BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Mike Davis will keep his job as Indiana
basketball coach, with the school dropping the "interim" tag from
his title.
Indiana president Myles Brand, who fired Bob Knight in
September, made the announcement Wednesday after two days of
deliberations and a morning filled with contract negotiations.
|
 |
|
|
Wed., March 21
The primary consideration for hiring a coach at a school like Indiana, one of the top 10 college basketball jobs in the country, is to find the right guy. I applaud this hiring if Indiana truly feels that Mike Davis is the right guy for the job.
I've never agreed with people who say a coach should be handed a job because he got to a certain record or a certain result in a season. That alone should not dictate someone's hiring. By the same token, if Mike Davis had ended this season with a poor record, I don't think that alone should disqualify him for consideration.
No other team in the country endured as much pressure, scrutiny or distraction as Indiana. I thought that the players and the coach handled the situation they found themselves in extremely well. That was uncharted water for Indiana and it wasn't Mike Davis' or the players' doing.
I hope Indiana had all that in mind, in addition to their record, when they considered Davis.
|
|
|
"We don't name basketball coaches very often around here, and
when we do we make sure that we make the right choice," Brand
said. "This season has revealed the character of Mike Davis. He
and the team have represented the university very well indeed."
Davis, an assistant to Knight, went 21-13 in his first season
and took the Hoosiers to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in
the first round to Kent State.
Davis' contract guarantees him at least $400,000 a year, more
than twice what Knight earned. The salary can grow if Davis meets
performance and academic incentives.
University vice president Terry Clapacs, one of seven members on
the committee that decided Davis' fate, said no other candidates
were contacted.
"Our decision was to make coach Davis the permanent coach or
whether we should open a national search," Clapacs said.
Davis took over the Hoosiers on Sept. 12, two days after Brand
fired Knight, the Hall of Fame coach who spent 29 seasons at
Indiana.
Even then Davis knew he faced a daunting task. He began his
first head coaching job with a team that had only two returning
starters, three juniors and no seniors, while trying to replace a
Hall of Fame coach who won a school-record 661 games and three
national championships.
|  | | Mike Davis won 21 games as Indiana's coach this season.
|
Davis also had to contend with the title of interim coach, which
brought constant questions.
"I always thought I'd get the job, from day one," Davis said.
"There were a lot of people I cut off and stopped talking to
because I didn't want to hear the negativity."
He was under a microscope as he made changes to Indiana
basketball. The team's preseason midnight practice had a different
atmosphere, including slam-dunk and three-point shooting contests.
Davis also included the Indiana women's basketball team in the
festivities.
The team even changed its shoes, moving from Converse to Nike.
After the Hoosiers lost in the first round of the NCAA
tournament to Kent State, Davis thought his fate was still in
jeopardy. But apparently the job he did was enough to convince the
university that he's the person to take the program out of the Bob
Knight era.
"This is not your ordinary basketball program," Clapacs said.
"The decision that had to be made was who could lead keep the
program at that level. The decision ended up being an easy one."
Davis said he was eager to keep the Hoosier program on that
track.
"I plan to take this basketball team to the next level," he
said. "I won't disappoint you with my coaching ability or my
behavior off the court."
Knight, who is being wooed to succeed fired Texas Tech men's
basketball coach James Dickey, was fired last fall after he grabbed
a student he considered disrespectful for addressing him by saying,
"Hey, Knight." Indiana officials said it was a violation of a
zero-tolerance behavior policy set for the volatile coach.
Knight, 60, spent three days last week on the Texas Tech campus
and said he finds the situation there "very appealing."
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
ALSO SEE
Users to IU: Davis is the right coach!
Indiana Clubhouse
AUDIO VIDEO
 Mike Davis plans to continue the proud tradition at Indiana.
wav: 212 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Indiana University president Myles Brand believes Mike Davis exemplifies everything that is right about IU.
wav: 154 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Indiana head coach Mike Davis on the importance of losing the "interim" title.
wav: 345 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
How did Mike Davis find out about his full-time status? Davis answers.
wav: 484 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
ESPN's Dick Vitale calls in to applaud the full-time hiring of Mike Davis at Indiana.
wav: 884 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mark Patrick of WNDE in Indianapolis is not surprised at the full-time hiring of Mike Davis.
wav: 1003 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
