LIHU‘E — Darrel “Mouse” Davis, a guru of the run-and-shoot offense, will make his return to the sidelines as an assistant coach for the University of Hawai‘i football team this season, states a press release from the UH athletic department.
Davis will coach the receivers.
“We’re very fortunate to get the architect of the run-and-shoot to come back to Hawai‘i and coach our wide receivers,” said head coach Greg McMackin. “He taught the run-and-shoot to me, June (Jones), Ron (Lee), and everyone else in the country who runs this offense.
“He’s been the single most influential person in the passing game from high school to the professional level, in my opinion. Nick (Rolovich) will continue to serve as offensive coordinator but it’s nice to have someone like Mouse to bounce ideas off of.”
From 2004-06, Davis was a member of former coach June Jones’ staff as running backs and special teams coach. In 2006, the Warriors averaged 559.2 yards of total offense, 46.9 points per game and finished with an 11-3 record.
UH also led the nation in passing offense (441.3), total offense, scoring offense and pass efficiency (185.95).
He left Hawai‘i to join Jerry Glanville’s staff at Portland State in 2007 and retired after two seasons.
“Its fun to be back at UH and I’m excited for the prospect of helping out the Warriors this season,” Davis said. “Greg’s been a great friend over the years and I’m excited to be working with Rolo with the offense. I have found that you can be an excellent receivers coach if you are allowed to work with excellent receivers. So I’m looking forward to working with a group of excellent receivers.”
A mastermind of the four-receiver offense he made popular in the United States Football League (USFL), Davis espoused the theories of a small Middletown (Ohio) High School coach Glenn “Tiger” Ellison, who wrote the book Run-and-Shoot Football: Offense of the Future. Ellison was a mentor during Davis’ tenure at Hillsboro High in Oregon.
Davis avidly read Ellison’s manual, eventually modifying and polishing it into the “Run-and-Shoot” that has terrorized defenses, amassed yardage and scoring records and turned quarterbacks into supermen at every level of football.
