Its Official- Tim Davis new running game coordinator/offensive line coach

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BornandRaisedGopher

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http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=3623183

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.

Davis was a three-year letterman at Utah, playing offensive tackle for the Utes from 1978-80. He earned a physical education degree from Utah in 1982. He holds a master’s degree in higher education from Wisconsin (1986).

Following his collegiate career, Davis played professionally for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 1981 and for the Los Angeles Express of the USFL in 1983.

Davis is a native of Castro Valley, Calif. He and his wife Janice have a son, Nick, and a daughter, Mary Rose.

-UM-
 

I love the hire. How could you not. I'm slowly getting swayed to the idea that there might be a change in philosophy in the offense. Odd that there is no mention of Dunbar??
 

Schnoodler said:
Odd that there is no mention of Dunbar??
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I found that a little strange also. I will be interested to see when/if Davis mentions how excited he is to be working with coach Dunbar also.

I am probably reading too much into it, but I wouldn't be shocked if Dunbar announces that he is going to "retire" shortly after the bowl game.
 





Allright! We now have Roof, Davis and Brewster who believe football is to be played one way; smash mouth & take no prisoners. I still am amazed that Brewster has embraced Dunbar and the whimpy, play ground spread offense. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

USC, Alabama and now Minnesota! A very strange path indeed. Causes one to wonder that Davis was told he will be the next OC when the time comes.

Dunbar uses the pass first, run second. Even when he had good RB's, 60% of the yards in his offense came through the air.

Yes, maybe Dunbar will put his his complicated and delicate playbook in mothballs and start writing books. Or maybe Brewster gave him an ultimatium(sp).......show up in the bowl game or......I would like to introduce Tim Davis as the........
 

We'll see. But Dunbar has always been very clear that his scheme run successfully, meaning all cylinders firing is a 50/50 run/pass game. It hasn't been that way as the run game cylinder has been mis-firing. It's about creating mismatches and space, not passes.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Yes, maybe Dunbar will put his his complicated and delicate playbook in mothballs and start writing books. Or maybe Brewster gave him an ultimatium(sp).......show up in the bowl game or......I would like to introduce Tim Davis as the........
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Goody...a new offensive coordinator who's never been an offensive coordinator. That worked so well for Mason on the defensive side of the ball. How about we let him coach his specialty, the offensive line, for a day or two before annointing him.
 



Sounds like a great hire.

With assistants its hard to get overly pumped but Davis has had great success in the past which hopefully he can bring here. Anyword on what kind of recruiter he is? He has had some great lines in the past I wonder how much of an impact he made in getting the talent he got to coach? Maybe his hire will continue to help bring in the better names along the O-line and at the RB spots.
 

I'm not sure Brew needs every coach to be a great recruiter. It would help but sometimes what you need is a better product to sell. Davis creates a better product. You can sell Davis to recruits. So maybe Davis does the communciation while Brew opens and closes the deal.
 

Didn't Mason used to have a "passing coordinator". I don't know how much that helped. I am not sure running coordinator means much to me more then make sure the line can block the run plays we call. Is Dunbar going to call up Davis on the headset and say it is 2nd and 8. I was thinking of a run play, what do you got for me?
 

It's all a little goofy. And in practice maybe a little meaningless. Maybe just a public statement to say he's addressed the OL and run game in one fell swoop.
 



I still am amazed that Brewster has embraced Dunbar and the whimpy, play ground spread offense.
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I'm not sure if i'd call it whimpy. Look at the Texas Tech line. Do they look wimpy to you? They also have a good rush offense when needed. Out of the last three champions, 2 of them ran the spread (Florida and Texas).
 

Offensive line is a good place to start

It seems to me that there was one half of football in the last 10 halves where sans Decker there was an effective passing game. I even in the final two halves with Decker the passing game was all but a memory.

The offensive line gets most of its credit from a successful running game, but the lack of a passing attack during those games may also be blamed somewhat on the short comings of the front five.

We don't know anything about the future beyond that a bowl game will be part of it. In terms of what type of offense we should run, it might be time for the spread genius to put in a couple of new wrinkles. Personally, I hope that there are ALOT of plays that call for two QBs on the field at the same time for the up coming season. On the other hand, Tiller is gone, and the basketball on grass hype of the free slinging spreads have given way to better hybrids. Hopefully the newly adjusted braintrust can come up with the best hybrid yet.

