Davis gains respect with team success

When Mike Davis began his head coaching career at IU, he was smacked with the "interim" label. Critics did not expect him to last past the 2000-2001 season as rumors circulated about who would take the helm full-time once the year was up.\nBut after guiding the Hoosiers to 21 wins, notching four more victories than any first-year IU coach in school history, he promptly signed a contract with IU and the interim tag was dropped.\nDuring the 2001-2002 regular season some members of the media still questioned his ability to lead the team, despite that the Hoosiers went 11-5 in the Big Ten and earned a share of the conference crown.\nDavis said the constant skepticism often weighed on him during his first two years as coach.\n"You get tired of (the media) questioning whether you can coach or not. The only way you can judge a guy is whether he wins or loses," he said. "I can get my team to play hard and get my team to execute and that's all basketball is -- putting them in the position to be successful. And so I'm relaxed now because that question never comes up."\nAnd what finally silenced the cynics?\nDavis smiles and says two words: "Championship Game."\nAfter their Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament last year, which ended in a 64-52 loss to Maryland in the title game, much of the doubts and questions transformed into praise. \nThe successful postseason helped earn Davis a large contract extension that ensures his tenure as coach through the 2007-08 season.\nJunior center George Leach said if anybody qualifies for such recognition, Davis does.\n"He deserves (the extension)," Leach said. "He had a lot of pressure on his back last year and for us finishing as a top contender in the country, he deserves every bit of the (new) contract."\nBut Davis began his basketball career on the court, not the sidelines. He explained that, as a player, coaching was something he never considered.\n"Coaching never entered my mind until I was finished playing and (asked), 'what am I gonna do now?'" he said. "It wasn't like I was even thinking about it when I was playing. I wanted to play basketball for the rest of my life." \nHe grew up in Fayette, Ala. and in 1979 was named the state's Mr. Basketball, which earned him a scholarship to play at the University of Alabama. As a college player he received the school's Hustle Award in each of his four years and finished his career third on the Crimson Tide's all-time steals list.\nThe emphasis he placed on defense and intensity as a player has carried over into his coaching.\n"We do slides and defensive drills all the time," Leach said. "We do defensive stuff for at least an hour-and-a-half out of practice and it's hard. Your legs are burning and your back is killing you afterwards. It's worth it though."\nForward Jeff Newton added that if someone is caught slacking on defense in practice, they pay for it.\n"(Davis) keeps us in the (defensive) stance," he said. "In practice if you're not in your stance … there just might be a suicide (sprint) or something. So everybody's in that stance because you know no one likes suicides."\nWhen Davis' career was over at Alabama, he was picked in the second round of the NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. \nHe played professionally in Switzerland and Italy for the next two seasons, and then came back to the States in 1988 for one season with the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Association.\nDavis said it wasn't until after his final season in the CBA that he considered coaching.\n"If you're a player and you love to compete, then you want to be around the game," Davis said. "And coaching meant that I could be around the game."\nAfter one season as an assistant at Miles College in Birmingham, Ala., Davis landed a position with the CBA's Wichita Falls Texans. IU Associate Head Coach John Treloar was the Texans' coach at the time. \nWhen the Texans moved to Chicago in 1994 and changed their name to The Rockers, Davis came out of retirement to play one last season, averaging 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.\nHe then went back to his roots, working as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama for two years. In 1997, he was reunited with Treloar as an assistant at IU.\nInitially, Davis spent much of his time as a recruiter for the Hoosiers and was a major factor in players such as Newton's and Leach's decisions to come to IU.\n"He comes from a similar background as me, A.J. (Moye) and Newton," Leach said. "So we can relate to him on a lot of things. He comes with a real laid-back approach."\nDavis has been through the two-a-day practices, the punishing off-season conditioning, the balancing act between sports, a social life, and classes -- not as a coach, but a player. \nThis gives him a connection with the team that many other coaches don't have, point guard Tom Coverdale explained.\n"The relationship we have, I think, is a lot of respect," he said. "He respects me just as much as I respect him and he's like that with all his players. I think what makes him so successful is he can relate to all his players, because he's played college basketball and gone through all the things we have to do and he's just like one of the guys when he's off the court"