Springfield native Bradyn Smith (14), shown here with teammate J.J. Ross, was one of the WIU players who were part of process to hire the Leathernecks’ head coach. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun
Brian Spotts spent the latter part of his fall recovering and rehabilitating from surgery on both knees, which bore the brunt of four seasons on the collegiate football field and many more afterward on softball diamonds.
Yet, the former Western Illinois linebacker was figuratively and literally on his feet when his alma mater named Joe Davis as its new football head coach earlier this week.
“He had me ready to run through a brick wall,” said Spotts, who was part of the alumni group included in the WIU coaching search.
It’s definitely been a brick wall for WIU in recent years. The Leathernecks have lost a program-worst 24 straight games dating back to 2021.
Western was not only 0-11 this past season, but also ranked last among the nation’s 122 FCS teams in scoring defense (46.27 points per game). The offense wasn’t much better, ranking 120th (12.5 ppg).
Thus, Davis is tasked with chipping away at that brick wall. However, the newly minted Leatherneck doesn’t feel alone in the charge.
“I don’t know that there’s a more passionate alumni base at this level of football than at Western Illinois University,” Davis said during Wednesday’s introductory media address.
To support his statement, Davis talked about a recent Zoom call with WIU football alumni that “may or may not” have served as part of the interview process.
“These guys were all over the country,” he said. “I don’t know if they were as interested in interviewing me as in busting each other’s tails, telling stories and talking smack a little bit.
“That camaraderie and that brotherhood, I felt that. It got me excited.”
It reminded Davis of his own playing days at Division III Adrian (Mich.) College.
“(Those teammates) are still some of my closest friends in the world,” he said. “We’ve all stood up in each others’ weddings. That’s real. That’s relationships. That’s football.”
And it’s that kinship and bond that Davis intends to build with the current and future direction of the Leatherneck program.
“Guys from every socioeconomic background, every race, every part of the country, come together for a common goal,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to build here.”
There were numerous ex-WIU standouts that joined Spotts on that Zoom conference. There were recent stars such as Macomb native and Buck Buchanan Award finalist Brett Taylor and CFL quarterback Sean McGuire.
There were NFL stars from previous decades the likes of 2000 Buchanan Award winner Ed Hartwell, All-Pro punter Mike Scifres and Super Bowl champion guard Rich Seubert.
“We are all excited to see what Coach Davis brings to the program,” Seubert said.
‘Loud, in a good way’
Players of the past are all good and well. But it’s up to the players of the present — and those in future recruiting classes teamed with key transfers — that will ultimately determine what lies ahead for Leatherneck football.
Davis will be the third Western head coach that safety Bradyn Smith has played for.
Thus far, he likes what he has seen.
“I came here my freshman year and I wanted to win some games and play some football,” Smith said. “I have three wins and I didn’t really contribute to any of them (as an inexperienced player). With Coach Davis, I’m going to use these two years (of eligibility). I just have that much belief in him.”
To what does Smith attribute his trust in Davis?
“He just seemed like a players’ coach. He has this presence about him,” said Smith, WIU’s leading tackler this season. “He stepped in the room and said one thing and it got me fired up.
“I like the way he presents himself. He’s very professional. When you listen to him speak, you’re listening to a head coach.”
Smith, a former Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin High School standout, added that Davis is “loud, in a good way.”
“With Coach Davis, he’s going to know everybody’s names within like two weeks. He’s gonna know all of our backgrounds. He’s gonna know everything about us,” Smith said. “Coach said during our players’ meeting that he’s here for us, and he cares about us. We’re his No. 1 priority. He’s going to make us the best versions of ourselves.”
Reasons to believe
Much of what gives the Leatherneck alumni promise is Davis’s experience. He spent 20 years as an assistant coach who also held coordinator responsibilities. Davis helped three different football programs receive NCAA postseason berths.
“You can tell the excitement and passion that Coach Davis has about the game of football,” said Brandon Kreczmer, a former WIU player who served as Leatherneck interim head coach before Davis’s hiring.
“Every program he has coached (at), he helped build and improve and that speaks volumes about the coach he is,” Kreczmer said. “Coach’s offenses have been dynamic, and I am thankful and excited to work with him on the next chapter of Leatherneck football.”
Both players from the past and of the present spoke of Davis’s familiarity with the Ohio Valley Conference, which is the league WIU will compete in next fall.
“I’m also very excited because with him having the OVC experience and us moving into the OVC, that’s one of the biggest things (I liked),” Smith said. “We have a head coach that’s already competed against all of these teams that we’re getting ready to play against for the first time.”
Davis spent the past two seasons as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Eastern Illinois, which now will be a Leatherneck rival in the Big South-OVC Football Association.
EIU was one of the biggest turnaround stories in FCS this past season. The Panthers, 8-3 overall and 4-2 in the league, quadrupled their win total from 2022.
Spotts, who played at WIU in the late 1970s, was impressed by Davis’s transparency.
“He came on campus with a positive outlook, knowing where we are state budget-wise. When a guy (who is another candidate) comes on campus and starts telling you everything that’s bad rather than good, to me you want the guy who comes in with the positive outlook,” Spotts said. “He’s a guy who says let’s focus on what we have and not worry about what we don’t have.”
Seubert, who played 104 games for the NFL’s New York Giants, also saw the connection.
“Coaching at EIU, he is ready for the challenge he has in front of him,” Seubert said. “The biggest challenge will be getting recruits to want to be a Leatherneck and get the program back to where it should be.”
Davis is taking over a WIU program that has not seen a winning record in seven seasons. Yet, he is hardly deterred and thinks the move to the OVC is a major plus.
“I believe of all the FCS conferences I’ve coached in, there’s probably the most parity in the Ohio Valley,” he said. “This past season, the last-place team could beat the first-place team and everyone in between. It was very close.”
And as for his former employer, which Western will host Oct. 12 at Hanson Field in Macomb?
“I think the (WIU) roster is a little more ready to compete than our first year at Eastern,” Davis said. “As much as I loved my time there the last two years, we’re going to be trying to get after those guys.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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