WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 Have you ever noticed how when we think about 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:05.879 massive game changing innovations, we automatically 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:09.560 assume they come from giant, well -funded institutions? 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:12.740 Oh, definitely. You picture top tier think tanks 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:15.679 or, you know, sprawling corporate campuses. Right. 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.579 Or elite universities with unlimited resources. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.839 Exactly. We just assume that to change the world 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.000 or even just to change an entire industry, you 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.980 need a massive head start. You need a multimillion 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.750 dollar war room. Basically. Yeah. But what if 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:31.949 I told you that one of the biggest revolutions 00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:34.490 in modern sports history didn't come from a war 00:00:34.490 --> 00:00:37.509 room at all? Right. What if it came from a four 00:00:37.509 --> 00:00:39.929 foot eleven high school kid from an Oregon farm 00:00:39.929 --> 00:00:42.909 town? It completely flips our expectations of 00:00:42.909 --> 00:00:45.030 where genius actually comes from. It really does. 00:00:45.229 --> 00:00:47.890 And it proves that sometimes the most disruptive 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:50.890 ideas are born out of sheer necessity and an 00:00:50.890 --> 00:00:53.390 absolute refusal to accept the physical limitations 00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:56.170 placed upon you. And that brings us to the mission 00:00:56.170 --> 00:00:59.049 of today's deep dive. Yeah. We are exploring 00:00:59.049 --> 00:01:02.490 the life, the wildly unpredictable career. And 00:01:02.490 --> 00:01:05.310 the monumental impact of Daryl Mouse Davis. The 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:08.450 godfather of the run and shoot. Exactly. And 00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:11.409 for this journey, we are pulling entirely from 00:01:11.409 --> 00:01:14.409 a single, deeply fascinating place. Just one 00:01:14.409 --> 00:01:16.810 place. Yep, the Wikipedia page for Mouse Davis. 00:01:17.469 --> 00:01:19.969 We are going to dig into the facts laid out there 00:01:19.969 --> 00:01:23.049 to uncover how one man systematically revolutionized 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:26.670 football across the 1960s, 70s, and beyond. It 00:01:26.670 --> 00:01:28.709 really is the ultimate underdog story. I mean, 00:01:28.709 --> 00:01:32.209 you have a figure who, on paper, doesn't fit 00:01:32.209 --> 00:01:34.409 the traditional mold of a gridiron titan at all. 00:01:34.489 --> 00:01:37.010 Not even close. Yet his fingerprints are all 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:39.549 over the modern game. It's a story about challenging 00:01:39.549 --> 00:01:42.269 conventional wisdom and having the absolute audacity 00:01:42.269 --> 00:01:44.310 to rewrite the rulebook from the ground up. I 00:01:44.310 --> 00:01:46.849 am so incredibly pumped for this one. I mean, 00:01:46.849 --> 00:01:48.769 the sheer volume of records this guy shattered 00:01:48.769 --> 00:01:50.790 is mind -blowing. It's hard to even wrap your 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:52.909 head around. Okay, let's unpack this. Where exactly 00:01:52.909 --> 00:01:55.780 does the story of Mouse Davis begin? The origins 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:58.159 are incredibly humble. He was born Daryl Davis 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:01.760 in 1932 in Palouse. That's a small town in eastern 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.620 Washington, right? Yeah, exactly. His family 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:05.980 eventually moved to neighboring Oregon, and he 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:08.120 considers Independence, Oregon to be his hometown. 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:10.979 But the real genesis of his identity, the name 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:13.800 Mouse, comes from his older brother, Don. I was 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:15.719 looking at his early high school records, and 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.740 the reason for that nickname is just incredible. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.080 It is. When Daryl was a freshman playing shortstop 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:24.639 on the Central High School baseball team in Monmouth, 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:28.699 Oregon, he stood at exactly 4 feet 11 and a half 00:02:28.699 --> 00:02:31.680 inches tall. Just over 1 .5 meters. Yeah. You 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:34.219 hear a height like 4 foot 11, and you assume 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:36.360 his athletic career is over before it starts. 