HONOLULU – 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. 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,” UH head coach Greg McMackin said. “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 its 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 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.

 

The run-and-shoot's birth traces back to 1975, Davis' first year as head coach for Portland State University. It was here that a creative mind and booming voice was parlayed into national notice. While offensive coordinator (1974) and head coach (1975-80) at Portland State, Davis' teams led the nation in passing and total offense for six consecutive years, averaging over 5,000 yards of total offense per season and 35 points per game. PSU also led the nation in scoring in three of those years.

 

In 1975, his quarterback, Jones, threw for a Division II record 3,518 yards. Davis' next quarterback, Neil Lomax, set NCAA records of 13,220 yards and 106 touchdowns in 42 games before going on to a successful NFL career. Under Davis' direction, Portland State set 20 NCAA Division I-AA offensive records in addition to the Vikings being named the NCAA's all-time point producers in 1980, 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.

 

Davis compiled a career record of 42 wins and 24 losses at PSU. His year-by-year record at Portland State was: 8-3 ('75), 8-3 ('76), 7-4 ('77), 5-6 ('78), 6-5 ('79), and 8-3 in 1980.

 

The Northwest native was head coach for the San Diego Riptide of the arenafootball2 league in 2003. They were locked in a tie for second in the West Division with the Hawaiian Islanders. He was head coach for the Detroit Fury of afl2 from 2001-02.

 

Davis, who graduated with a B.S. in elementary education from Western Oregon University, was a three-sport letterman in football, basketball, and baseball, and earned All-America recognition at quarterback and running back.

 

Davis was an inaugural member of the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1997.