Tag Archives: mouse davis

Arena, CFL, NFL, usfl, WIFL, WLAF

Davis, Darrell “Mouse”

Card: ProSet 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991, ProSet WLAF 1991 Helmet card
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The New York-New Jersey Knights, TTM 2011, C/o The University of Hawaii Warriors
Sent: 2/14/11     Received: 3/10/11   (24 days)

Mouse Davis is nothing short of an innovator and a career coach with an extensive offensive coaching tree full of acolytes at every stop. Considered of great importance to the evolution of the Run and Shoot offense(- a passing offense that employs four wide receiver sets, no tight ends and a single running back,) the offense itself is also treated as the forerunner to the modern day spread offense. At every stop from the high school level to the professional level, Davis’ offenses have lit up the scoreboard and set team and league records. In college Mouse coached tiny Portland State to explosive levels (guided by future NFL quarterback Neil Lomax and June Jones). Portland State would set 20 NCAA records, and Mouse would briefly make a stop at Berkley before going on to be offensive coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL in 1982. In 1984 he’d move to the USFL and be offensive coordinator under coach Jack Pardee and the Houston Gamblers with Jim Kelly, Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders. His ‘Mouseketeers’ would dominate the offensive scoreboard and Johnson and Sanders would be the first 100 reception tandem in football history on the same team. 1985 would see his first pro head coaching gig, guiding the Denver Gold to the playoffs before the league folded. Soon thereafter Davis was named head coach of the St. Louis Lightning of the WIFL, but the league disbanded before it even took the field. After the failure of the USFL and WIFL, Davis was head coach of the New York-New Jersey Knights of the WLAF where the team in its first season had the league’s leading rusher in Eric Wilkerson and made the playoffs. In one notable game in 1991 the team set a football record for most faked punts in a game, but also set the record for futility in special teams as well. In the 1992 season under Davis’ guidance, quarterback Reggie Slack was the number 2 rated passer in the league with a 6-4 record before it folded.

Mouse has made numerous pitstops in the NFL as well, most notably when he was an assistant with the Detroit Lions during the late 80s – early 90’s building the “Silver Stretch Offense” and also spent time with the Atlanta Falcons. He was influential with Jack Pardee who adopted the Run and Shoot from him utilizing it with both the Houston Cougars to epic proportions in the NCAA level, the Houston Oilers in the NFL, and the Birmingham Barracudas in the CFL.

Davis returned to the college ranks after his stints in the NFL and WLAF. He currently serves with the Hawaii Warriors as their wide recievers coach and was inducted into the Portland State HoF. I sent off for his autograph while he was coaching the Knights in 1992 and then just this year while he was with the Warriors and he responded in under 30 days. His WLAF statistics are below.

W 11   L 9   T 0  Pct .555

CFL, NFL, usfl

Jones, June

Card: Topps 1978
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o SMU
Sent:  1/13  Recieved: 2/1  (26 days)

A member of the Mouse Davis coaching tree, June Jones is considered a quarterback guru and offensive innovator and his teams typically employ a spread offense or Run ‘N Shoot variant. After playing in 3 different offensive systems and 3 different colleges, June would be drafted by the Atlanta Falcons out of Portland State where he played from 1977 to 1981. He’d then briefly play in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts. Jones quickly moved into coaching, working under Jack Pardee and Mouse Davis as the wide receivers coach for the USFL Houston Gamblers, and then into the CFL coaching with the Ottawa Rough Riders. In 1987, June was hired by Jerry Glanville to coach Warren Moon as the quarterbacks coach in Houston and then with Detroit under offensive coordinator Mouse Davis. After this stint he would follow Glanville to Atlanta where he’d install the Run ‘N Shoot offense. Later he’d replace Glanville as head coach of the Falcons. June guided the team to the playoffs before a meltdown with quarterback Jeff  George that was infamously caught on tape. The rift caused both of them to get released. Jones then worked for Kevin Gilbride briefly on the Chargers staff, before returing to the college ranks as head coach for the University of Hawaii. He turned a winless team around to a 9-4 bowl bound team in what is considered to be the fastest turn around in NCAA football history. By 2006 he was the winningest coach in Hawaii history and finished his career there in 2007 at 76-41. In 2008 Jones decided to leave Hawaii to coach perennial doormat SMU turning that franchise around in two seasons and leading them to their first bowl game in many years. Posted below are his college coaching statistics.

Wins 85   Losses 57  Ties 0