ECU offensive line coach and run-game coordinator Brad Davis (Photo courtesy of James Madison University)

FOOTBALL Davis seeking results Sooner Brad Davis's resume includes a college career at Oklahoma, a program on the short list when it comes to all-time, big-time football. East Carolina's new offensive line coach and run-game coordinator has a lot of experience to draw from and it doesn't include any short cuts ... More from Al Myatt...

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FOOTBALL / BASKETBALL / BASEBALL Lebo eyes the path to the future East Carolina is sitting out the NCAA Tournament this year. No surprise there. The Pirates and the big dance have been incongruous terms but as the future unfolds for ECU basketball improvement is the intent. ... More from Al Myatt...

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By Al Myatt
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Brad Davis's resume includes a college career at Oklahoma, a program on the short list when it comes to all-time, big-time football.

East Carolina's new offensive line coach and run-game coordinator has a lot of experience to draw from and it doesn't include any short cuts when it comes to achieving success.

"As it pertains to my players, I think it adds value because there's not one experience that they will go through as a college football player that I haven't experienced already -- from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the lows," Davis said.

The highs included some playing time as a reserve on Oklahoma's 2000 BCS winner. He was the Sooners' most valuable offensive lineman in 2002. He played on a pair of Big 12 Conference championship teams. He worked his way through the program to start for two seasons.

The lows included a career-ending broken right leg at Texas A&M in his senior season. Oklahoma was 8-0 and ranked No. 1 going into a 30-26 loss to the Aggies. Davis watched a 34-14 win over Washington State in the Rose Bowl on crutches.

"By no means was I a phenomenal football player or a guy that people will remember for years to come," Davis said. "I was a role player. I was a guy that had to overachieve. I wasn't blessed with a bunch of athletic intangibles that made me desirable by every school in the country. I was a guy that somebody took a chance on and when I got to college, I had to learn how to work.

"I spent a lot of time watching football on Saturdays from the sideline because I did not know the value of hard work. I can look back now and say that and really share that with my players. I don't walk around beating on my chest, saying, 'Hey, I was an All American, a first-round draft pick with 10 years of NFL experience.' I was the polar opposite. I was a scout team player that went to work every day and brought my lunch pail. I worked and pushed myself. I took the hard coaching and the hard lessons and bought in to the team aspect. When I was given a chance to go out and compete and earn a starting job, I didn't miss a beat. I was able to go out and really help my team win a lot of games. ... In retrospect I probably could have earned a bigger role had I known what I know now as a coach, which is go to work every day and compete your butt off instead of just assuming it's going to happen because you're there."

Davis worked his way up in the Sooners system, similar to the no-entitlement structure of coach Ruffin McNeill at ECU that has developed outstanding players such as Shane Carden and Justin Hardy.

"I accepted every role that I was given," Davis said. "That's hard for some of these guys. Recruiting nowadays, these guys are promised the world and they're put on a pedestal. They're told how great they're going to be and all these things. Then they get to college and they assume what I did in high school was good enough — why isn't that good enough in college?

"My job is to show these guys the value of hard work — to show them that if you truly aspire to be a great player then you should want to be pushed and challenged in every aspect of your life to excel and get better."

Davis sounds a little old school in his approach.

"It's not for the faint of heart," he said. "I get after 'em. I coach really, really hard and I'm not really apologetic for it. I want these guys to go out every day in practice and take game reps. To a man, everybody on this team would say they want to win a championship, but that's a daily walk. It's easy to talk about those things in an air-conditioned room and hanging out. When you get out there in the hot sun and you've got 24 practice periods, who's going to go out there and really earn it? It's easy to lose sight of those goals when guys don't know how to work. ... My job is to remind them — 'OK, this is what we talked about. This is what we want. Let's go out there and excel.' It's a work in progress in our unit right now. ... I'm really trying to teach these guys how to compete at a championship level.

"I was fortunate to play with some really good players and play for some really good coaches in college that pushed us to go out and win a national championship. Those experiences have really paid dividends for me as a coach now. I've seen what it takes and I've also seen that you can take a group of really non-elite players per se because by no means were we a bunch of elite players, but if they go out and play together and execute consistently over the course of 12 games, the sky's the limit. You can compete for a championship. Those are the experiences I carry with me.

"I really think that my players understand. I do know what they're going through. I know the grind of going to class, getting up early in the morning. You've got study hall. You've got treatment. You've got weights. You've got film. You've got social life. Sometimes the last think you want to do is go out there and get your butt yelled at in practice but if you keep in the forefront of your mind the opportunity to compete for a championship, then it gets easier."

"Right now the kids are going through a real grind with me in spring ball. As they experience success in the fall, it will be validated. It will really sell itself from here on out."

Davis also has some perspective on the next level, having worked NFL summer internships with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 and the Seattle Seahawks in 2012. Five players he has coached have earned NFL roster spots since 2009.

"I've had a chance to experience that lifestyle, minus the paycheck, obviously," Davis said. "I still think for my guys who aspire to get to the next level, I think I can help them get there. ... It's not always about being the most talented or decorated player. It's about being willing to outwork your opponent."

