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Western Illinois has its new football coach. The Leathernecks are hiring former Eastern Illinois offensive coordinator Joe Davis for the job, per ESPN. Davis also worked as an assistant at Albany, Fordham and Northern Iowa.
Davis takes over a program that has fallen on some very hard times in recent years. Western Illinois didn't win a game in 2022 or 2023, finishing a woeful 0-11 each season. The school parted ways with coach Myers Hendrickson following the end of this season. The Leathernecks haven't won a game since 2021, when the team went 2-9. The school hasn't had a winning season since 2017, when the school won 8 games.
Western Illinois has a rich football history, despite its recent hardship. The school has made the Division I FCS college football playoffs 11 times, including 6 times in the last 25 years. Western Illinois currently competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, and the school holds 13 conference titles in total going back to the 1939 season.
The Leathernecks are hoping that Joe Davis can bring the program back to its former glory as one of the best teams in the FCS. It will certainly be a difficult task, as the team has lost 22 games in a row over the last two seasons. Davis is an offensive mind who has helped several small schools with their offenses. Davis' offense at Albany broke 21 school records during the four years he was there. In 2019, he was on the staff when Albany made the FCS playoffs, advancing to the second round.
Davis was a professional football player before becoming a coach. He spent three years playing in the Arena Football League, as well as the National Indoor Football League. Davis was a quarterback in college at Adrian College. He is a native of Michigan.
