Davis: Great Day for Indiana

Mike Davis, the heir to Bob Knight as Indiana basketball coach nearly six years ago, announced his resignation Thursday, effective at the end of the season.

Davis, 45, who had missed Indiana’s game last Saturday with what he described as “flu-like symptoms,” told his team of his decision after the Hoosiers were upset by Penn State Wednesday night.

Indiana is 13-9 overall, 5-6 in Big Ten Conference games.

Thursday, Davis, who was thought to need an NCAA tournament win or two to assure his job next season, said he no longer wanted the pressure and no longer wanted his players to deal with the pressure of what the future might bring him.

“This is a great day for Indiana basketball,” said Davis, who was wearing a red Indiana University sweater vest. “I fought hard under really tough circumstances, but this team deserves the love and support of fans of Indiana basketball. If that takes my stepping aside, that’s what I’ll do.”

Indiana is the third major program to have a coach either resign or take a leave of absence in the past two weeks.

Missouri’s Quin Snyder, a protege of his college coach, Mike Krzyzewski, walked away after several years of NCAA investigations and recent losing streaks, choosing not to finish out this season. Wednesday night, Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton, who has 794 career victories, said he was entering a rehabilitation facility to deal with a drinking problem. Last weekend, Sutton was involved in an accident and was charged with a DUI. His son, Sean, who had already been promised the job when his 69-year-old father retires, will coach the team the rest of this season.

Davis has been running uphill from the day he replaced Knight in September 2000. Indiana’s players had threatened to quit the team if Knight was fired, but they rallied around former assistant Davis and eventually all stayed.

But even when Davis took the 2002 team to the Final Four, many Indiana fans did not embrace the new head coach, noting that it was Knight’s players who formed the core of the team.

Knight’s abrupt dismissal by former president Myles Brand angered Hoosier fans who worshipped the hard-headed coach. Knight offered no support to Davis, who Knight had hired away from Alabama.

Davis almost immediately caused himself problems with his candid remarks. After his first game against arch rival Kentucky, a game Indiana lost badly, Davis broke down after the game and said, “I’m not the right man for the job.”

Over the past month, Davis has been quoted at least five times as saying the Hoosiers needed “an Indiana man” for the job.

Davis was the first coach at Indiana to win at least 20 games in each of his first three seasons, but after Knight’s players left the team’s record took a turn for the worse.

In 2003, the Hoosiers were .500 in Big Ten play and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The next season, they were 7-9 in conference and 14-15 overall, marking the program’s first losing season in more than 30 seasons. Indiana also missed the NCAA tournament last year and seems unlikely to make it this year, having lost six of its last seven games.

“Coach Davis assumed one of the most difficult challenges any coach can accept, following a legendary predecessor,” Indiana President Adam Herbert said Thursday. “He has responded to these challenges with character, graciousness, with concern for the welfare of his players and with determination to raise our program into the ranks of the very best in the nation.”

Former Indiana star and current Iowa Coach Steve Alford is considered a strong candidate to replace Davis, who will receive an $800,000 pay out from the university.