Ole Miss fires men's basketball coach Kermit Davis
The Rebels haven't made the NCAA tournament since Davis' first season in 2018-19.
The Rebels haven't made the NCAA tournament since Davis' first season in 2018-19.
BASKETBALL So much for Kermit retiring in Mississippi
- Thread starter MidTennMtneer
- Start date
The Rebels haven't made the NCAA tournament since Davis' first season in 2018-19.
fat stacks though!
We all would have done the same thing. Or maybe 9 out of 10 of us.
Let's see if my prediction holds true in the next year or two......
We all would have done the same thing. Or maybe 9 out of 10 of us.
Let's see if my prediction holds true in the next year or two......
I dont blame him, especially when it wasn't just money but an opportunity to go back to his home state. Name me a G5 coach in the country that even if they didn't leave for money, wouldn't leave to go back home. Especially at his age.
Was really hoping it would work out for him. Wonder if CM hasn't extended McD for another reason.....
He will wind up somewhere. I don't think he is done. Guess we will see where.
Was really hoping it would work out for him. Wonder if CM hasn't extended McD for another reason.....
He will wind up somewhere. I don't think he is done. Guess we will see where.
When he initially left I got it, but when he took commits then my good will for him vanished. We also stuck by Kermit through some rough years and once he hit it big he bolted.
The best way a non P5 school can get and maintain sustained success is with a coach that gets there, wins consistently and STAYS when the big money comes calling.
We loved him here and paid him well. Im not sorry to see this. Nothing against him personally, but we see this time and time again. We really had some momentum going with him and it was some of the most fun I've had as a Blue Raider. Hope to get back there with CNM.
The best way a non P5 school can get and maintain sustained success is with a coach that gets there, wins consistently and STAYS when the big money comes calling.
We loved him here and paid him well. Im not sorry to see this. Nothing against him personally, but we see this time and time again. We really had some momentum going with him and it was some of the most fun I've had as a Blue Raider. Hope to get back there with CNM.
Recruiting appeared to be his downfall. Thinking of those three MT decommits who were recruited to MT during the height of Kermit's success here. None of them ever amounted to all that much. I guess Buffen was the best and he has turned out to be a real punk. Glad those three didn't come here.
Combining best elements of Kermit & best elements of Nick could make for a heck of a coaching staff. Kermit knows defense & X&O's, Nick knows athletes & how to communicate with them. Kermit already has his cash. Would he come back as an assistant for around 250k just to be part of the game still? Kermit & Nick on the bench alone would put a lot of butts in the seats.
May be too much of an embarrassment to come back that way, but could make for a path to the AD position some have discussed by taking a lower position for a couple years. A rebuilding of good will & communications so to speak.
May be too much of an embarrassment to come back that way, but could make for a path to the AD position some have discussed by taking a lower position for a couple years. A rebuilding of good will & communications so to speak.
I’m riding with Nick. He has done enough to give him my full support. I want more but the progress is evident imo.
Yeah, but if Nick has enough success he'll be moving on up
This was the thought from my post. I'm not saying get rid of Nick, but that both coaches could learn a bit from each other with Nick retaining his head coaching status. Nick's primary weakness is instilling a disciplined toughness to his players, especially when on the road. Kermit's was in recruiting. Kermit had a bit of that "us against the world branding" that the players took to here & really embraced on road trips. He had major victories at places like UCLA & UT for example. Working together I could see MT having some magic on the court again with both coaches picking up some missing nuances from the other. With a couple of great years Nick would have the P5's sniffing & still be young enough to have an established career elsewhere on down the road. Probably just wishful thinking on my part, but I could see such an alignment yielding some big time success.
This should be the path for all of our men’s coaches in football and basketball.
MTSU should not be a destination school for men’s football and basketball for most conditions.
MTSU should not be a destination school for men’s football and basketball for most conditions.
I don’t follow basketball that much, but this is a good summary how I feel. we stuck by him when his first about 8-9 years were not good. Anywhere else he would have been fired, but we stuck by him. Then the team goes on a run and he leaves for more money. I get that, but then he takes 2 (I believe ) of our top recruits and gets them to flip to Ole Miss. that was $hitty. He had a chance to go out on a good note, but his sleazy actions made me hope it bit him in the a$$.
now I would support him as AD but I’ll take practically anyone else at this point.
