(Official) Mike Davis to Leave Indiana at the End of the Season

[Bucklion]

Remember that Davis has repeatedly stated he wants to go pro.

Those kind of comments never go over well with the fans.

Indiana is just not the place for him.

Agreed completely. Wouldn't be surprised to see him do what Ayers did, and take some assistants jobs in the NBA.

 

[sandgk]

Except that he wasn't really qualified for the job in the first place. I don't wish him bad as he moves on his way, but he didn't deserve the job, and with some more experience, maybe he'll do better next time.

Well not to be completely devils advocate here, but if he wasn't really qualified, do you mean as a coach, or as a recruiter? (I know its hard to seperate the two functions - but game-day and preparation versus program building if you will). His win-loss record was not enough to stink to high heaven - I can see the issue more clearly on the recruiting front.

 

[Bucklion]

Well not to be completely devils advocate here, but if he wasn't really qualified, do you mean as a coach, or as a recruiter? (I know its hard to seperate the two functions - but game-day and preparation versus program building if you will). His win-loss record was not enough to stink to high heaven - I can see the issue more clearly on the recruiting front.

As a coach...he recruited as an assistant, but he had no resume' worthy of being the head coach at Indiana when he got the job.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Being from the Ohio/Indiana state line I developed a near scUM level hatred for all things Indiana at a young age. I moved away many moons ago and IU has sucked quite a bit so the hate has faded greatly.

If IU brings Alford and his sorry ass 'do back, it won't be hard to hate them again real quick.

 

[Bucklion]

Being from the Ohio/Indiana state line I developed a near scUM level hatred for all things Indiana at a young age. I moved away many moons ago and IU has sucked quite a bit so the hate has faded greatly.

If IU brings Alford and his sorry ass 'do back, it won't be hard to hate them again real quick.

Dude, you KNOW you want his haircut.

 

[Jaxbuck]

OK seriously, look at this before and after.

Thats just sad. I bet he still wears his bootie hugger basketball shorts and drives an IROC-Z.

 

[Ginn & Juice]

Good...never was a fan of Mike Davis...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/17/06

COMMENTARY

Satisfying Hoosiers fans no easy task for any coach

Friday, February 17, 2006

BOB HUNTER

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While scrolling through responses to the Internet blog entries of an Indianapolis Star basketball writer, I marveled at how much their hysterical rants about Indiana coach Mike Davis mimicked the stuff we see when a certain local football behemoth loses a few games.

Then I came across one from "Emily" that made me smile.
"Good grief," Emily wrote. "I wish everyone would just SHUT UP. Just SHUT UP already. Everyone."

It’s not easy to smile when you’re reading how Hoosiers fans don’t care how good the team’s record is or how highly it is ranked unless "we are playing QUALITY basketball . . . and I’m POSITIVE I can say that MOST Hoosier fans have a very clear understanding of QUALITY basketball (is) and what we have been watching is NOT quality basketball."

Just shut up, already. There is a certain poetry in that sentence that almost makes me feel like dancing. Believe me, Emily. I feel your pain.

I feel Davis’ pain, too, especially after he announced his resignation (at the end of the season) yesterday. Ever since the day he plopped down in the media room in Value City Arena less than an hour before an IU-OSU game and watched part of an NFL playoff game, he has always seemed a little goofy to me. But I just figured there was no way around it.

Anyone trying to follow Bob Knight at Indiana, anyone trying to coach for those maniacal creatures in Bloomington probably figured to turn a little goofy if he didn’t have an iron constitution.

This is not just a random observation. I’ve sat in front of fans in IU’s Assembly Hall so many times it’s a wonder I’m not strumming my lips in some blissful meadow somewhere. They’re fierce. Nasty. Illogical. Some of them are just plain mean.

How can I say this without offending some of my good friends across the border? Some of these creatures look and sound as if they just climbed down off the cliffs in the movie Deliverance. I’m sure there are reasonable, intelligent human beings in there somewhere — one time, I think I actually saw one — but most of these lunatics think nothing of screaming vicious insults at the ref for calling a foul on an IU player who nearly severed the other guy’s arm.

