'Bama's Davis Hired as Running Game Coordinator/Line Coach
by PJS
on Nov 25, 2008 3:16 PM CST
Tim Brewster acted quickly to replace jettisoned offensive line coach Phil Meyer. He has named Tim Davis the running game coordinator and line coach. Clipped from a U press release:
University of Minnesota head football coach Tim Brewster named Tim Davis as the Gophers’ running game coordinator/offensive line coach Tuesday. Davis will join the Minnesota coaching staff and begin his duties in the Twin Cities on Monday.
“Tim has worked alongside the greatest minds in football and possesses exactly the kind of credentials I was looking for in an offensive line coach,” Brewster said. “He has played a key role in helping develop some of the game’s most punishing and physical rushing attacks and I could not be more excited about the North-South mentality he will bring as our running game coordinator. Tim also possesses impeccable character, is an outstanding family man and I believe he will be a great fit on our staff here at the University of Minnesota.”
“Obviously, I’m very excited about Minnesota Football and working with Tim Brewster,” Davis said. “Coach Brewster has a great background and I’m really looking forward to getting up there. Minnesota was a real draw for me because of the great city and having an opportunity to work in the Big Ten again. I can’t wait to get started.”
Davis has a wealth of collegiate and professional coaching experience. He comes to Minnesota from the University of Alabama, where he has served as the director of player personnel under head coach Nick Saban since February. He was also on Saban’s staff as an assistant offensive line coach with the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins.
In Davis’ first season with Miami, the Dolphins offensive line improved from allowing 52 sacks in 2004 to just 26 in 2005. The Miami offensive line led the Dolphins to 4.3 yards per carry in 2005 and 4.2 in 2006. It was the first time the Dolphins averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry in back-to-back seasons since 1986 and ’87.
Prior to his time in Miami, Davis spent three seasons (2002-04) coaching the offensive line at USC. In his first season with the Trojans, Davis coached the guards and centers. In 2003, he took over coaching responsibilities for the entire offensive line. USC won two national championships and three major bowl games in the three seasons Davis was with the Trojans. Davis’ USC offensive lines protected Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks Carson Palmer (2002) and Matt Leinart (2004).
From 1997-2001, Davis was the tight ends/offensive tackles coach at Wisconsin. During his five years in Madison, the Badgers made five bowl appearances, including two Rose Bowls. The Wisconsin offensive line paved the way for Ron Dayne, who won the 1999 Heisman Trophy and set the all-time NCAA career rushing record.
Davis also spent seven seasons coaching the offensive line at the University of Utah – his alma mater – from 1990-96. During that span, the Utes earned their first bowl invitation in 36 years and made four bowl appearances. He began his collegiate coaching career at Idaho State in 1989.
SEC connections sound good. Experience at a top level program sound good. NFL offensive line experience can't be bad.
I'm curious about the "Running Game Coordinator" title and how Davis will work with Dunbar.
It sounds like a good hire. What do you think?
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Saban disciple
Since he worked for Saban, we will hear how much he loves working at Minnesota, how there is no way he’d ever leave Minnesota, and then he’ll jump at the first sign of money being waved under his nose. That’s the way it is with the Saban crew.
by JG2112 on
Nov 26, 2008 8:05 AM CST
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It's a great job for Davis.
There is really nowhere to go but up. Kinda like the situation Roof was in this year. Davis will have Notre Dame transfer Carufel on the line. The freshman who struggled this year will have a year of experience. Duane Bennett will be back and DeLeon Eskridge will have a year of experience.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.
by PJS on Nov 25, 2008 4:31 PM CST 0 recs
and...
a healthier Whaley
and a 4-star incoming recruit
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on
Nov 25, 2008 4:40 PM CST
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???
If there is nowhere to go but up, then it makes little sense to fire the offensive line coach. Oh, I’m sorry, he resigned. Sure thing.
But, if the line was too young, if a transfer is coming in, if the starting running back was injured, how is the offensive line coach to blame for all that? Isn’t it the offensive coordinator’s fault for not getting more out of his passing game (even with Decker injured) when the capabilities of the line / running attack were curtailed?
More likely, Brewster simply had to fire someone as a scapegoat to cover for what has been yet another awful end to a Gophers season, capped off by a historic loss to our biggest rival. For whatever reason, he wouldn’t fire Dunbar, whose offense has looked anything but cutting edge for two years. So, some “low level” coach gets the axe.