Lee is my first and only choice for our future AD.
Bring CKD back as an ambassador. Have home work with MBB and BRAA to build relationships, engage fans, etc.
That first decade with Kermit was awful and I can't believe we held out as long as we did. All we wanted was a NCAA bid since the Bruce Stewart days and we could not do it.
I am not sold that CNM can get us there. Personally, this year/next year is my thought. I don't ever want to get into a situation where MT was with Kermit.
However, I think Kermit can raise funds. He would be liked by local media heads. Honestly, what he did on the way out was classless with recruits but look no further than our leadership that allowed him to continue to coach beyond his resignation announcement as well as allowing him to consult on the CNM hire.
I am not sold that CNM can get us there. Personally, this year/next year is my thought. I don't ever want to get into a situation where MT was with Kermit.
However, I think Kermit can raise funds. He would be liked by local media heads. Honestly, what he did on the way out was classless with recruits but look no further than our leadership that allowed him to continue to coach beyond his resignation announcement as well as allowing him to consult on the CNM hire.
Which makes you think that someone held him in high regards even when he was leaving. They realized the value he had for the program. So maybe, just maybe they would want to bring him back into an admin spot. He’s not getting any younger so maybe he is ready for the next chapter after coaching.
McD is 68-84 .447 after 5 years.
KD was 83-67 .553 after 5 years.
KD took long to strike gold, but was consistent until then winning at least 15 every year. His first three years he was 52-38. McD was 24-62.
We had more reason to keep KD around than we have McD until last year. I firmly believe that it is within the next two years for McD or not at all as his climb has been more sudden than KD. That's why I say extension for 2yrs if he goes deep in conf tournament. If not, move on. Two extensions with a losing record is a horrible take.
I agree idk if KD would settle for not a head coach roll, but he would bring in $. I do have mixed feelings as him leaving started off well until the recruit issue. I really think distraction made us lose that NIT game against Louisville.
KD was 83-67 .553 after 5 years.
KD took long to strike gold, but was consistent until then winning at least 15 every year. His first three years he was 52-38. McD was 24-62.
We had more reason to keep KD around than we have McD until last year. I firmly believe that it is within the next two years for McD or not at all as his climb has been more sudden than KD. That's why I say extension for 2yrs if he goes deep in conf tournament. If not, move on. Two extensions with a losing record is a horrible take.
I agree idk if KD would settle for not a head coach roll, but he would bring in $. I do have mixed feelings as him leaving started off well until the recruit issue. I really think distraction made us lose that NIT game against Louisville.
But keep in mind the dumpster fire McDevitt inherited from Kermit. Doubt any coach would have done that much better.
Nick has done well to right the ship. He is showing progress and that’s what you want to see. Hopefully he can have the guys make a run in Frisco.
Yep, as much as I was not happy with Weil, he did leave some good talent, Pippen, Humphrey, and Gunn for Kermit. Biggest problem for KD was almost every season for the first five or so seasons were injuries to key players.
On the other hand, Kermit left a ticking timebomb with players that had issues, that blew up very shortly after McDevitt accepted the job. I often wonder if Kermit knew things were going to come apart and inspired his departure as much as the opportunity at Ole Miss.
Kermit was a great face for the university, he worked hard at building support and the program, but I'm wondering a little if the MBB landscape has changed so much that he was unable to make the adjustments at Ole Miss and being a head coach is something that has passed him by. I can see him as an assistant for some P5 program like he was at LSU before Boots hired him.
I wonder too about landscape of college athletics and what MT’s overall outlook will be in the next 5,10 15+ years given the trajectory in MBB and FB relative to new conference realignment. It’s obvious those two sports pay freight for Olympic sports and to an extent WBB. Kermit deserves credit for successes in MBB, but him coming back in some AD-level role or some director role is not best for MT (if that is being considered). Think we need an experienced someone who has engagement and personality like a Deion Sanders in an AD role that can hustle local support and come with enough “political capital” to get top tier coaches, assistants, trainers, advisors, and top upgrades to facilities and retain them. Whenever MT gets a facilities campaign underway, it’s nearly at a critical situation because we are replacing and repairing outmoded facilities and are behind peers on things like indoor practice facilities. By the time we get anything, it’s no longer considered a niceties for recruiting, it becomes essential and looks more like an “also ran”. It took the 50th birthday of MC to get energy saving and nice windows, and it took 40th to get better restrooms and HVAC improvements that should have been standard earlier. Football stadium has needs: it’s been 25 years since the JRF has had a major renovation other than Hendrix Stadium Club level and east side ribbon video board. Even OVC isn’t like our days there; schools like Lindenwood and SIU-E have jumped upward into D-1 athletics. Our visibility is diluted—Nashville media didn’t mention hardly anything about our La Tech win as I was flipping through the news at 10pm. To “Jack and Dianne fan” we don’t carry much relevance and are largely out of sight out of mind compared to our $EC peers (that is if we can say that we’re peers).
