team Butch inherited in 95 was NOT loaded in ANY way.....Were there a few quality players??...Absolutely....But c'mon man...the OL was an absolute Joke..minus KC Jones.....QB was a mess....RB was so-so...etc....
 
DTP said:
There's a lot of revisionist history when it comes to Butch Davis' time in Miami. He was not nearly as popular as people today want to believe. He was the original "fly the banners" coach. That said he was good at assembling talent and maybe, had he stayed, the Miami machine wouldn't have fallen apart as soon as it did. The thing is, even if Butch turned down the Browns, it would only have been a matter of time before some other team threw a basket of cash at him.

Miami got lucky with a bunch of bargain basement hires and general lack of funding towards the football program when compared to other power house programs. It took the failure of Cooker, Shannon and Golden for the administration and BOT to finally admit that if they wanted to compete on a national level, they were going to have to spend some money. Those low years were inevitable as long as the program was going to try to remain cheap.
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ROTFLMFAO at Quote..."He was Good at assembling Talent"......GOOD??.....How about BEST EVER....there is nobody in CFB History..who produced the level of talent that he produced in a 6yr Span....nobody....Not Bear Bryant...Not Saban...Not Heartattack Meyer....None......Proof is in the Pudding...
 
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caneinorlando said:
Kenny got his shot...unfortunately not until Kelly was injured....Butch liked KK....and to be honest...KD was killing it at Practices in 99....So yeah....Butch might of made an error in that case....
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We all liked KK, until we started seeing deficiencies in his play. He was an all world recruit that was going to be the next great UM QB. Had Butch started Dorsey over him too early, he'd have been slammed big time. I remember it clearly. Most fans thought Dorsey would get broken in half, and Kelly just needed more time. It was a tricky situation.

After Dorsey came in and the O caught on fire, it was pretty clear who the QB should be. Even still, we had a lot of fans that said we only did so well because Dorsey played three scrubs. My response to them was something like, "Sure, they were weak teams, but what would we have done with Kelly at QB?" Truth is, Kelly couldn't get the O to run like that no matter who we played.

I see our On in the same boat right now. We have a starting QB that just can't get the job done. However, unlike Kelly who had the Mr. Florida tag coming out of high school, Rosier does not have that. He doesn't have that hype that gets him fan support. We all saw the N'Kosi hype, and the Kelly hype was **** near exactly the same. Rosier is just the guy with experience, not the talent or fan support. Richt will pull the plug as soon as someone more talented proves they are ready.
 
Of course he wasn't popular...having to fill the shoes of JJ & DE..people have alot of nerve to Dog Butch from 95-97....He barely could field a practice for Gods sake....NOBODY wanted to touch UM with a 30ft stick...People have short memory.....
 
ThomasM said:
We all liked KK, until we started seeing deficiencies in his play. He was an all world recruit that was going to be the next great UM QB. Had Butch started Dorsey over him too early, he'd have been slammed big time. I remember it clearly. Most fans thought Dorsey would get broken in half, and Kelly just needed more time. It was a tricky situation.

After Dorsey came in and the O caught on fire, it was pretty clear who the QB should be. Even still, we had a lot of fans that said we only did so well because Dorsey played three scrubs. My response to them was something like, "Sure, they were weak teams, but what would we have done with Kelly at QB?" Truth is, Kelly couldn't get the O to run like that no matter who we played.

I see our On in the same boat right now. We have a starting QB that just can't get the job done. However, unlike Kelly who had the Mr. Florida tag coming out of high school, Rosier does not have that. He doesn't have that hype that gets him fan support. We all saw the N'Kosi hype, and the Kelly hype was **** near exactly the same. Rosier is just the guy with experience, not the talent or fan support. Richt will pull the plug as soon as someone more talented proves they are ready.
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The 1st time I saw KD at a UM practice I honestly though he was some Geek working in the Athletic Dept.....I watched KK play in HS in Tampa...Looked All World...with a absolute GUN for an arm......Great Kid as well...
 
caneinorlando said:
Did you just go Full ****** and say the 1999 Canes were more talented than UMs team now???....Please tell me you didnt say that....MAYBE at a couple of positions...but thats it.....
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Entertain me and tell me who from the 2017 team would be starting over guys from 1999. If it was “full ******” you should have no problem rattling off 15-18 positions.
 