Further, is Brewster moving away from the spread? I’m not aware of too many spread offenses that have “punishing, physical” running games. West Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida have spread offenses that don’t scream out as punishing. Alabama, Ohio State and Wisconsin’s running games seem more like what Brewster is gravitating towards. However, I thought Brewster was moving the program to an athletic style spread game with speed players running into space. Seems like we had a punishing, physical running game with Glen Mason. Brewster’s change in philosophy has me more than concerned as we head into year three. Seems like he has little idea what he’s doing and is trying to do something to save his job.
by JG2112 on
Nov 26, 2008 8:00 AM CST
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I think...
first of all we are not moving to a power team. But you’ll see what many hear have been screaming for, which is Weber under center on short yardage situations. And maybe an additional back/TE/blocker on certain passing plays to give the OL a little help.
I also think this move was made for a couple reasons. 1-it had more to do with a lack of improvement than it did overall results. 2-this was an upgrade for the entire run game, not just the OL. Maybe Meyers wasn’t qualified to be a ground game coordinator.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on
Nov 26, 2008 1:26 PM CST
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Running game coordinator
Former Gopher quarterback Cory Sauter is the passing game coordinator/QBs coach at Southwest Mn State. His job is to help the offensive coordinator come up with plays that should work each week against a team. So, I would assume that Davis would work with Dunbar to come up with plays that would work against Balls State.
by HutchLeaderGuy on Nov 25, 2008 5:25 PM CST 0 recs
Great hire.
"If we got to we're going to crawl in this locker room. And on our back is going to be an axe..."
by buddylee853 on Nov 25, 2008 8:18 PM CST 0 recs
We'll See
He sounds like a “Fire and Brimstone” kind of guy. Opposite of Meyer. Should be an excellent recruiter as he sounds like quite a character and the players at USC liked playing for him.
by Narby on Nov 25, 2008 9:29 PM CST 0 recs
Proof?
Narby -
You threw out there that “the players at USC liked playing for him.”
Is that true? Can you link to evidence? What college player is going to say he doesn’t like playing for his coach while he’s still under scholarship at that school and wants playing time?
by JG2112 on
Nov 26, 2008 8:02 AM CST
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I've just read Marcus Fuller's article in the Pi Press
from this morning. Brewster IS basically giving up on an exclusive-spread offense, now claiming he’s going to put in 2 tight end sets and fullback looks.
So, basically, the Gophers’ offense may have a little more passing, but, it’s basically going to look like Mason’s offense. And the fanbase had to endure a 1-11 season and a November meltdown to get to this point?
Tell me again why we fired Mason? Because of one bowl game? This is starting to look really foolish.
by JG2112 on Nov 26, 2008 10:27 AM CST 0 recs
where is Fuller's article?
and don’t believe for a second that the spread will be “abandoned.” This is overreaction to this move and is speculation. We will still be in shotgun most of the time, running 3 or 4 WRs on most plays. The difference is that occasionally we’ll bring in a TE or two and maybe a FB to help out in certain situations.
I do not think it is remotely accurate to proclaim this will be a new offense or it will “basically look like Mason’s offense.”
I also think (and this is as much speculation as anybody else) that it will be more of a philosophy. We will still be in spread, but instead of every play being a read option or a more traditional option, we’ll see some downhill running out of the same formation. Youngblood termed it a “power running wrinkle into the Gophers’ spread offense.” which I think is much closer to the reality, not a brand new offense.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on
Nov 26, 2008 1:33 PM CST
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Article
is on www.pioneerplanet.com (I read the print version at work this morning). The title is “Minnesota Gophers hire Tim Davis to coordinate more physical rushing attack,” by Marcus Fuller. Here is a snip from the article……
Tim Brewster is disgusted by his running game.
That was the main reason he hired University of Alabama director of player personnel Tim Davis on Tuesday to replace Phil Meyer as the offensive line coach while also adding the tag of running game coordinator.
“It’s unacceptable,” the University of Minnesota’s second-year football coach said of his team ranking last in the Big Ten Conference with 77.8 rushing yards a game this season.
“I want our running game to reflect who I am as a football coach and my personality. A good football coach fixes his problems, gets things back on track and makes moves that are necessary for success. I couldn’t be more excited with (Davis). He understands my language and how I want the run game to go.”
Brewster said he wants his rushing attack to be “hard-nosed” and “physical,” and he will start working with Davis to move toward that goal on Monday. They plan to mix in some pro-style offensive packages of two tight ends and two running backs with the current four- and five-receiver, one-back spread schemes.
