Pigskin Pete:
Mouse Returns to Join
PSU Football Revival
By Fred Delkin
 Portland
State has engineered a football revival
that will fill the stands in 2007. The capper is the return of the
man who first
put PSU on the national collegiate gridiron map, the legendary architect
of the "Run and Shoot" offense, Darrell ‘Mouse’ Davis (photo). New
Viking head coach Jerry Glanville coached the past two seasons with Davis
at the University of Hawaii and emphasized his stature as a salesman by
talking Mouse into rejoining him in the City of Roses.
Davis, a very youthful 74, was Viking head coach from 1975 to 1980 and
mentored two all-American quarterbacks. In 1975, Viking QB June Jones threw
for a national NCAA Division II passing record 3,518 yards before going
on to play in the NFL. The suceeding Viking field general, Neil Lomax,
set records of 13,220 yards and 106 touchdowns in 42 games before going
on to an NFL career. In 1980, Davis’s tutelage enabled PSU to set NCAA
records in point production, scoring 541 points in 11 games for 49.2
points
per game, along with 434.9 yards passing and 504.3 yards of total offense
per game.
Mouse was a diminutive QB and halfback at Western Oregon University
before entering coaching. He came to PSU after 15 years of guiding
prep football at Hillsboro, Sunset and Milwaukie for a 79-29 record topped
by winning the 1973 state championship at Hillsboro. He left
PSU to become head coach of the Toronto team in the Canadian Football League.
Next Mouse took his offensive fireworks to Houston, then Denver in
the old USFL. Then he was instrumental in creating the currently
successful Arena football league and served as its Director of Football
Operations, 1986-88.
His next post was offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions of the
NFL, 1988-90. Then came a head coaching position for the New
York/New Jersey Knights of the AFL, 1991-92. His protoge’ June Jones
beckoned him as an offensive assistant for the Atlanta Falcons, 1994-5.
Before joining University of Hawaii head coach Jones in 2004, Mouse
mentored the Detroit and San Diego Arena franchises.
His now-famous Run & Shoot
philosophy evolved from initial concepts described by Middletown, Ohio
prep coach Glernn Ellison in his book, Run and Shoot Football
: Offense of the Future. Davis paid attention to the Ellison
ideas and modified and
polished them to create a system that has terrorized defenses
at every level of football, and served as an inspiration for the rules
of Arena football.
| OMED: Most of the "experts" said this approach would not work at
any level of football from highschool to the pros. But, then, isn't that
how it often goes? There were "experts" who asked what use America
could possibly have for home computers. And, we at the magazine seem
to recall George Patton predicting the tank's future in warfare after WWI,
and being ignored by military "experts."
Getting back to football, here, from a USFL website, is what happened:
"As offensive coordinator for the Houston Gamblers, his Run "N' Shoot
offense keyed the first-year USFL expansion team to a 13-5 regular season
record and a trip to the playoffs.
"The Gamblers established 38 United States Football League offensive
records in 1984 and led the league in passing and total offense for 13
weeks, 11 (of those weeks in a row.)
"Not only did the Run "N" Shoot catapult the Gamblers to many USFL
records; it allowed them to set several all-time American pro football
team records. The 1984 version of the Run "N" Shoot produced 618 points,
5,311 yards passing, 79 touchdowns and 7,684 total net yards -- all marks
never before attained by any team in the history of the game." |
Records followed in Hawaii, as well
Jones profited from inviting his ol’ coach to join him in the
islands. (National  passing
records established by the last two Rainbow Warrior signal callers.) Jones
and Mouse convinced Glanville (photo) to join them and the latter forged
a defensive performance of national note, harking back to his head coaching
success at Houston and Atlanta in the NFL before hanging up the whistle
to be an NFL broadcast personality. We doubt that any college coaching
staff in the nation can match the resumes of the Vikings’ new dynamic duo.
These oldsters should certainly revive Viking recruiting and they open
the
2007 season with some returning offensive firepower in the guise of
a pair of
quarterbacks: Colorado Division I transfer Brian White who saw action
at
the tail end of the 2006 campaign and the newly arrived freshman Connor
Kavanaugh, rated the top prep signal-caller prospect in Oregon after
stardom at Portland’s Lincoln.
Viking home games at PGE Park are all scheduled for a 6:00 p.m. start.
The
slate:
Sept. 1, at McNeese State (Lake Charles, LA)
Sept. 8, UC Davis
Sept. 15 Sacramento State*
Sept. 22 at San Diego State
Sept. 29 at Eastern Washington*
Oct. 6 Northern Arizona*
Oct. 20 at Idaho State*
Oct. 27 Weber State*
Nov. 3 at Montana*
Nov. 10 Montana State*
Nov. 17 at Northern Colorado*
* Big Sky conference games
Anyone doubt that Portland State football is about to return to a Divsion
IAA national title playoff contender after over a decade of mediocrity
and
sliding ticket revenues? The glory marketing days of Viking play during
the
Davis and Pokey Allen reigns are about to return.
© 2007 Oregon Magazine |