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Butch was known as a shady recruiter. I give him credit for being a decent coach but good riddance he is not CMR.. If Butch lasted any longer we probably would have the death penalty.
 
PlanoCane said:
Butch was known as a shady recruiter. I give him credit for being a decent coach but good riddance he is not CMR.. If Butch lasted any longer we probably would have the death penalty.
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A Shady Recruiter???....ROTFLMFAO....How so??....Enlighten us.....Butchs 2000 UM Team would WAX any UG team Richt had...
 
caneinorlando said:
LoL....Yeah...he inherited RayRay....Bout the same time he inherited a 31 Scholarship Loss (11 right away)...and other sanctions....
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Scholarship losses were PAINFULL, i think we offered 6 or 7 first year. 95 was not a bad year for UM considering.
Tremayne Mack, Carlos Jones,, what Davis didn't inherit was a fullback, not one..
 
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This entire thread is "What if Butch Davis stayed At UM
3GC said:
Scholarship losses were PAINFULL, i think we offered 6 or 7 first year. 95 was not a bad year for UM considering.
Tremayne Mack, Carlos Jones,, what Davis didn't inherit was a fullback, not one..
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Good point on the FB....Tremain was a stud...But to be quite honest....little bit of a head case....
 
caneinorlando said:
And??....I said a couple of others....The team Butch inherited in 95 was NOT loaded in ANY way.....Were there a few quality players??...Absolutely....But c'mon man...the OL was an absolute Joke..minus KC Jones.....QB was a mess....RB was so-so...etc....
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Oh man, don't get me started on the mess Dennis left behind. That roster was bad. We had converted TEs on the O-line. It was a very, very sad situation. Throw in the massive scholarship reductions and it's a miracle Butch did what he did here. Yeah, there were a handful of talented players, but that does not a team make. Where were the young players Dennis left behind that could be the foundation moving forward? Man, there just wasn't much. So many holes on both lines.
 
caneinorlando said:
ROTFLMFAO at Quote..."He was Good at assembling Talent"......GOOD??.....How about BEST EVER....there is nobody in CFB History..who produced the level of talent that he produced in a 6yr Span....nobody....Not Bear Bryant...Not Saban...Not Heartattack Meyer....None......Proof is in the Pudding...
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Butch obviously had a lot to do with assembling that team no question. And yes, it is one of the best overall coaching jobs of building back a program and also making it such a powerhouse at the same time. But Butch is as much a benefactor of that team as he is a creator of it. As good as recruiter or evaluater of talent as someone can be, NO ONE can truly expect to get a team like that. They were just a lot of special players on that team. Everyone knows they essentially coached themselves. Many went on to much success in the NFL, pro bowlers and hall of famers, I'm pretty certain most of those players would have been pretty good without butch.

I think fans on both sides of this issue think if they admit credibility to the other side, it takes away from theirs. Butch did a lot of great things for us. But you can't take the prom queen back to the prom. It's over. Move on.
 
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31 Scholarships
No TV for a yr
No Bowl for a yr
The Murder of a Up and coming LBer
The #1 Sporting Publication saying you need to shut down the entire Program
The #1 Murder Capital of America
ABSOLUTELY garbage facilities...including a Grade school Weight room....
An atrocious budget for his coaching staff
A BOT that had NO problem letting Ericksons players run Amok....
All that thrown in one mans lap....then when it was time to get paid...you ***** that up...
The BOT hired Butch to right the program...
Not only did he right it under the WORST circumstances since SMU....But he made it HISTORIC....You will NEVER see such an extraordinary Eye for talent like that again...
Its been 20+ yrs....and nobody has come close.....Hate Butch all ya want....All this hate from people who've never sat down with Butch and talked FB....(I have 1,000 times)...Never sat down and discussed Life in general....Never sat down and talked about the intricacies of DL play......Just talk crap about a Man who LOVED and STILL does The University of Miami....He was given a job to do.....and not only did he Hit it outta the Park.....He made UM a Household name again....Mistakes be Damned...we all make them....
 
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