Darrel “Mouse” Davis, best known as the “Father of the Run-and-Shoot Offense,” returned to the UH sideline in 2010 and made an instant impact on the Warriors.
Under his tutelage, slot receivers Greg Salas and Kealoha Pilares each topped 1,000-receiving yards while combining for 29 touchdowns. Salas was a third-team AP All-American while Pilares was a first-team Academic All-American.
From 2004-06, Davis was a member of former coach June Jones’ staff as running backs and special teams coach. In 2006, the Warriors led the nation in passing offense (441.3), total offense (559.2), scoring offense (46.9)and pass efficiency (185.95).
He left Hawai‘i to join Jerry Glanville’s staff at Portland State in 2007 and momentarily retired after two seasons. In his four seasons on the UH staff, the Warriors have finished no lower than third nationally in passing offense, while leading the country in 2006 and 2010.
A guru 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. 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.
