Mouse Davis Darrel " Mouse " Davis ( born September 6 , 1932 ) is an American football coach and former player . A veteran coach at the high school , college , and professional levels , he is currently the wide receivers coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa . Davis served as the head football coach at Portland State University from 1975 to 1980 , compiling a record of 42 – 24 . He has also been a head coach with the Denver Gold of the United States Football League ( 1985 ) , the New York / New Jersey Knights of the World League of American Football ( 1991 – 1992 ) , and the Detroit Fury ( 2001 – 2002 ) and the San Diego Riptide ( 2003 ) of the Arena Football League . A native of Washington , Davis grew up in Oregon , where he started his coaching career as a high school football coach . He helped to popularize the use of the run and shoot offense . Early life . Davis was born in Eastern Washington in Palouse on September 6 , 1932 . His family later moved to neighboring Oregon and Davis lists Independence , Oregon , as his hometown . Mouse gained his nickname from older brother Don while a freshman shortstop on the Central High School team in neighboring Monmouth , Oregon . Despite his 4 ' 10 " ( 1 . 47 m ) stature at the time , Mouse already excelled at sports . In 1955 , he graduated from the Oregon College of Education ( now Western Oregon University ) in neighboring Monmouth . There he played quarterback and halfback on three straight championship teams from 1952 – 54 under Coach Bill McArthur . Davis also played basketball and baseball at the college . Coaching . Davis helped make the run and shoot offense famous as a coach , revolutionizing football in the 1960s and 1970s . In developing his run and shoot offense , Davis espoused the theories of Glenn " Tiger " Ellison , football coach at Middletown High School in Ohio , who wrote the book " Run & Shoot Football : Offense of the Future " . Davis utilized the offense in a coaching career that included 15 years at the high school level in Oregon , at the college level , and professionally in the NFL , CFL , USFL , WLAF , and Arena League . High school . Davis spent 15 seasons coaching high school football in Oregon , culminating in a 1973 state championship at Hillsboro High School . That team went 11 – 1 and set school marks in seven team season offensive categories and 15 records overall . Davis also was head coach at Sunset and Milwaukie high schools in Oregon , building a combined 79 – 29 record among those three schools . College . Mouse Davis then moved on to take the head coaching position at Portland State University , where he coached from 1975 to 1980 . While at Portland State from 1975 to 1980 , and at each of his subsequent stops , he helped popularized the run and shoot offense . There he led the PSU football program to a 42 – 24 record over six seasons , averaged 38 points and nearly 500 yards of offense per game . PSU led the nation in scoring three times . The unique passing game made stars out of Davis ' two main quarterbacks , June Jones and Neil Lomax . In 1975 , Jones , now the current Southern Methodist University and former University of Hawaii head coach , threw for a Division II record 3 , 518 yards . Davis ' next quarterback , Lomax , set NCAA records of 13 , 220 yards and 106 touchdowns in 42 games . Under Davis ' direction , Portland State set 20 NCAA Division II offensive records in addition to the Vikings being named the NCAA ' s all - time point producers in 1980 , scoring 541 points in 11 games for 49 . 2 points per game , along with 434 . 9 yards passing and 504 . 3 yards of total offense per game . After coaching at Portland State , Davis went on to coach at UC Berkeley . For the 2004 – 2006 seasons , Davis served as an assistant coach for Jones at Hawaii . The Warriors employed the run and shoot offense and averaged 559 . 2 yards of total offense , 46 . 9 points and produced a 10 – 3 record in 2006 . Hawaii led the nation in passing offense ( 441 . 3 ) , total offense , scoring offense and pass efficiency ( 185 . 95 ) . Then in February 2007 , he returned to Portland State to serve as offensive coordinator for new PSU head coach Jerry Glanville ' s staff . He retired at the age of 76 on June 1 , 2009 , but later returned to the University of Hawaii as an assistant coach on June 25 , 2010 . Davis was an inaugural member of the Portland State Athletics Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1997 . Professional . Davis has been head coach of the now - defunct USFL ' s Denver Gold , the WLAF ' s New York / New Jersey Knights , and the Arena Football League ' s Detroit Fury and the af2 ' s San Diego Riptide . He was also an assistant coach with the NFL ' s Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions and with the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League . In 1982 , Davis joined the Toronto Argonauts as offensive coordinator and turned the team into a contender instantly with his pass - happy club . Led by his tandem of QBs Condredge Holloway ( Tennessee ) and Joe Barnes ( Texas Tech ) . They finished the regular season with a record of ( 9 – 6 – 1 ) Davis ' Argos lost in the 70th Grey Cup in 1982 to the Warren Moon - led Edmonton Eskimos to the score of 32 – 16 . Davis left the Argonauts prior to the 1983 season , however the team , using the offense he had installed , finished the regular season with a commanding ( 12 – 4 ) record and did win the 71st Grey Cup that year over the British Columbia Lions to the score of 18 – 17 . It was their first championship in 31 years . In 1984 , Davis headed back to the USA to take the offensive coordinator job with the USFL expansion Houston Gamblers . His quarterback was a rookie from the University of Miami named Jim Kelly . The " Mouseketeers " offensive unit lit up the USFL in their first year of existence passing for 5 , 793 yards and 45 passing touchdowns - ending their expansion season with a ( 13 – 5 ) record . The Gamblers ' offense became the first team in pro football history to have two receivers with over 100 receptions in a single season : Richard Johnson with 115 and Ricky Sanders with 101 . In 1985 , Davis took his first head coaching job at the professional level when he took the rein s of the Denver Gold , bringing his run - and - shoot offense to the Mile High City . He once again had a tandem of QBs in Vince Evans and Bob Gagliano . The Gold finished the season with its first playoff berth with an ( 11 – 7 ) mark but lost in the first round to the Memphis Showboats . Davis was slated to become head coach of the St . Louis Lightning of the World Indoor Football League in 1988 , but the league dissolved before the season began . 1991 Davis took the head coaching job of the New York / New Jersey Knights of the WLAF . The 1991 season had Davis and the Knights go ( 5 – 5 ) and won the North American East Division . But they bowed out of the playoffs semifinal to the eventual champion London Monarchs . The following year saw their record improve to ( 6 – 4 ) and second place in the division but missed qualifying for the playoffs .