Time is right for Davis to return to East football

When Eric Davis resigned as football and baseball coach at Mankato East four years ago, you knew he wasn't done coaching.

He left to take an assistant football position at Minnesota State for a couple of years, and last season, he worked as an offensive assistant with the highly successful Mankato West football team.

But as coach Dave Frisell announced his resignation Monday, saying that he was making a family decision to move to the Twin Cities where he could be closer to his mom and in-laws, Davis is the first name you think of to be the next football coach at East.

Davis was a popular coach at East from 2003-07, working with the football, boys basketball and baseball programs during that stretch. His teams were 31-19.

The Cougars have struggled the last four seasons, not because of the coach but because of diminishing talent. The program appears to be improving.

Davis will get a lot of attention over the next month as the position gets filled. There will be other candidates to emerge, though none would have the star power and light a fire in the program like Davis. He's still a teacher in the building, which makes it easier to be a coach.

It seems a foregone conclusion that Davis will be the next football coach at East. It makes a lot of sense.