The 15 practices the Gophers (7-5) have before their yet-to-be-determined bowl game primarily will be used to figure some way to ignite a rushing offense that sunk to a low point with just 7 yards on 21 carries in an embarrassing 55-0 loss to Iowa on Saturday in the Metrodome.
“(Davis) is going to coordinate the run game, but I will share my thoughts with him,” Brewster said. “He and I both understand that the power play is the greatest play in football. We want to run with power. We want to use more two-back and two-tight end stuff. We’re going to go away from a full-on, wide-open, spread attack. And it’s going to be a tremendous challenge for our offensive linemen.”
——- end of snippet.
Again, “We’re going to go away from a full-on, wide-open, spread attack.”
Seems to me the spread, at Minnesota, is going away after two years. I’m sure MarQueise Gray is overjoyed to hear this. And while I’m not pining for Mason to return, it does beg the question: if Brewster is abandoning the offense he demanded this program run after only two years, isn’t he grooming Davis to replace Dunbar at some point in the next 12 months?
Isn’t the question easier than that? Is Brewster setting up Dunbar to force his resignation after the bowl game? He and Davis don’t run similar offenses at all. The spread does not mix well with a power running offense, and by bringing in Davis, Brewster is basically showing up Dunbar’s coaching style.
Another problem – does Duane Bennett or DeLeon Eskridge or Shady Salomon strike anyone as “power runners?” Is Brewster doing this to be sure he keeps Lipscomb in the fold for next year?
There are many questions that arise out of this hire. I think this blog should take the lead in unravelling the onion. I can see there are a number of people here who will lend to the conversation.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Jason
by JG2112 on
Nov 26, 2008 8:07 PM CST
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Tranquillo!
Whoa!? People need to CALM down! I understand, last week was just as hard for me to watch as anybody else, but my GOD people we are talking about a LINE coach. Nobody knows what type of interactions Brewster and his former employee had. It could have been a lack of trust, AND poor play. It could have been a personal differences in philosophy, AND poor play. The variable we did witness was the poor play, but we have no idea what is going on behind closed doors. I have a problem with the scapegoat charges, because who knows what type of relationship Brewster had with this coach. But to automatically assume that we are now turning into a ‘power running glen-mason style offense’ after the new hire is just irrational. I think JG just needs to be honest and admit that he dislikes Brewster and misses Mason. If thats the case, thats fine, you have the right to your opinion, but don’t exaggerate to prove your point. Dunbar is going NOWHERE! Weber is going into his third year of the system. Decker is an elite receiver in the big 10. We have an astounding amount of true freshmen with loads of potential, in particular Brandon Green (who I expect to develop into a playmaker in the offense). Are there concerns? Of course there are, but we have to be patient and let this play out because ultimately we can’t know EVERYTHING that is going on within a program. But I know that I am willing to be patient with this team, instead of pining for a Glen Mason reunion.
by TSAX on Nov 26, 2008 4:29 PM CST 0 recs
Whoa.
TSAX -
I bought four season tickets because of Tim Brewster’s promise and his positive attitude. There was little else in early 2007 to support my decision. I am a 1999 alum of the U of MN and was tired of Mason’s lack of progress. I’ve put thousands of dollars behind my optimism that Brewster can positively effect the Gopher football team. I believe that he will. However, that does not preclude me from asking a number of questions as to why a low-level assistant coach was fired two days after a bad loss to a rival, and a coach who favors a completely different style than the coordinator is brought in during bowl season. Why not wait until the offseason so as to disrupt the offensive program and the two-year long offense that is in place? Why ask Dunbar and Davis to formulate a new relationship and new schemes with the players now, as opposed to the new year? Those are legitimate questions.
And that belies your point that this is just a LINE coach. Not really – this new guy’s title is offensive line coach – running game coordinator. Brewster is giving this guy the keys to half of the offensive game plan. Brewster’s comments above (my 6:07 pst post) indicate he favors nothing more than a power running game – the greatest play in football, not a spread offense. What is present in what Brewster did and said this week presents the fanbase with an opportunity to ask serious questions as to the future direction of the offense and the coaching staff. Will he change in 2010 to a 5-wide attack like Texas Tech? Will he run the Wildcat next year? Will he play a field position, conservative, Ohio State-style offense with this new guy (most likely), and doesn’t that make Dunbar expendable?
I see nothing wrong with trying to unravel what’s going on here.
Happy Thanksgiving TSAX – Jason
by JG2112 on
Nov 26, 2008 8:19 PM CST
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