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. The spring of his senior year he married Peterson. In 1960, Davis completed his master's degree in education administration at the Colorado State College of Education in Greeley and became CU's alumni director while working on his doctoral degree in education. 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 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 the worst record in the program's 72-year history. The eight-month Bud Davis era at Boulder ended that day with his post-game resignation. In early 1963, Oklahoma assistant Eddie Crowder was hired on January 2, awarded a five-year contract at $15,000 per year. Head coaching record Glory Colorado! While working on his doctoral degree and coaching the football team Davis was writing his thesis. 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