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:39.370 Oh, absolutely. How did he actually survive on 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:41.889 the field against much larger players? What's 00:02:41.889 --> 00:02:44.629 fascinating here is how he completely defied 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:47.030 those physical limitations. He didn't just survive, 00:02:47.289 --> 00:02:50.729 he excelled. Wow. He goes on to the Oregon College 00:02:50.729 --> 00:02:52.930 of Education, which is now Western Oregon University, 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:56.330 and graduates in 1955. But he didn't just attend 00:02:56.330 --> 00:02:59.050 classes. No, not at all. He played quarterback 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:02.310 and halfback. At his size. Yes. And we're not 00:03:02.310 --> 00:03:04.330 talking about a novelty player here. He played 00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:07.610 on three straight championship teams from 1952 00:03:07.610 --> 00:03:10.909 to 1954 under coach Bill MacArthur. That is wild. 00:03:11.169 --> 00:03:12.870 Oh, and he also played college baseball and basketball. 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:15.389 Think about that for a second. A guy who got 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:17.849 the nickname Mouse because he was under five 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:20.129 feet tall as a teenager is out there playing 00:03:20.129 --> 00:03:22.550 quarterback on three consecutive championship 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.710 teams. Right. When you have that kind of physical 00:03:25.710 --> 00:03:28.669 deficit, group strength is completely off the 00:03:28.669 --> 00:03:30.990 table. Exactly. He couldn't just stand in the 00:03:30.990 --> 00:03:34.270 pocket, absorb hits, and see over the towering 00:03:34.270 --> 00:03:36.550 linemen in front of him. He had to rely on space. 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:41.069 He had to rely on geometry, quickness, and outsmarting 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:43.590 the opponent. Makes sense. When you physically 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:45.930 cannot see over the players in front of you, 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.409 you are forced to see the field differently. 00:03:48.750 --> 00:03:51.389 You start looking for the open grass, the angles, 00:03:51.569 --> 00:03:54.069 the leverage of the defenders. And that required 00:03:54.069 --> 00:03:56.550 a totally different paradigm of offensive strategy. 00:03:56.830 --> 00:03:59.770 Precisely. Which beautifully sets the stage for 00:03:59.770 --> 00:04:02.229 his coaching career. He learned early on that 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:04.389 if you can't beat them with size, you beat them 00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:07.430 with speed and horizontal distribution. Which 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:10.150 brings us to the spark of the revolution. Davis 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:12.449 eventually moves into coaching, and he comes 00:04:12.449 --> 00:04:15.509 across a concept that changes everything. Yes, 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:19.389 the book. Mouse Davis didn't invent his signature 00:04:19.389 --> 00:04:22.410 offense out of thin air. He found a book by a 00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:25.170 high school coach in Ohio named Glenn Tiger Ellison. 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:28.790 Titled Run and Shoot Football, Offense of the 00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:32.250 Future. That title is incredibly prophetic. It 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:35.949 really is. Davis reads Ellison's theories and 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:39.339 basically makes them his absolute gospel. Now, 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:41.199 for anyone who knows the history of football, 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:43.399 you understand how radical this was. Because 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:44.980 it was all about running the ball back then. 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:47.740 Exactly. Three yards and a cloud of dust. But 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:50.279 Ellison's concepts involve constant motion, spreading 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:53.120 the field, and a heavy emphasis on passing. And 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:55.240 Davis took those concepts and started refining 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:57.519 them. He essentially stripped away the bulky, 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:00.060 tight end heavy formations that dominated the 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:02.399 era and replaced them with four receiver sets. 00:05:02.579 --> 00:05:04.439 Just putting speed all over the field. Right. