Got tired of Mike Davis’ run at IU? Me, too. Miffed at UAB’s decision to hire him? Read on.Everybody wants to be wanted.
Batman and the City of Gotham. The Lone Ranger and the stunning bar maid.
Even Barry Bonds and the prime time booing audience.
Me, myself and I.
But when does wanting to be wanted morph into woe is me?
When does that raw emotion take the place of integrity in the face of dire circumstances?
Answer: when Mike Davis made his closing remarks at last week’s press conference in Birmingham, Ala.
The same one where UAB interim athletic director Richard Margison introduced Davis as the Blazers’ new head coach, providing Davis with a second chance to prove to the basketball gods that he actually belongs as any university’s leading man.
Few coaches would have stood a chance of replacing a moderately successful coach had Indiana been a middling program when Davis took over on September 12, 2000.
Unless, of course, his career path resembled Lou Gehrig’s, who pinch hit for Pee Wee Wanninger on May 31, 1925, stepped in for an ailing Wally Pipp at first base the following day and didn’t leave the lineup until May 2, 1939.
2,130 consecutive games.
But Davis never had a chance at that kind of longevity in the Hoosier state, despite leading Indiana to the national finals in 2002.
Because Bob Knight’s coaching acumen became legend, even in its own time.
The numbers don’t lie:
One of two coaches to ever play on and coach national championship teams. The youngest coach to 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 (and now with Texas Tech) 800 wins. 13 All-Americans, 11 Big Ten Championships, 5 Final Fours and 3 National Titles, including the last undefeated season in NCAA history in 1975.
And oh, by the way, he has a near 98 percent graduation rate for four-year players.
In the biggest basketball state in the country, Knight ruled with iron fist, biting tongue and at times, questionable tactics that ultimately led to his firing.
But that combination allowed Knight to appear cartoon-ish and Godlike at the same time.
It’s the reason Davis, in the wake of a blowout loss at the hands of Kentucky a mere two months into the 2000 season, proclaimed he “wasn’t the right man for the job.”
The same reason he ended his sixth and final season in Bloomington with nearly two months remaining on the schedule (by offering his resignation, effective season’s end) by saying, “what I want is for this program to be united.”
Because added to the impossibility of replacing Knight was a series of missteps less basketball specific (few doubt his acumen or ability) and more humanistic (many blamed IU’s struggles on Davis’ inability to keep his depressingly draining personal frustration out of the public’s eye) in their origins.
Davis’ struggles with himself, clearly evident even on the bench during games, paired with the state’s refusal to accept anyone in place of their General, absolutely destroyed his credibility on the recruiting trail.
As a result, Davis failed to bring homegrown talents like Josh McRoberts (Duke) and Dominic James (Marquette), who both started as freshmen last year, to Bloomington.
Previous Indiana prep stand outs including Zack Randolph (Michigan State), Jason Gardner (Arizona) and Sean May (North Carolina, whose father starred for the Hoosiers under Knight) also escaped.
And next year, Lawrence North High’s 7-foot center Greg Oden, who many regard as the best Indiana high school product since Larry Bird, will take his McDonald’s All-American game to Ohio State, along with sidekick Mike Conley, Jr., a gifted 6’2″ guard.
Even the most adoring well-wishers knew Davis had zero chance of replacing Knight in 2000.
But if the last six years are any indication of the person and coach Mike Davis really is, all the success UAB has incurred in the past three years under the stewardship of Mike Anderson and the Blazer’s breakneck style of play is about to come to a crashing halt.