Iowa football: Greg Davis has another job

Greg Davis, who coached Texas quarterbacks to great heights but lost his job when the Longhorns misfired at the QB position, is back in college football. He’s the new offensive coordinator at Iowa.

And this strikes me as the ultimate Big Ten move.

Nothing against Davis, who I think is a pretty good football coach. Davis installed the shotgun option (zone read), which turned Vince Young into a superstar, and groomed Colt McCoy into a four-year star. Then one bad season, 2010, with Garrett Gilbert — and little offensive weaponry otherwise — and out the door went Davis despite 18 seasons as Mack Brown’s sidekick (three at Tulane, two at North Carolina, 13 at Texas).

But is Davis the answer at Iowa? When last we saw the Hawkeye offense, it was shut out through three quarters by OU in the Insight Bowl. Kirk Ferentz has retooled his staff; offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe resigned to join the Miami Dolphins staff.

O’Keefe was like Davis — urged aside despite being the only offensive coordinator Kirk Ferentz had had in 13 seasons at Iowa. Texas fans complained that Davis was too conservative; every offensive coordinator not in the Mike Leach/Dana Holgorsen family has been accused of being too conservative. OSU’s Todd Monken was ripped during the 2011 season for being too conservative, I kid you not.

Like I said, I think Davis is a good coach. But I don’t think he will become a Big Ten innovator. I think his offense will look a lot like the Iowa offenses of the last 13 years. Like a lot of Big Ten offenses. The Big Ten gets a bad rap; the Big Ten does throw the ball. It runs it, too, but the Big Ten is not afraid to throw. But the Big Ten doesn’t spread it out and make defenses cover the entire field all that much.

That’s cultural and it’s also geographical. Watch Sunday Night Football, when the players introduce themselves and their universities. You see a whole bunch of Michigans and Iowas and Wisconsins and Penn States when the offensive linemen announce themselves. Play to your strength.

But still, it’s sort of strange, the way college football cycles. The impression was that Davis no longer could get it done at Texas, but Kirk Ferentz, a solid head coach, believes Davis can get it done at Iowa. Like Brent Venables to Clemson, it probably was just time for a change for Greg Davis. Iowa certainly is a change from the University of Texas.