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.180 The goal was to put defenders in conflict, making 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:09.459 them cover the entire width of the field and 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.720 having receivers read the safeties post snap 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.180 to adjust their routes on the fly. And he didn't 00:05:14.180 --> 00:05:16.120 just try it out for a season and move on to the 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.319 next trend. He spent 15 years incubating and 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:21.519 perfecting the system at the high school level 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:24.660 in Oregon. 15 seasons of tinkering. Tinkering, 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:27.560 testing, and pushing the boundaries of what a 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:29.500 high school offense could mathematically achieve. 00:05:30.459 --> 00:05:34.439 And it all culminates in 1973 at Hillsboro High 00:05:34.439 --> 00:05:36.879 School. A championship year. Yeah, I know he 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:39.060 led them to a state championship, but what did 00:05:39.060 --> 00:05:41.060 that actually look like on the stat sheet? It 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:43.709 looked like a total schematic mismatch. That 00:05:43.709 --> 00:05:47.509 1973 Hillsboro team finished with an 11 -1 record 00:05:47.509 --> 00:05:50.389 to win the state title. Okay. But the underlying 00:05:50.389 --> 00:05:53.550 numbers are what really tell the story. They 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:56.930 set school marks in seven different team offensive 00:05:56.930 --> 00:06:00.709 categories and broke 15 records overall. That 00:06:00.709 --> 00:06:02.970 is just dominant. It's the classic laboratory 00:06:02.970 --> 00:06:06.009 phase. He took a theoretical framework from a 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:08.129 book, tested it under the Friday night lights 00:06:08.129 --> 00:06:10.829 for a decade and a half. And proved unequivocally 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:12.529 that it worked. He wasn't just winning games. 00:06:12.769 --> 00:06:15.089 No, he was breaking the math of high school football. 00:06:15.310 --> 00:06:17.189 And once you break the math at the high school 00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:19.810 level, higher levels of the sports start to take 00:06:19.810 --> 00:06:21.949 notice. Here's where it gets really interesting, 00:06:22.050 --> 00:06:25.250 because in 1975, Davis takes the head coaching 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:27.470 job at Portland State University. He finally 00:06:27.470 --> 00:06:29.490 has a college roster to work with. Right. He 00:06:29.490 --> 00:06:33.470 stays there from 1975 to 1980. We know the run 00:06:33.470 --> 00:06:36.449 and shoot was prolific, but how did that translate 00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:39.480 against... collegiate defenses. The translation 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:42.600 was immediate and devastating. Over those six 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:46.139 seasons at Portland State, he compiles a 42 -24 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:49.519 record. That's a solid winning record. It is, 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:52.519 but the sheer offensive output is what defines 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:55.399 this era. Picture yourself as a defensive coordinator 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.100 in 1975. Okay, I'm picturing it. You're preparing 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:00.199 for Portland State, and suddenly they're dropping 00:07:00.199 --> 00:07:03.180 an average of 38 points and nearly 500 yards 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:06.220 of offense on you in a single afternoon. Wow. 00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:08.560 Portland State led the entire nation in scoring 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:10.699 three different times. If you're an opposing 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:13.339 coach in the 70s, you simply do not have the 00:07:13.339 --> 00:07:15.819 defensive personnel to stop that. You really 00:07:15.819 --> 00:07:19.339 don't. You've recruited big, run -stopping linebackers, 00:07:19.339 --> 00:07:22.279 and suddenly Mouse Davis is forcing them to cover 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:24.860 lightning -fast slot receivers in open space. 