Back in December of 2012, speculation surfaced that Butch Davis was close to landing the head-coaching job at Florida International, although that ultimately didn’t come to fruition. Nearly four years later, the speculation has circled back to the same school and same coach.
Citing two unnamed sources, Alex Marvez of the Sporting News is reporting “that Davis is the frontrunner to become Florida International University’s next head coach.” Davis would replace Ron Turner, who was fired by the football program in late September after a 10-30 run.
The 62-year-old Davis has been out of coaching since he was fired by North Carolina a month before the start of the 2011 season in the midst of an impermissible benefits/academic scandal. While he wasn’t implicated in any wrongdoing in the NCAA’s report, it’s believed the shadow cast by the situation has pushed suitors away from the long-time coach over the past five coaching carousels.
Davis went 28-23 in four seasons (2007-10) at UNC. As the head coach at Miami from 1995-2000, Davis went 51-20, which included an 11-1 final season that resulted in his leaving for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
After bailing on the Browns in the middle of the 2004 season, Davis was on the coaching sidelines for the next two seasons before taking the UNC job.