Will that system be developed under a new OC? I'd bet that Dunbar has about a year to prove he can do better, but failing that the answer will have to be yes.



Maximus said:
Goody...a new offensive coordinator who's never been an offensive coordinator. That worked so well for Mason on the defensive side of the ball. How about we let him coach his specialty, the offensive line, for a day or two before annointing him.
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Bayfieldgopher said:
Allright! We now have Roof, Davis and Brewster who believe football is to be played one way; smash mouth & take no prisoners. I still am amazed that Brewster has embraced Dunbar and the whimpy, play ground spread offense. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

USC, Alabama and now Minnesota! A very strange path indeed. Causes one to wonder that Davis was told he will be the next OC when the time comes.

Dunbar uses the pass first, run second. Even when he had good RB's, 60% of the yards in his offense came through the air.

Yes, maybe Dunbar will put his his complicated and delicate playbook in mothballs and start writing books. Or maybe Brewster gave him an ultimatium(sp).......show up in the bowl game or......I would like to introduce Tim Davis as the........
Click to expand...
 

GortonsFisherman011 said:
i think his title should be the running game creator; ours is nonexistent.
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That was a great thought. :)

I love the hire, but I truly believe that the thing that will make the most difference next year will be freshmen turning into sophomores.
 

TWeber said:
That was a great thought. :)

I love the hire, but I truly believe that the thing that will make the most difference next year will be freshmen turning into sophomores.
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What?? You mean college kids get better as they gain more experience?? Whatever.;)
 

Very good hire. He was very highly regarded at Wisconsin. If Hueber was not there, he would have moved into the OL coach role.
 

What I consider the top 5 teams in the BT (PSU, OSU, Iowa, Wisky, MSU) ran the ball 60% of the time this Fall. The BT is not the Big 12 or SEC. My gut tells me that's what Brewster wants to see. Plus we will be playing outdoors soon.

Stewie. I'm an old fart and when the foward pass meant one of three things will happen and two of tem are bad.
 

Step in the Right Direction

This news helps to take away the sting of the last few games we played this year. I have been contemplating since Saturday night how I feel about the Gopher team that played the last 3 games.

I had the opportunity to head to the lunch with Coach Brewster before the Michigan game and the one statement that he made that has had me questioning the program was this: The next three games will determine our legacy. I didn't use quotation marks because I'm sure that it isn't verbatim but it's pretty darn close.

Those are powerful words and had me so excited for those games, especially since our team had been playing so well and I knew they had it in them to win these games. However, that excitement slowly faded and then crashed and burned on Saturday night. I am not proud to say this, but I left the Iowa game at the end of the 3rd quarter and I have never left a game early (as I sit here now and type this I am extremely ashamed that I left and regret that decision). I kept thinking that this was not the legacy that I wanted for this team or for Brewster or for the fans (selfish but it's true). It was just too much to see the outcome of this game after the Michigan and Wisconsin game.

However, now that I have had time to reflect, I realized that we were on the road to a legacy that I did want. We went from 1-11 to 7-5, we have recruited some unbelievable players and the team has given hope to the fans once again. There were many fans who hoped that we would have a record like this at the end of the year, but I would wager that many of us were not sure we could pull it off. I think it's great that the Brewster and team made our expecatations rise so high that we wanted to win all of our games.

While I do believe that the players have what it takes to win and the new recruits will only add talent, I believe that the coaching fell a little short (especially with the offense). I love that this has now been rectified with Tim Davis joining our program and I can say to Brewster and team that this is the kind of legacy I want for Minnesota Gopher football (and I will never, ever leave another game early as long as I live).
 

what exactly is director of player personnel?
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
What I consider the top 5 teams in the BT (PSU, OSU, Iowa, Wisky, MSU) ran the ball 60% of the time this Fall. The BT is not the Big 12 or SEC. My gut tells me that's what Brewster wants to see. Plus we will be playing outdoors soon.

Stewie. I'm an old fart and when the foward pass meant one of three things will happen and two of tem are bad.
Click to expand...

