Eddie Davis begins his fifth season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northeastern. Last season, Davis coached an offense that had a balanced attack. Quarterback Anthony Orio threw for 1,558 yards and eight touchdowns while tailback Maurice Murray rushed for 1,421 yards and 14 touchdowns en route to breaking multiple NU rushing records. In 2004, Davis was the orchestrator of an offense that ranked fourth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring offense, passing offense, rushing offense and total offense, as well as second in pass efficiency. Over four seasons, his Husky offense has placed 13 individuals on All-Conference teams, including Murray, tight end Brian Mandeville and offensive lineman Kevin Newhall in 2007.
Davis came to Boston with impressive credentials, having spent time at two Big 12 institutions, several years as a successful coach in the ultra-competitive Texas high school ranks and the previous four years serving in various capacities at James Madison. In 11 of the 15 years he has coached at the college level, Davis has been responsible for an offensive position group.
He was raised and has worked nearly two-thirds of his career in Texas. Davis was a scholastic coach in the Lone Star State for five years before catching on as a graduate assistant at Rice in 1982. He oversaw the defensive ends (1982) and secondary (1983) in his two years with the Owls. He then moved on to Texas Tech, assisting with the defensive secondary in 1984. That year, the Red Raiders were ranked the best in the nation in pass defense. He moved to the offensive side of the ball in 1985, coaching the running backs.
After that, he spent three years at Temple, coordinating the tight ends and running backs from 1986-88. Davis returned to Texas in 1989 to become the secondary coach at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State), which led the Southland Conference in pass defense in his one season there. A two-year stretch (1990-91) as the offensive line coach at Jersey Village High School in Houston was followed by a seven-year tenure (1992-98) as head coach at Strake Jesuit College Prep. He brought success to both places, the likes of which had not been seen in a long time.
At Jersey Village, he helped the team make the 5A playoffs both seasons, a feat it had never accomplished before his arrival. Strake Jesuit was a powerhouse in the late 1970s, winning four state championships from 1976-80. However, it fell on hard times after that, having just two winning seasons from 1981-91. Davis took over the program in 1992 and quickly turned it around, culminating in a state title in 1994. He compiled a 29-29-3 record at Strake Jesuit, but was 25-15-1 his last four years there.
Davis returned to the college scene as the quarterbacks coach at James Madison, calling the offensive plays during the Dukes’ Atlantic 10 championship season in 1999, in which they also appeared in the NCAA playoffs. He held various other titles until his departure in 2003, including special teams coordinator (2000-02), tight ends coach (2000-01), wide receivers coach (2002-03) and offensive coordinator (2003).
Under Davis’ watch, several individuals achieved outstanding results. Three players earned All-Atlantic 10 honors, while Delvin Joyce set NCAA FCS career records for punt return yards and combined punt and kickoff return yards, as well as the school single-season mark for punt return yards.
Davis was a linebacker and center at Milby High School in Houston. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Education and received a master’s in Education from Rice in 1984. He and his wife, Diane, have four sons: Mickey (31), Eric (27), Gabriel (15) and Marcello (13).