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:26.779 It must have looked like they were playing a 00:07:26.779 --> 00:07:29.649 completely different sport. And this system became 00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:32.610 an absolute star maker for his quarterbacks. 00:07:32.750 --> 00:07:35.250 It turned his quarterbacks into statistical anomalies. 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:37.850 Like June Jones. Yes. First you have June Jones. 00:07:37.990 --> 00:07:42.769 In 1975, Jones throws for 3 ,518 yards. Which 00:07:42.769 --> 00:07:44.769 was a Division II record at the time. Exactly. 00:07:45.009 --> 00:07:48.370 And then comes Neil Lomax. Lomax takes the reins 00:07:48.370 --> 00:07:51.490 and puts up numbers that frankly seem fabricated. 00:07:51.550 --> 00:07:54.910 They really do. Over 42 games, Lomax sets NCAA 00:07:54.910 --> 00:07:59.870 records with 13 ,200. 20 passing yards and 106 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.769 touchdowns. Unbelievable. Under Davis's direction, 00:08:02.970 --> 00:08:05.370 Portland State set 20 different NCAA Division 00:08:05.370 --> 00:08:08.629 II offensive records. 20 records. The run and 00:08:08.629 --> 00:08:10.529 shoot wasn't just the offense of the future anymore, 00:08:10.670 --> 00:08:12.829 it was actively destroying the present. Perfectly 00:08:12.829 --> 00:08:14.810 said. But what I find so compelling about Mouse 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:17.410 Davis isn't just his success, it's his absolute 00:08:17.410 --> 00:08:20.149 unwavering conviction in his system. He was definitely 00:08:20.149 --> 00:08:22.629 stubborn in the best way possible. Yeah, he wasn't 00:08:22.629 --> 00:08:25.069 a guy who would bend to the traditionalists just 00:08:25.069 --> 00:08:28.310 to keep a job. That brings us to his brief stint 00:08:28.310 --> 00:08:31.750 at UC Berkeley. Yes, the 1981 season. After his 00:08:31.750 --> 00:08:34.769 incredible run at Portland State, Davis makes 00:08:34.769 --> 00:08:37.950 the jump to Division I football, joining Cal 00:08:37.950 --> 00:08:40.149 as their offensive coordinator. But things do 00:08:40.149 --> 00:08:42.990 not start well. No. The team begins the year 00:08:42.990 --> 00:08:47.440 with a 1 -6 record. Ouch! Naturally, when a team 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.320 goes 1 -6, the head coach starts looking for 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:52.440 solutions. Obviously. Cal's head coach, Roger 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.340 Fetter, told Davis he intended to make changes 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:58.159 to the offensive scheme. And how does Mouse Davis 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:01.059 respond? He resigns. Right then and there. Just 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:04.220 walks away. Just packs up and leaves. This raises 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:06.600 an important question for anyone trying to innovate 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.940 in any field. What is the price of your conviction? 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.200 That's a great point. Think about what that means 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.730 for you, the listener, in your own career. Davis 00:09:15.730 --> 00:09:17.649 was sitting in a prominent Division I coaching 00:09:17.649 --> 00:09:20.450 job in the Pac -10. A highly coveted position. 00:09:20.750 --> 00:09:23.370 The easy, comfortable thing to do would be to 00:09:23.370 --> 00:09:26.309 compromise. Dial back the run and shoot, run 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:28.470 the ball a bit more to appease the head coach 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:31.570 and keep his paycheck. But he didn't. No. He 00:09:31.570 --> 00:09:33.590 believed so deeply in the mathematical superiority 00:09:33.590 --> 00:09:36.509 of his system that he would rather walk away 00:09:36.509 --> 00:09:39.789 entirely than dilute his philosophy. He essentially 00:09:39.789 --> 00:09:43.259 forced the issue. The system works. And if you 00:09:43.259 --> 00:09:44.539 don't want to run the system, you don't want 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:47.659 me. That is just a massive power move. He refuses 00:09:47.659 --> 00:09:50.240 to compromise, which kicks off what you can only 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:52.360 describe as a professional merry -go -round. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.259 Have offense. We'll travel. Exactly. In 1982, 00:09:56.580 --> 00:09:58.879 he heads north, crossing the border to the Canadian 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.820 Football League, joining the Toronto Argonauts 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:04.059 as their offensive coordinator. And the impact 00:10:04.059 --> 00:10:07.460 is instantaneous. He inherits a team, implements 00:10:07.460 --> 00:10:10.159 the run and shoot. With a tandem of quarterbacks, 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:12.659 Condridge Holloway and Joe Barnes. And turns 00:10:12.659 --> 00:10:15.240 them into an immediate contender. Right. They 00:10:15.240 --> 00:10:18.000 finish the regular season 9 -6 -1 and make it 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.659 all the way to the 70th Grey Cup. The Canadian 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:23.580 Super Bowl. Exactly. They ultimately lose to 00:10:23.580 --> 00:10:26.279 a legendary Edmonton Eskimos team led by Warren 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:29.059 Moon. But the turnaround was undeniable. But 00:10:29.059 --> 00:10:32.039 the Argonauts story has an unbelievable postscript. 