Indiana Alumni Magazine
Davis Resigns
Announcement comes with five games remaining
Hoosier basketball coach Mike Davis is departing after the current season.
The Mike Davis era at Indiana University will come to an end with the conclusion of the current basketball season, his sixth as head coach of the Hoosiers. On Feb. 16, IU President Adam W. Herbert and Athletics Director Rick Greenspan announced Davis’s resignation, effective after IU’s last five games of the regular season and any postseason play.
“I just feel like it was time for this program to be united,” Davis said during a press conference. “I feel like over the last six years, the healing process of coach (Bob) Knight not being here should definitely be closed. It is a great opportunity for Indiana basketball to come back together.”
Davis said he decided to announce his resignation prior to the end of the season to eliminate public speculation about his status as coach, which he said had been a distraction to the Hoosier players. He said he made up his mind to leave the program prior to the Illinois game on Jan. 17 and initiated talks with Herbert just before the Connecticut game on Feb. 4. Herbert said that Davis felt this was an appropriate time to consider a coaching change.
“Consistent with his request, we have done that,” Herbert said, citing a list of Davis’s accomplishments that include being the first coach at IU to record three 20-win seasons and three NCAA appearances in his first three years on the job, an average of 19.2 victories per season, and 10 Academic All-Big Ten players in five seasons.
Greenspan said everyone would work hard to conclude the year in the most positive and productive manner possible.
“I will begin to turn my attention to identifying the strongest possible candidates to serve as the next head basketball coach at IU,” he said. “I will seek the advice and counsel of a great many. I will search all over the country and eventually bring recommended candidates forward to the president. Due to the remaining regular season and postseason play of many teams, I do not anticipate announcing the hiring of our new coach until after the Final Four.”
Davis came to IU in 1997 as an assistant coach for Knight. Davis became the Hoosier’s head coach, on an interim basis, two days after Knight was dismissed in September 2000. After a 21–13 season and an appearance in the 2001 NCAA tournament, Davis was given a four-year contract to coach the Hoosiers.
In Davis’s second season, IU posted a 19–10 regular-season record, tied for the Big Ten regular-season title with an 11–5 mark, reached the semi-finals of the Big Ten tournament, and followed with a run in the NCAA tournament, finishing as the national runner-up.
Along the way in the NCAA tourney, the Hoosiers upset top-ranked Duke, 74–73, in the Lexington, Ky., regional; unleashed a 3-point shooting barrage to eliminate Kent State and advance to the Final Four; and defeated Oklahoma, 73–64, to move into the title game against Maryland. The Hoosiers took the lead halfway through the second half of the championship game, but eventually fell to the Terps, 64–52. After that season, Davis was awarded a six-year contract.
The 2002–03 season began with great promise. IU won its first eight games, including the championship of the Maui Invitational and an overtime victory at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis over defending NCAA champion Maryland. But the Hoosiers went 13–13 the rest of the season.
They fell to 14–15 in 2003–04 and missed playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985. IU wound up 16–15 in 2004–05, losing the first game of the NIT tournament, and fell to 13–9 this season after starting out 10–2.
Davis said he wants what is best for the Hoosier program, even if that means he won’t be a part of it.
“I never felt like I would be the basketball coach here for the rest of my career,” he said. “I just felt like it was time for me to step aside. When you love something, and you know it is better without you, to step aside is the best thing to do. That is what I am doing.”
He added that he is thankful he had the opportunity to coach the Hoosiers.
“I got a fair shake,” he said. “Every game that we lined up, it was 0–0. We practiced just like everyone else practices. It gave me an opportunity, and they (Greenspan and Herbert) stood by me the last couple of years when I didn’t get it done.
“Please don’t be sad for me. This is like the MasterCard commercial. It is priceless what God has given me to be the head basketball coach here. This is a great day for Indiana basketball. Trust me, it is. I want everybody who has ever been a part of this program to come back and be a part of it again.”
Davis, who is departing with two years remaining on his contract, will receive $800,000 under his agreement with the university. 