When Darrell "Mouse" Davis, a year removed from the University of Hawai'i's football coaching staff, was offered one of the Warriors' Sugar Bowl rings in 2007 by way of appreciation, he voiced surprise.

Then, with a twinkle in his steel-blue eyes, Davis noted, "I guess if I was still coaching there, they wouldn't have gotten to the Sugar Bowl, would they?"

It was typical, self-effacing humor from a man who rarely took himself too seriously. But truth be told, Davis' roundabout contributions to UH were larger than the barely two-year entry they accounted for on a half-century coaching resume.

Davis, 76, retired from coaching yesterday, calling it quits at Portland State, where he had been offensive coordinator since following Jerry Glanville there from Manoa in 2007.

In a big picture way, Davis was every bit a contributing architect to the Warriors' 12-1 Sugar Bowl season — and a lot more. If not for Davis' fascination with a cult book about the run-and-shoot offense — "Run and Shoot; The Offense of the Future" in 1965 — and the third chance he gave UH refugee June Jones in 1975, the Warriors likely would have never found their way to a 12-0 regular season or the Sugar Bowl. Or, Saint Louis and Kaiser had some of their shining moments under the Lee Brothers.

It was a guy named "Mouse" for his diminutive size (a 4-foot-10 receiver in high school) that saw in the run-and-shoot an innovative equalizer for little guys' programs. With some tinkering, he employed it to league titles and a state crown at Milwaukie High in Oregon. Then, he hauled it to Portland State, averaging 38 points and nearly 500 yards per game, including three years leading the NCAA in scoring.

Jones, an itinerant quarterback who had bounced from Oregon to UH before landing at Portland State, found more than a path to the NFL. He gained a mentor and a career-long calling. So much so that in his first real coaching job, as UH offensive coordinator in 1983, Jones brought elements of the run-and-shoot to a record-setting (to that point) season.

When Jones returned as head coach in 1999, he used his version of the run-and-shoot to turn what had been an 0-12 program into the NCAA's biggest single-season turnaround team at 9-4.

In time, Davis came to join him for two seasons (2005-06), seeing up close the local progeny of his life's work.

That Sugar Bowl ring? It was but a token payment on the considerable debt UH — and Hawai'i — owes him.