Northwestern was undoubtedly better than Wisconsin.

Ohio State had more talented offensive players than Penn State. What made Penn State a better offense than OSU was balance. They could kill you on the ground with Royster or through the air with three good receivers and a first team all Big Ten QB. Pryor is going to be a talent in the Big Ten but he is not yet capable of picking apart a D with his arm. Heck, the guy played most of the season and barely threw for more than 1000 yards. A great defense, a good o-line, Beanie Wells, and a QB that is a threat to run will win most games but you won't beat the elite teams without receivers that threaten the D and a QB that can hit the receivers. A good offense needs to be able to do both.
 

Brewster's made some mistakes. Defining the the last three games of the season, which will be against the better teams, as defining a legacy is one. At about the same time on a Big Ten Network interview, he said something like "Playing football is like hunting bear. We've been the hunters and now we're the bear." That was another mistake. Brewster has shown an ability to quickly learn and adjust from his mistakes and I doubt we'll see those type of descriptions for quite a while. If we can get all the trophies in the case at the same time, then, maybe, once again we'll be the bear with a legacy.
 

bigtenchamps1899 said:
what exactly is director of player personnel?
Click to expand...

Organized coaching clinics....ran the kids summer camps....organized recruiting visits (not the actual recruiting...but what the activities are for the recruits that are visiting)....much like Dan O'Brien here.
 

Nice post Goldy's Gal.

I often struggle with the question of where developing your program and scheme ends and trying to maximize what you have begins. They are quite often at odds with one another. I've got to say, that we are so early in the development of this program that sacrificing that growth to maybe (a long shot maybe) win another game might be the wrong choice.

I think we sometimes lose sight of the long term goal for the short much sooner than a more pragmatic coaching staff might. So you're forgiven, it was difficult to stay Saturday.
 

Goldys Gal said:
This news helps to take away the sting of the last few games we played this year. I have been contemplating since Saturday night how I feel about the Gopher team that played the last 3 games.

I had the opportunity to head to the lunch with Coach Brewster before the Michigan game and the one statement that he made that has had me questioning the program was this: The next three games will determine our legacy. I didn't use quotation marks because I'm sure that it isn't verbatim but it's pretty darn close.

Those are powerful words and had me so excited for those games, especially since our team had been playing so well and I knew they had it in them to win these games. However, that excitement slowly faded and then crashed and burned on Saturday night. I am not proud to say this, but I left the Iowa game at the end of the 3rd quarter and I have never left a game early (as I sit here now and type this I am extremely ashamed that I left and regret that decision). I kept thinking that this was not the legacy that I wanted for this team or for Brewster or for the fans (selfish but it's true). It was just too much to see the outcome of this game after the Michigan and Wisconsin game.

However, now that I have had time to reflect, I realized that we were on the road to a legacy that I did want. We went from 1-11 to 7-5, we have recruited some unbelievable players and the team has given hope to the fans once again. There were many fans who hoped that we would have a record like this at the end of the year, but I would wager that many of us were not sure we could pull it off. I think it's great that the Brewster and team made our expecatations rise so high that we wanted to win all of our games.

While I do believe that the players have what it takes to win and the new recruits will only add talent, I believe that the coaching fell a little short (especially with the offense). I love that this has now been rectified with Tim Davis joining our program and I can say to Brewster and team that this is the kind of legacy I want for Minnesota Gopher football (and I will never, ever leave another game early as long as I live).
Click to expand...

Goldy's Gal-Don't feel bad for leaving early. I never leave early and I left with 10:00 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Most of the team had figuratively left the game themselves by that time.

I wouldn't take Brew's words too seriously either. From what you said I would interpret that he was refering to the legacy of the 2008 team and not the program's legacy. The legacy of a 10-2 team that won three trophy games is much different than the legacy of a 7-5 team. It is still a good season when taken as a whole versus expectations but at 10-2 we would be in the Capital One Bowl. With the youth of the team the talk heading in to next year would be Rose Bowl. At 7-5 we are looking at the MCB or Insight Bowl and the feeling is that we are back to a Masonesque season but we still haven't made the jump to a New Year's Day bowl. The talk heading in to next year is questioning whether we will improve enough to match this season's win total against a much tougher schedule.
 

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