Before there was a spread offense, high-dollar contracts and daily Internet coverage over who would be the next assistant to the assistant outside linebackers coach, there were men who loved the game without the gadgets, widespread commercialization and intense media coverage.
Paul E. Davis was one of these men. Davis, 87, died Tuesday at Bethany House in Auburn.
Davis coached football at Auburn with Ralph Jordan and Doug Barfield from 1967 through 1980, and assisted Pat Dye from 1987 through 1990.
Prior to his long Auburn tenure, he was head coach at Mississippi State from 1962 through 1966, winning 20 times against 28 defeats.
Coaching regimes — offensive styles and defensive styles — came and went on the Plains, but Davis was a fixture on the Auburn sidelines and practice fields.
So often these days, assistant coaches come to schools with newly hired head coaches and often remain there until that coach is either let go or finds a better job.
But Davis was loyal to Auburn.
And Auburn was loyal to Davis.
So he remained. Through the high-flying days of Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley, helping The Amazins win big in 1972 as Jordan’s defensive coordinator, and through the Barfield era.
Davis was on the sidelines when Bama punted.
He coached 17 All-Americans, including Mike Kolen, Larry Willingham and Mike Fuller.
He was there when Auburn won SEC championships from 1987 through 1989. He was there when Alabama came to Auburn for the first time.
Great wins. Great moments. For this, it takes great people and Davis was one of them.
He may be a Knoxville, Tenn., native and graduate of Ole Miss, but Davis loved Auburn. As it is to so many others regardless of where they reside, Auburn was home.
He leaves behind a legacy. Not just one of hard-working assistant coaches who spend their days and nights drawing Xs and Os on chalkboards or being a father figure to a young freshman far from home, but one of a person many, many people have looked up to for years and will apply the things he taught them toward self-improvement and success.
“Coach Davis said, ‘You can’t look back, you can’t look back,’” 1971 Auburn captain Tommy Yearout said.
“He was still coaching me, even on the last play of the last game that I would ever play. And that’s how he was.”
To this day, Tommy Yearout, Coach Paul Davis is still coaching you.
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