Coach inherits promising IU
team
By Paul Trembacki
Sports
Editor
The son of a deeply religious
woman, Mike Davis went to church a few days after he was named the head
coach of the Indiana men's basketball team.
"I went to church and the
guy was talking about 'Everyone is waiting for something spectacular
to happen in life.' And I said, 'You know, this is it for me,'" Davis
said.
It could be.
Davis has the opportunity
to make something great happen this season. But he will definitely be
watched closely as he has been since he was named the 25th head coach
in Indiana history, replacing the man whose name was synonymous with
Indiana basketball from 1972 to 2000 — Bob Knight.
But don't expect Davis to
have the success Knight did. At least not right away.
"There's no way you can compare
me — a first-year head coach — to someone who's won three
national championships and coached for 29 years," said Davis, who was
an assistant under Knight the last three years. "If you compare us,
that's unfair to me. It's like taking a rookie in the NBA and comparing
him to (Michael Jordan). There's no way."
Davis knows that the comparisons
and criticisms will come. He has already had to deal with some other
off-the-court aspects of being the head man for a well-known team.
"I wasn't ready for the attention,"
Davis said. "I try to go to the same places I used to go to before I
got the job, but it's been difficult because of all the attention."
The public will not be the
only source of attention for Davis; he is sure to be examined closely
by the media.
However, Davis is not walking
into a ravaged program. Several players threatened to leave Indiana
but none of them did. Davis inherits one of the nation's top recruiting
classes.
From 1995 to 1997 as an assistant
at Alabama, Davis, who also played for the Crimson Tide from 1979 to
1983, didn't do any recruiting.
As a Hoosier assistant the
last three seasons, he helped in the development of younger players
and landed prospects such as this year's freshmen — Jared Jeffries,
Mike Roberts, A.J. Moye and Andre Owens.
Although he expects to be
interrogated and analyzed, Davis said he will not be as confrontational
as Knight, who once said he wished there was a remote island for TV
reporters to be banished to and a cave under the island for newspaper
reporters.
Davis said he understands
that reporters have jobs to do, whereas Knight couldn't have cared less.
Davis also said he won't be as fiery or as outburst-prone as Knight.
"I'm not a guy that's going
to come in every night and motivate (the players) to play basketball,"
Davis said. "It's my job to instruct them. If I give them instruction,
then once I do that well and they play the game, then they'll know what
to do."
Dane Fife, a guard for the
Hoosiers, said Knight and Davis have similar philosophies about playing
basketball. They both stress defense, rebounding and tough post play.
Fife said practices are basically the same although Davis has the team
running a lot more.
"We're just used to running
up and down (the court) with the basketball, getting in shape that way,"
said Fife, who added that Davis is more focused on having the players
do sprints to get in shape.
Sprints may not be fun, but
Odle said player-coach conversations should be more upbeat this year.
"Coach Knight was very tough
to find and very tough to talk to," Odle said. "Coach Davis has a family
and a kid our age. He understands what goes through our minds a little
bit more."
The 40-year-old Davis has
two children, 19-year-old daughter Lateesha and 15-year-old son Mike
Jr., who Davis has raised with his wife, Tamilya.
Odle thinks Davis will help
mold the team into more of a family.
"I'm excited about road trips,"
Odle said. "With Coach Knight we'd sit in our hotel rooms and watch
movies. With Coach Davis we'll do a little more as a team, maybe some
sightseeing and that can only help the team."
Odle is confident, however,
that Davis will still be able to keep the team focused, especially for
rivalry games with teams such as Kentucky and Purdue.
Davis is not Bob Knight.
But for Purdue fans it doesn't matter who IU's coach is — the rivalry
will remain intense, no matter the year or the people involved.
"Coach Davis knows the rivalry;
it'll still be Indiana vs. Purdue," said Odle. "I'm sure when we run
into Mackey Arena we won't get cheered. I'm sure they're still going
to boo us."
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