William E. Davis

William Eugene "Bud" Davis (February 15, 1929 – September 24, 2021) was an American university president, Democratic politician, and football coach. He was an interim head football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes for the 1962 season. He was later the President of Idaho State University and the University of New Mexico, and Chancellor of the Oregon University System and Louisiana State University.

Davis is best known in Colorado for writing the book Glory Colorado! A history of the University of Colorado, 1858-1963, which was also his doctoral thesis and nearly 800 pages as a publication. As a sitting university president, he ran for the U.S. Senate in Idaho

Early career Davis graduated from Loveland High School in 1947 and enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) to stay close to home and near his high school sweetheart, Pollyanne Peterson. As a freshman, he declared he wanted "to be the world's greatest football coach" and chose a physical education major and English minor. He was a reserve football player on the varsity team. After graduating in 1951, he remained at the University as assistant to the dean of men. He resigned the position to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. After Sonny Grandelius left Colorado with NCAA sanctions, Davis was hired to be the football team's interim head coach on March 27, 1962. He had no collegiate coaching experience, just five years as a high school head coach. The eight-month Bud Davis era at Boulder ended that day with his post-game resignation. awarded a five-year contract at $15,000 per year. He was defeated in the general election by Republican Congressman Jim McClure. McClure garnered 52.26% of the vote, followed by Davis with 45.52%, and a third-party candidate with 2.22%.

Davis was the President of Idaho State University (1965–1975) and University of New Mexico (1975–1982), Chancellor of the Oregon University System (1982–1989) and Louisiana State University (1989–1996).

Davis published other works, including Miracle on the Mesa / A History of the University of New Mexico, 1889–2003. He served on the board of directors for Sunrise Bank of Albuquerque starting in 2005.

Later life Davis was commissioned by CU to write Volume 2 of Glory Colorado! in 1999. It covered the period from 1963 (the end of the first book) to 2000. Davis authored the book pro bono, writing a majority of it in the summer of 1999 while on break from Louisiana State University. It was published in 2007.

Davis died in 2021. He had been married to Pollyanne Peterson, who died in 2020; they had four daughters and one son.

Awards and honors

title = Universities perform miracles. They change lives. The University of Colorado made it possible for me to have a life of wild adventure. — William E. Davis