Davis relieved to stay

Mike Davis was named IU's permanent men's basketball coach in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.\nBut his fate was decided March 19.\nIn a two and a half hour meeting Monday, a seven-member selection committee, led by Vice President for Administration Terry Clapacs, elected to retain Davis and remove the interim tag from his title. Davis was not told of the decision until Wednesday morning.\nClapacs said Davis signed a four-year contract worth $400,000 per year with both academic and performance-based incentives. \nPresident Myles Brand said both he and the members of the committee were pleased with Davis' coaching and the progress of the basketball team.\n"This season has revealed the character of Mike Davis," Brand said. "Mike Davis rose to the occasion. I strongly believe that Mike Davis is the right man to maintain and build upon IU's great traditions." \nThe four-year deal was the culmination of a turbulent first year for Davis, who took the head coaching position only about a month before the season began. Davis was promoted after the firing of former coach Bob Knight and led the Hoosiers to a 21-13 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament.\n"It was an assessment of a guy in a very difficult situation," incoming athletics director Michael McNeely said. "But his performance spoke for itself."\nDavis' new contract was not celebrated only by the administration, but by the men's basketball team as well.\n"I'm relieved," sophomore guard Tom Coverdale said of the decision to keep Davis. "This is what (the players) wanted and I'm real happy." \nSeveral of the players, including junior guard Dane Fife and freshman guard A.J. Moye, threatened to transfer from IU had Davis not been given the job after Knight was fired in September. \nThe player perspective had been one of anxiety and speculation after this season ended. Had Davis not been retained this off-season, there was again talk about player transfers.\n"I'm just glad the university finally took a step in the right direction and made a decision that everybody would be happy about," Fife said. "I'm happy that we could hold down the same nucleus. It's important that this off-season we don't have to worry about any personnel or coaching changes."\n"We're all excited, especially for coach Davis. I'm really excited for the rest of the staff, too. (The assistants) took a big chance in coming here."\nAssociate head coach John Treloar and assistant coaches Dan Panaggio and Julius Smith will also be welcomed back to the team. Davis and Treloar began coaching at IU in 1997. Panaggio and Smith were hired by Davis after he took the head coaching position. Both assistants came to the University knowing that their jobs would be up in the air after one season because of the interim labels on both Davis and Treloar. Now, the coaching staff can look forward to next season. \n"I put my money on Mike Davis," Panaggio said. "We earned our jobs."\nTreloar added, "It's an opportunity to continue to work with these kids and build what we started this season"