Offensive line projects as strength

"Some of our more experienced players are not practicing this spring," Davis said. "With injuries come opportunities. What I'm getting the opportunity to do right now is invest a lot of time with our younger players who may or may not have gotten a lot of reps last spring or last fall. I'm really, really watching those guys make some strides and get a chance to compete for some playing time, earn a role ultimately this fall for our football team. When you're working on improving the depth of the unit, that's one of the things that will pay off for you in a big way somewhere down the line.

"I'm really just enjoying pushing these guys and watching them take steps to get their game to the next level."

Among those out on the offensive front are Kyle Erickson (right Achilles), Ike Harris (right shoulder) and Tre Robertson (both shoulders).

Harris started every game at left tackle last season. Robertson made two starts at right guard at the beginning of last season and started the last three games at right tackle. Since spring practice began, Dontae Livingston, who started 10 games at right tackle in 2014, has gone out with a concussion and Quincy McKinney, who started all 13 games at left guard, has been sidelined with a chest injury.

Davis has studied the injured players on tape since his hiring was announced on Feb. 17.

"I got a chance to watch quite a few games from last season," Davis said. "One of the big things we did when we initially got here was spend time watching cut-ups from last season, watching these guys in competition. ... I feel like we have some guys who know how to play the game. My job is to take them from where they are now and really try to push them and challenge them to constantly improve. There's room for improvement with what we do in execution and overall consistency, which is something we've really been focusing on this spring."

The run-game coordinator position is a new one. Brandon Jones, Davis's predecessor, received that designation before joining the staff at California after the Pirates went 8-5 overall in 2014 and 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference.

Davis has had similar responsibilities at Portland State and James Madison. The Dukes averaged 484.6 yards of offense in going 9-4 last season and made the program's first appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs since 2011.

"If you look at our offense and the personnel that we have, really the most experienced group returning is our offensive line," Davis said. "We have seven seniors in our group, a lot of guys who have played and competed for us. My role as run game coordinator is really to try and take our run game that we have now and really try to enhance it, get our guys to execute it even better than they have in the past. When it comes to game planning, that will be my role to help Coach (Dave) Nichol (offensive coordinator) implement a run scheme that will be able to move the ball. ... We were one of the top offenses in the country last year so we don't need a whole lot of new ideas. It's to take what we have and enhance it."

ECU had more depth on its offensive front last season than in some seasons past. The extent of a playing rotation for the 2015 blocking corps is yet to be determined.

"There's one thing you can't coach," Davis said. "You can drill techniques and fundamentals and coach guys up on plays. The one thing you can't coach is game experience. Either you have it or you don't. It benefits you greatly if you get young guys who are able to get some game experience throughout the season. If they continue to grow, when they get that opportunity to be promoted to a role when they're asked to play significantly, it's not new to them. They don't go out there and get stage fright. The last few years that I've been coaching the offensive line at different places, I've had a core group of maybe eight to 10 guys. They played based on their merit. If there are guys we feel we can plug into the game and our level of play and consistency won't drop, then I have no problem putting a guy in the game.

"If we only have five guys that we feel like can keep consistency and can help us move the ball, those will be the five guys we go with. It's really temperamental based on how our guys go out and practice each week. In my mind, just because a guy's a starter it doesn't mean that he gets to rest on his laurels and he's the guy. He has to continue to be pushed and challenged and compete for his job on a daily basis.

"That goes into how you work on the field as a football player and it also goes into how these guys live their lives off the field. All those things add up for me. We're in a really neat situation here to have some competition. Those older guys who aren't getting reps right now, well they're watching those young guys improve. When those guys do return, it's not going to be a comfortable situation to walk into and say, 'I'm here to take back my job.' Hey, you've got to come back and work for your job. I've always loved those types of scenarios because I think it elevates everybody's level of play. When guys learn how to compete in practice, when you get in a game those things will not be foreign to them. They'll go out and know how to compete and push their bodies. They'll know how to go out and over-achieve and, ultimately, to excel in the path that they're given. It's a really, really neat situation for us right now."

Relationship with Ruff

Davis met McNeill in 2006 when the ECU alumnus was coaching at Texas Tech.

"I was a graduate assistant at Texas A&M," Davis said. "We had a mutual friend who introduced us. He was obviously a guy who was much farther ahead in his career than I was. I was an entry level guy.

"He treated me with a ton of dignity and respect. I always admired him from afar. When I got a chance to work for him, it was a no-brainer.

"His coaching style is very family-oriented. He wants his players and coaches to take care of family in how we work and how we prepare and how we live our lives on and off the football field.

"I've been very impressed and pleased with the atmosphere he's created for our players, the level of admiration and respect that our players have for him, really just the culture and environment of our football team.

"He's a great man. He's a mentor. He's a leader for our players and also for our coaching staff, myself included. He's a guy that I aspire to be like at some point in my career."

McNeill lets his coaches coach but he also coaches his coaches.

"He observes what you do," Davis said. "He gives you pointers and tips. He gives you feedback and critiques, things he thinks you can improve on and things he thinks you're doing well. Those are things that as a coach you appreciate because if you're doing it the right way as a coach, you want to be pushed as well to excel, just the way you want to push your players to excel. I appreciate that about him.

"He creates a fun atmosphere. I don't ever feel like I'm coming to work. There's not a day where I've gotten out of bed and said, 'Oh, gosh, I've got to go to work.' I get up inspired and fired up to come here and compete. It's a great place to be. It's a great program. I have two sons and I'd love for my sons to play for a coach like Coach McNeill."