If these poor folks had spent less time shooting hoops on the barn and more time trying to assimilate into civilized society, the world would be a much better place. But then Indiana probably wouldn’t have nearly as good of a home-court advantage, and this is about winning, right?

Davis has clearly not done enough of that to satisfy Indiana fans, which is certainly understandable. His Hoosiers haven’t made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons and are in the midst of a swan dive through the standings that almost surely will cause them to miss the big show again this year.

But then, whose fault is that, really? When your job security has been a topic of discussion from the day you got the job, when people scream for your head every time you lose more than one in a row, when you know some of these people don’t like you simply because of the color of your skin, how can that not be a distraction for your players? And when it is, how many of us could always react coolly and reasonably?

Davis was right the other day when he said IU fans need one of their own to coach the Hoosiers. He was wrong if thinks they will be satisfied. If IU grad Steve Alford had the record at Indiana he has had at Iowa — 110-83 (.570) in the six seasons prior to this one — he probably wouldn’t be there now. Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich? His 143-115 record would have brought out the pickaxes and hunting knives. Randy Wittman? Please. He was 62-102 in two years with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So what’s the answer?

Bring Bob Knight from Texas Tech. Apologize to him for his firing. If you have to, give him NCAA president Myles Brand’s head on a stick and promise to make him the Emperor of Indiana.

At least if he loses — and his Red Raiders are 13-12 right now — all of those basketball-bred Hoosier geniuses will think twice about screaming at him.

The more I think about it, that was a marriage made in heaven.

Bob Hunter is sports columnist for The Dispatch.

[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Indiana is about to find themselves in the same situation they were in six years ago. Recent comments made by Robert Vaden (Indiana's leading scorer) and D.J. White suggest they are thinking about transfering. Also, Darrell Arthur, the #19 prospect in the 2006 class who was strongly considering Indiana now says he will look elsewhere. Ironically, Indiana hired Mike Davis partly, in order to keep players in the program after they fired Knight and now they are back in the same spot....

Picture of D.J. White at the PC......

D.J. White

 

[BuckeyeRob]

Yanking the ear-piece out and walking off the set does not in my book equal being frankly polite, whether upfront or after the fact.

All he had to do was make one simple statement - to the camera - after the host finished her question and it would all be over. The simple statement would have been something like ...

"That is IU's business and Mike Davis' business, it is none of my business. Beyond that I will say no more."

Instead BK once again makes himself the story, acting as if it physically impossible to acknowledge, let alone answer a simple question.

Great coach, lousy interview. At times like that it does not strike me that Knight has stones, more like he has rocks in his head.

Please! Why does this woman get a free pass???? So its ok to say we are going to interview you for your show and they lie by going off on direction that has NOTHING to do with why you set up the interview?

She can go pound sand

 

[buckeyeman06]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=whitlock/060216

Great article on Mike Davis and why he is gone from IU.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Truth and Rumors.......

[Mike] Davis might not be the only departure from Indiana's basketball program. Two sophomore starters expressed their frustration Thursday at Assembly Hall, saying they see no reason to be Hoosiers without Davis as their coach. A third player appears to be thinking similarly. Davis hopes to coach again, and like swingman Robert Vaden, forward D.J. White plans to follow him. Guard A.J. Ratliff didn't deny considering similar action.
-- Indianapolis Star

Look for assistant Orlando Magic coach Randy Wittman to be the leading candidate for Indiana basketball coaching job unless Alford decides to move from Iowa to his alma mater.
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Indiana fans have talked about Steve Alford taking the Hoosiers job for years, and Mike Davis seemed to endorse him at Monday's Big Ten teleconference. The former Hoosier is enjoying his best season at Iowa and has a shot to win the Big Ten. Then the team will be hit by graduation. Not a bad time to leave.
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Many Indiana fans would love to see Thad Matta flee Ohio State if the program is drilled by the NCAA for penalties that occurred under Jim O'Brien. One early online poll had him as the top pick over [Steve] Alford and Rick Pitino, among others. And Matta's the guy who plucked Greg Oden out of Indianapolis.
-- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 

[sandgk]

Please! Why does this woman get a free pass???? So its ok to say we are going to interview you for your show and they lie by going off on direction that has NOTHING to do with why you set up the interview?