00:10:32.279 --> 00:10:34.919 It really does. Davis leaves Toronto prior to 00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:37.820 the 1983 season. He's gone. He doesn't coach 00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:39.779 a single game for them that year. He's out of 00:10:39.779 --> 00:10:42.320 the building. But the team, they kept his offense. 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:44.600 They kept the exact offense Davis had installed. 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:47.039 And what happened? They went 12 -4 in the regular 00:10:47.039 --> 00:10:50.899 season and won the 71st Grey Cup, defeating the 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.440 British Columbia Lions. Amazing. It was Toronto's 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.659 first championship in 31 years. After 31 years, 00:10:57.840 --> 00:10:59.820 they win it with his system. Yeah, look at that. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.769 The architect leaves the building. But the blueprint 00:11:02.769 --> 00:11:05.789 is so flawlessly designed that the building still 00:11:05.789 --> 00:11:09.529 stands perfectly. Yeah. It proves that true systemic 00:11:09.529 --> 00:11:13.889 innovation outlasts the innovator. The star wasn't 00:11:13.889 --> 00:11:17.250 just the coach. The system itself was the star. 00:11:17.409 --> 00:11:20.330 It really validates his resignation at Cal. He 00:11:20.330 --> 00:11:22.389 knew the system worked and the Argonauts proved 00:11:22.389 --> 00:11:24.669 it without him even being in the building. Absolutely. 00:11:24.990 --> 00:11:27.750 And he proves it again himself in 1984, this 00:11:27.750 --> 00:11:30.149 time back in the U .S. with a brand new league. 00:11:30.700 --> 00:11:33.879 The USFL. The Gamblers. Yes. He takes the offensive 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:36.259 coordinator job for an expansion team, the Houston 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:39.240 Gamblers, and he gets paired with a rookie quarterback 00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:41.580 out of the University of Miami named Jim Kelly. 00:11:41.779 --> 00:11:43.860 The Mouseketeers, as they were affectionately 00:11:43.860 --> 00:11:46.519 called. The Mouseketeers. It's such a great nickname 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:49.399 for a group that absolutely lit the professional 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:52.000 football landscape on fire. It really did. In 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.919 their very first year of existence as an expansion 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.860 team. They finished 13 -5. What kind of numbers 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:01.200 was this offense producing at the pro level? 00:12:01.379 --> 00:12:04.419 Staggering numbers. That 1984 Gamblers offense 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:10.139 passed for 5 ,793 yards and 45 touchdowns. Wow. 00:12:10.460 --> 00:12:13.360 And here is the statistic that truly highlights 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:16.279 the geometry of the run and shoot randomly. The 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:19.120 Gamblers became the first pro football team in 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:23.220 history to have two receivers with over 100 catches. 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:25.639 In a single season. In a single season. Yeah. 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:28.659 Richard Johnson had 115 and Ricky Sanders had 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:31.519 101. We see receivers getting 100 passes all 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.720 the time now. But in 1984, that was practically 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:35.899 science fiction. Totally unheard of. To have 00:12:35.899 --> 00:12:37.879 two guys doing it on the same team means you 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:40.019 are stretching the defense horizontally and vertically 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:42.279 on every single snap. Defensive coordinators 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.519 simply did not have the personnel or the schematic 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:47.139 vocabulary to cover four fast receivers running 00:12:47.139 --> 00:12:49.340 option routes based on the safety's leverage. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.240 It must have been a nightmare to defend. Oh, 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:53.519 it was a nightmare. If you played zone, the receivers 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:55.639 would find the soft spots and sit down. If you 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:57.220 played man -to -man, they would run away from 00:12:57.220 --> 00:13:00.059 you. Davis had taken Tiger Ellison's theories 00:13:00.059 --> 00:13:02.919 and completely weaponized them for the professional 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:04.980 game. Weaponized is the perfect word for it. 00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:08.159 And from there, Davis's resume reads like an 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:10.100 encyclopedia of professional football leagues. 00:13:10.669 --> 00:13:13.029 He just takes his offense everywhere. Everywhere. 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.409 He gets his first professional head coaching 00:13:15.409 --> 00:13:20.049 job in 1985 with the USFL's Denver Gold, going 00:13:20.049 --> 00:13:22.730 11 -7 and making the playoffs. Right. Then the 00:13:22.730 --> 00:13:26.389 USFL folds. But he doesn't stop. He doesn't go 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:29.169 quietly into retirement. Not Mouse Davis. He's 00:13:29.169 --> 00:13:30.710 named head coach of the New York -New Jersey 00:13:30.710 --> 00:13:32.690 Knights and the World League of American Football, 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:36.889 the WLAF, in 1991, winning their division. And 00:13:36.889 --> 00:13:39.120 he kept going. He goes to the Arena Football 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.980 League coaching the Detroit Fury in the early 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.779 2000s. He coaches the San Diego Riptide in the 00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:47.960 F2. He even has stints in the NFL working as 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.080 an assistant for the Detroit Lions and the Atlanta 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:52.600 Falcons. And mixed in there he makes multiple 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:54.879 returns to college ball serving as an assistant 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.340 at Hawaii and returning to his old stomping grounds 00:13:57.340 --> 00:13:59.759 at Portland State. He was everywhere. It really 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.659 makes you wonder what drove him to bounce between 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:05.580 so many different leagues and teams. Why not 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:07.860 just settle into a comfortable college coordinator 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:10.740 job somewhere and ride out the twilight of his 00:14:10.740 --> 00:14:13.100 career? If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:17.159 you see a man who wasn't driven by the prestige 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:20.080 of a specific logo or a specific league. Right. 00:14:20.220 --> 00:14:23.440 He was a pure football evangelist. He didn't 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:25.320 care if the field was 100 yards long in the U 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:28.899 .S., 110 yards wide in Canada, or 50 yards indoors 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:31.299 with padded walls in an arena. The canvas didn't 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:33.779 matter. Exactly. He just wanted a canvas to run 00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:36.139 his offense. He wanted to prove that those core 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:38.639 theories, the ones he perfected over 15 years 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.279 in Oregon high schools, were fundamentally sound. 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:43.639 The geometry was universal to him. He was on 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:45.559 a lifelong mission to prove that if you give 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.399 him four receivers and a quarterback who can 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:49.580 read a defense, he can score points anywhere, 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:52.700 against anyone. And his stamina for this mission 00:14:52.700 --> 00:14:55.779 was incredible. He retired in June 2009 at the 00:14:55.779 --> 00:14:58.679 age of 76. A well -deserved retirement. But then, 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:02.340 a year later, in June 2010, he unretires and 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:04.639 goes back to the University of Hawaii as an assistant 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:08.100 coach at 77 years old. He just could not stay 00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:10.480 away from the game. Which makes... Perfect sense 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.679 when you look at his impact. He was inducted 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:14.419 into the inaugural class of the Portland State 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.840 Athletics Hall of Fame back in 1997. His legacy 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.179 was cemented decades before he ever put down 00:15:20.179 --> 00:15:22.759 the clipboard for good. It really is a testament 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.360 to a lifelong obsession with the craft of coaching. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.580 Yeah. From a 4 '11 kid in Monmouth relying on 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:32.000 spatial awareness just to survive on the field 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.679 to a 70 -something guru on the sidelines in Hawaii. 00:15:36.169 --> 00:15:39.190 The through line is a relentless pursuit of offensive 00:15:39.190 --> 00:15:41.289 perfection. He found a system that leveled the 00:15:41.289 --> 00:15:43.889 playing field and he dedicated his entire existence 00:15:43.889 --> 00:15:46.950 to maximizing its potential. So what does this 00:15:46.950 --> 00:15:49.129 all mean? When you step back and look at the 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:51.690 life and career of Mouse Davis, you are looking 00:15:51.690 --> 00:15:54.990 at the story of a guy who simply refused to accept 00:15:54.990 --> 00:15:56.789 the established boundaries of his environment. 00:15:56.950 --> 00:15:59.610 He was too small. He played quarterback anyway 00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:02.470 and won three college championships. Football 00:16:02.470 --> 00:16:04.909 was a running game dominated by three yards and 00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:07.750 a cloud of dust mentalities. He took a theory 00:16:07.750 --> 00:16:11.250 from a book, removed the tight end, added receivers 00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:13.509 in motion, and threw the ball until he broke 00:16:13.509 --> 00:16:16.289 the scoreboard. He broke the math entirely. From 00:16:16.289 --> 00:16:19.710 an 11 -1 high school state championship to completely 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:23.230 rewriting the NCAA Division II record book to 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:27.350 dropping 5 ,700 passing yards on the USFL, Mouse 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:30.350 Davis systematically changed the geometry of 00:16:30.350 --> 00:16:33.149 a deeply entrenched sport. It's an incredible 00:16:33.149 --> 00:16:35.710 legacy. And it leaves me with a lingering thought 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:38.409 based on a very specific detail from our deep 00:16:38.409 --> 00:16:40.649 dive today. I'd love to hear it. Think back to 00:16:40.649 --> 00:16:44.029 those 1983 Toronto Argonauts. Mouse Davis installs 00:16:44.029 --> 00:16:46.490 the system in 1982, turns the franchise around, 00:16:46.710 --> 00:16:49.470 but leaves before the 1983 season begins. Right. 00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:51.889 He wasn't even there. And yet, the team runs 00:16:51.889 --> 00:16:54.029 his exact system and wins their first championship 00:16:54.029 --> 00:16:56.490 in 31 years without him on the sideline. That's 00:16:56.490 --> 00:16:58.750 powerful. It prompts you to ask yourself a profound 00:16:58.750 --> 00:17:01.429 question about your own work, your own career, 00:17:01.610 --> 00:17:04.410 or whatever field you are passionate about. Are 00:17:04.410 --> 00:17:06.890 you striving merely to be the person who gets 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:09.970 to lift the trophy? Or are you striving to be 00:17:09.970 --> 00:17:12.869 the architect who builds the system that changes 00:17:12.869 --> 00:17:15.829 the game entirely? Wow. Sometimes the ultimate 00:17:15.829 --> 00:17:18.029 legacy isn't the hardware you collect on your 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:20.390 way out the door. The ultimate legacy is the 00:17:20.390 --> 00:17:22.269 fact that long after you've left the building, 00:17:22.450 --> 00:17:24.869 the rest of the world is forced to play by the 00:17:24.869 --> 00:17:27.509 rules you invented. That is brilliant. Thank 00:17:27.509 --> 00:17:29.490 you so much for joining us on this deep dive 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.910 into the extraordinary life of Mouse Davis. It 00:17:31.910 --> 00:17:34.380 was a pleasure. We hope you take a page out of 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:36.559 his playbook, Question the Conventional Wisdom, 00:17:36.680 --> 00:17:39.599 find your own unique advantages, and never be 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.619 afraid to throw deep. Keep seeking out the fascinating 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:44.960 world -changing stories hidden right there behind 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:46.940 the statistics. We'll catch you next time.