Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Davis passing on lessons learned from coaching greats
2/13/2018 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - In 1986, almost three decades before his Middle Tennessee men's basketball teams would make school history with back-to-back NCAA Tournament wins, Kermit Davis was a 26-year-old head coach at Southwest Mississippi Junior College. That year, he made the decision to pull up his Southern roots and take a new position as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho.
Davis said little did he know that his move out of the South, where he had spent his whole life playing and coaching basketball, would prove to be one of the most important of his life.
"I'd grown up around Mississippi State where my dad was a great coach and a popular name … but moving to Idaho was good for me, because I had to really mature and do things on my own," Davis said. "I also learned how to be a good coach."
Davis walked in to a program in transition at Idaho, where 36-year-old head coach Tim Floyd had just been hired. Alongside Davis on coach Floyd's staff were Randy Bennett and Larry Eustachy, young assistants like Davis also trying to break on to the college coaching scene, and who like Davis would also later experience outstanding success running Division I programs of their own.
Floyd, who recently retired as head coach of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and who also had coaching stops with the University of Southern California and the Chicago Bulls, among others, tasked this group of young coaches with rebuilding a struggling Idaho program. And rebuild it they did.
Under Floyd, the Vandals improved from 10 wins the year before his hiring to 16 in his first year, followed by a 19-11 record in 1987-88. Floyd is quick to credit Davis with a pivotal role in the turnaround.
"I knew that [Davis] was older than his age when we hired him [in 1986], and that goes back to his relationship in the game of basketball, growing up in it with his father," said Floyd. "[Davis] approached every day with intellect for the game and understood recruiting, loyalty and the work ethic it takes … in my opinion, he's always been the total package."
Looking back, Davis said he and his colleagues probably didn't fully recognize at the time just how the lessons learned in Moscow, Idaho would make each of them successful head coaches down the road.
"We were more worried about getting fired," Davis said. "We were all on one-year contracts, probably making $25,000, but having the time of our lives. We were all really good friends and took over a struggling Idaho program … and had a fun time building it.
Floyd left for the University of New Orleans the next season, and Davis was tabbed to take over the Idaho program. He did so for the next two years, guiding it to even more success. The Vandals went to the NCAA Tournament in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. They've never made it back to the Big Dance since.
When Davis left Idaho in 1990 for a one-season stop at Texas A&M, he did so with a high level of basketball knowledge and experience on his sports' biggest stage. He also left with three more friends added to his tree of coaching relationships, a list that has broadened through the years.
Davis has long said he owes a lot in his career to both the coaches he played for and the ones he's worked alongside throughout his basketball life. It started when he was young, watching his dad, Kermit Sr., lead Mississippi State from 1970-77. From there, Davis played at Mississippi State from 1980-82 under Jim Hatfield and Bob Boyd before becoming a graduate assistant for Boyd for two years.
"Coach Hatfield gave me an unbelievable opportunity," Davis said. "Then Coach Boyd came in and coached me and allowed me to be his graduate assistant for two years. What I learned in those staff meetings and being on the floor, that was invaluable."
Davis names former Arkansas State and LSU head man John Brady, Memphis assistant Butch Pierre, former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall, and former MT and Idaho coach David Farrar, just to name a few, as other coaching influences in his life.
Davis said the best lessons he learned along his path centered around attention to detail and bringing relentless energy to work every single day. As is clearly evidenced by his tenacity during his enormously successful tenure at MTSU, those lessons have stuck.
Nowadays, the shoe is on the other foot. In recent years, Davis has helped mentor some of the sport's best assistant and head coaches from around the country, including current Jacksonville University head coach Tony Jasick, Pittsburgh assistant Matt Woodley, Texas Tech assistant Al Pinkins and Texas Tech Basketball chief of staff Brian Burg.
This season, in an exhibition game on Nov. 2, Davis and the Blue Raiders got a visit by another one of Davis' protégés, second-year Arkansas-Fort Smith assistant coach Zane Gibson, who played at MT from 2009-14 and served as a graduate assistant under Davis for two years. Gibson, who was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches' 30-under-30 list last year, said he uses the skills Davis taught him both as a player and coach every day.
"The biggest thing I take from Coach is his attention to details," Gibson said. "And then, it's his passion and his energy every single day. There's not a day he walks out there and just stands around on the floor … he's always out there trying to enthuse his players to get better every day."
Gibson isn't the only player from the 2014 squad who's working today in the basketball business. Kerry Hammonds II, a Blue Raider forward from 2010-14, joined Davis' staff this season as director of operations.
It's all part of the cycle of coaching that dots the college basketball landscape. One of the best parts of coaching, Davis said, is learning from great basketball minds and molding your own personal coaching style, then paying it forward and teaching the next batch of young coaches, like Gibson and Hammonds.
"It's just what basketball is about," he said. "When you get a call or a text from someone who's been on your staff or from former players and they talk about the impact you've had on them, that's why you start coaching and get into this business."
From the Deep South to Idaho and back again, Davis has come a long way since being the 26-year-old assistant coach making $25,000 and fighting for his job. He said he could never fully thank all of those people in his life who've helped him.