She can go pound sand

Why would he treat the whole thing like an insulting ambush when it is so easy to deflect the whole matter, and get on with the original reason to be there - promotion of his new gig in "Knight School" on ESPN?

Of course as others speculated, maybe that was the whole point. ESPN and BK complicit in the Cold Pizza showdown and tantrum. All part of jazzing the viewership, building a little zest for Knight's future appearances on his own show.

Returning now to IU's future search for a new coach in Davis' place.

 

[jwinslow]

Why would he treat the whole thing like an insulting ambush when it is so easy to deflect the whole matter, and get on with the original reason to be there - promotion of his new gig in "Knight School" on ESPN?

he did, twice. I'm sure it was made clear beforehand that he wouldn't talk about it... what was the point of continuing to repeat no, no, no? They made it clear they weren't going to allow him to decline to comment.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/21/06

INDIANA COACHING JOB

Many successful coaches are ‘outsiders’

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




If Indiana University officials have paid attention to college basketball history, they probably should pay little heed to what outgoing coach Mike Davis recommended about his successor.

Before Davis announced his resignation, effective at season’s end, the native of Alabama said he thought Hoosiers fans would be happier "with one of their own." But the records suggest that a coach’s alma mater has little to do with his success.

In Indiana’s case, the most obvious example is Bob Knight, who at his core is a Buckeye — an Orrville native who played at Ohio State. His firing six years ago opened the door for Davis, who had been a Hoosiers assistant for three years.

Consider the following:


• North Carolina’s Dean Smith, the winningest men’s coach, was born in Emporia, Kan., and played at Kansas.

• Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp was born in Halstead, Kan., and played at Kansas.

• UCLA’s John Wooden was an early star for Purdue.

• Mount St. Mary’s Jim Phelan was from Philadelphia and played at LaSalle.

• Hank Iba, primarily of Oklahoma State fame, went to Westminster and Maryville Teachers College, both in Missouri.

• Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was a native of Chicago who played for Knight at Army.

• Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun graduated from American International College.

• Purdue’s Gene Keady was born in Larned, Kan., and played at Kansas State.

• Rick Pitino, known for his Kentucky and Louisville achievements, is from New York City and graduated from Massachusetts.

• Jerry Tarkanian, best known for his exploits at UNLV, was from Euclid, Ohio, and graduated from Fresno State.

Of course, there are exceptions to the outside rule, among them: Phog Allen, who played at Kansas and went on to become its image-building coach; Jim Boeheim, who was a walk-on who made good at Syracuse before returning as its coach; Fred Taylor, who played at and then coached Ohio State to the heights; and Roy Williams, who returned to North Carolina to lead the Tar Heels to the national championship last year.

But consider that among the current 11 coaches in the Big Ten, only two are at their alma mater, Penn State’s Ed DeChellis and Purdue’s Matt Painter.

Otherwise, the Big Ten is not a league of "their own," as Davis, Thad Matta (Butler) and Iowa’s Steve Alford (Indiana) show. Illinois’ Bruce Weber went to Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Michigan State’s Tom Izzo went to Northern Michigan; Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan went to Wilkes University in Pennsylvania; Michigan’s Tommy Amaker went to Duke; Minnesota’s Dan Monson went to Idaho; and Northwestern’s Bill Carmody went to Union College.

The lesson might be twofold: One, a fresh man brings fresh ideas. Two, it’s much easier to pull the plug on an outsider when expectations aren’t met.

[email protected]