William Eugene "Bud" Davis (February 15, 1929 – September 24, 2021)[1][2] was an American university president, Democratic politician, and football coach.
As a freshman, he declared he wanted "to be the world's greatest football coach"[5] and chose a physical education major and English minor.
[6] After Sonny Grandelius left Colorado with NCAA sanctions, Davis was hired to be the football team's interim head coach on March 27, 1962.
[8][9] The Buffaloes had just one win entering the finale at home on November 24, but pulled off an inspired 34–10 upset of heavily-favored Air Force at Folsom Field to finish at 2–8, the worst record in the program's 72-year history.
[12] In early 1963, Oklahoma assistant Eddie Crowder was hired on January 2,[10][14][15] awarded a five-year contract at $15,000 per year.
He received special permission from the doctoral thesis committee to bypass the standard format and write the historical narrative book about the history of the University of Colorado at Boulder until that point.
After receiving his doctoral degree in 1963, Davis left CU to become executive assistant to the president for student affairs at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
Davis authored the book pro bono, writing a majority of it in the summer of 1999 while on break from Louisiana State University.