"I owe an unbelievable amount to a lot of guys," he said. "I've learned so much from them … it's still no fun to play them, because I hate playing against my good pals, but you sure feel proud when they have success."
Davis said little did he know that his move out of the South, where he had spent his whole life playing and coaching basketball, would prove to be one of the most important of his life.
"I'd grown up around Mississippi State where my dad was a great coach and a popular name … but moving to Idaho was good for me, because I had to really mature and do things on my own," Davis said. "I also learned how to be a good coach."
Davis walked in to a program in transition at Idaho, where 36-year-old head coach Tim Floyd had just been hired. Alongside Davis on coach Floyd's staff were Randy Bennett and Larry Eustachy, young assistants like Davis also trying to break on to the college coaching scene, and who like Davis would also later experience outstanding success running Division I programs of their own.
Floyd, who recently retired as head coach of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and who also had coaching stops with the University of Southern California and the Chicago Bulls, among others, tasked this group of young coaches with rebuilding a struggling Idaho program. And rebuild it they did.
Under Floyd, the Vandals improved from 10 wins the year before his hiring to 16 in his first year, followed by a 19-11 record in 1987-88. Floyd is quick to credit Davis with a pivotal role in the turnaround.
"I knew that [Davis] was older than his age when we hired him [in 1986], and that goes back to his relationship in the game of basketball, growing up in it with his father," said Floyd. "[Davis] approached every day with intellect for the game and understood recruiting, loyalty and the work ethic it takes … in my opinion, he's always been the total package."
Looking back, Davis said he and his colleagues probably didn't fully recognize at the time just how the lessons learned in Moscow, Idaho would make each of them successful head coaches down the road.
"We were more worried about getting fired," Davis said. "We were all on one-year contracts, probably making $25,000, but having the time of our lives. We were all really good friends and took over a struggling Idaho program … and had a fun time building it.
Floyd left for the University of New Orleans the next season, and Davis was tabbed to take over the Idaho program. He did so for the next two years, guiding it to even more success. The Vandals went to the NCAA Tournament in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons. They've never made it back to the Big Dance since.
When Davis left Idaho in 1990 for a one-season stop at Texas A&M, he did so with a high level of basketball knowledge and experience on his sports' biggest stage. He also left with three more friends added to his tree of coaching relationships, a list that has broadened through the years.
Davis has long said he owes a lot in his career to both the coaches he played for and the ones he's worked alongside throughout his basketball life. It started when he was young, watching his dad, Kermit Sr., lead Mississippi State from 1970-77. From there, Davis played at Mississippi State from 1980-82 under Jim Hatfield and Bob Boyd before becoming a graduate assistant for Boyd for two years.
"Coach Hatfield gave me an unbelievable opportunity," Davis said. "Then Coach Boyd came in and coached me and allowed me to be his graduate assistant for two years. What I learned in those staff meetings and being on the floor, that was invaluable."
Davis names former Arkansas State and LSU head man John Brady, Memphis assistant Butch Pierre, former Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall, and former MT and Idaho coach David Farrar, just to name a few, as other coaching influences in his life.
Davis said the best lessons he learned along his path centered around attention to detail and bringing relentless energy to work every single day. As is clearly evidenced by his tenacity during his enormously successful tenure at MTSU, those lessons have stuck.
Nowadays, the shoe is on the other foot. In recent years, Davis has helped mentor some of the sport's best assistant and head coaches from around the country, including current Jacksonville University head coach Tony Jasick, Pittsburgh assistant Matt Woodley, Texas Tech assistant Al Pinkins and Texas Tech Basketball chief of staff Brian Burg.
This season, in an exhibition game on Nov. 2, Davis and the Blue Raiders got a visit by another one of Davis' protégés, second-year Arkansas-Fort Smith assistant coach Zane Gibson, who played at MT from 2009-14 and served as a graduate assistant under Davis for two years. Gibson, who was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches' 30-under-30 list last year, said he uses the skills Davis taught him both as a player and coach every day.
"The biggest thing I take from Coach is his attention to details," Gibson said. "And then, it's his passion and his energy every single day. There's not a day he walks out there and just stands around on the floor … he's always out there trying to enthuse his players to get better every day."
Gibson isn't the only player from the 2014 squad who's working today in the basketball business. Kerry Hammonds II, a Blue Raider forward from 2010-14, joined Davis' staff this season as director of operations.
It's all part of the cycle of coaching that dots the college basketball landscape. One of the best parts of coaching, Davis said, is learning from great basketball minds and molding your own personal coaching style, then paying it forward and teaching the next batch of young coaches, like Gibson and Hammonds.
"It's just what basketball is about," he said. "When you get a call or a text from someone who's been on your staff or from former players and they talk about the impact you've had on them, that's why you start coaching and get into this business."
From the Deep South to Idaho and back again, Davis has come a long way since being the 26-year-old assistant coach making $25,000 and fighting for his job. He said he could never fully thank all of those people in his life who've helped him.
"I owe an unbelievable amount to a lot of guys," he said. "I've learned so much from them … it's still no fun to play them, because I hate playing against my good pals, but you sure feel proud when they have success."
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