Davis retires, leaving Drake coaching job to his son

Tom Davis ended a 32-year coaching career by retiring Wednesday at Drake, where his son, assistant Keno Davis, was introduced as the new coach.

Davis, 68, also made stops at Lafayette, Boston College, Stanford and Iowa in compiling a 598-355 record. He spent the last four years at Drake, leading the program to its first winning record since 1987 last season.

The elder Davis skipped Wednesday’s news conference in an attempt to keep attention focused on Keno, 35.

“I’ll miss everything about day-to-day coaching but will do all I can to help Drake, the players and coaches moving forward,” Tom Davis said in a statement released through the school.

Tom Davis, known as “Dr. Tom” after earning a doctorate from Maryland, enjoyed his greatest success at Iowa, where in 13 seasons he earned a school-record 270 wins and led the Hawkeyes to nine NCAA tournament appearances, including two trips to the round of 16 and one to the final eight.

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Steve Alford, who replaced Davis as coach at Iowa, received permission to interview with New Mexico about its coaching vacancy, Hawkeyes Athletic Director Gary Barta said.

Alford, 42, has been mentioned as a candidate since coach Ritchie McKay was fired after five seasons.

Alford could not be reached.

Alford, whose 17-14 team was not invited to the NCAA or NIT tournaments this season, is 152-106 in eight seasons at Iowa and is under contract through 2011.

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Illinois will not discipline Athletic Director Ron Guenther for yelling at Coach Bruce Weber and players during an NCAA tournament loss Friday.

Guenther yelled substitution advice to Weber -- who was just a few feet away -- and also yelled “Warren -- you idiot” after a play by Illini forward Warren Carter, according to a report on CBS Sportsline.com. Guenther also pounded the table throughout Illinois’ 54-52 loss to Virginia Tech in Columbus, Ohio.

Chancellor Richard Herman said that Guenther -- in his 15th year as athletic director at Illinois -- would not be disciplined. He said Guenther had apologized to Weber and Carter.

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Cal State San Bernardino beat Wingate of North Carolina, 100-73, in the quarterfinals of the Division II tournament in Springfield, Mass., to reach the final four for the first time.