Vision and consistent action is what’s needed for MT to remain relevant to P5 and the top G5 levels; that takes a demand for consistent excellence and fan base growth. At the end of the day, C-USA is a one bid basketball league just like the OVC only we have a more decent chance at a 12/13 seed vs 15/16 seed in the OVC through better scheduling and conference schedule strength. We should do better!
I believe if Davis wished to pursue a head coaching position it would have to be at a very low level division 1 school, or even lower collegiate level at this time. Possibly junior college or NAIA. I just can't see him doing that after so many years at decent D1 schools.
Normally I would have considered a long sabbatical to consider future options. However I think everyone in Oxford including Kermit knew this was in the works for some time. Wouldn't be surprised that whatever his decision will be he's had some confidential & preliminary talks going on for a while.
Normally I would have considered a long sabbatical to consider future options. However I think everyone in Oxford including Kermit knew this was in the works for some time. Wouldn't be surprised that whatever his decision will be he's had some confidential & preliminary talks going on for a while.
Fox News article on Kermit Davis
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/ex-o...ws-remarkable-character-selfless-acts-program
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/ex-o...ws-remarkable-character-selfless-acts-program
Expressing more eloquently my thoughts about that article with a lot less cuss words...
Decided Kermit can maintain his apparent moral high ground in Oxford. Maybe Ole Miss's athletic department can give him a diplomatic title of sports integrity at their university. Murfreesboro & Middle Tennessee doesn't need him that bad after all.
Awful? Let’s rewind. He took over a program that had three losing seasons in four years and one winning season was 15-13. This included a 5 win season under Randy Weil.
After taking over this train wreck of a program which was burning hot in the dumpster, he had one losing season in nine years and most of the years looked exactly like the one we’re going through right now yet many here in this board want to keep churning butter with CNM.
There’s some revisionist history. If folks want to give CNM a decade to win a title ok just say that. But just keep two things in mind. First, He took over a program that had some noteriety and brand identity. He inherited a program in much better shape than the one Kermit took over. Second, you can’t harp on Kermit’s 18-19 win type season and then turn around and cut CNM slack for the same outcome.
But the better question is why do we still talk about Kermit?? Well, the answer is simple. His replacement failed to live up to his same salary Kermit was making to win a lot less games.
I completely disagree that CNM inherited a better team than Kermit. We lost some amazing seniors as well as our entire incoming recruiting class. CNM was lucky to find bodies to put on the floor that very first year. Say what you want about CNM, but the cupboard was BARE when he arrived in Murfreesboro.
Point of clarity. I said he inherited a better program not a better team. Having a better team was his responsibility not the previous coaches.
Moreover, there were 10 returning players when Kermit left. The cupboard was not bare when he walked out the door. This is why only three were signed.
Two were dismissed by McDevitt, one quit basketball, and one decided to transfer. Your statement and many others here implied that Kermit left the cupboard bare. I'm no apologist for Kermit - particularly for how he left. I felt like he let down a lot of people that support him through some ok but never great years. I understand it, but I don't have to like what happened.
But the comparison between what Kermit inherited from Weil and what McDevitt inherited from Kermit isn't even worthy of a debate. It's not even close. I prefer facts over hyperbole.
The program was better off but the team was in really rough shape. You’re right, it’s not worth a debate.
Nick inherited a far superior program.
David Farrar is the only coach in program history who was given a bad situation (probation) and his worst years were better than Nicks worst years.
All of that being said, I'm content with where Nick has the program right now.
You can have your opinion; I stand by mine. I'm also not a CNM apologist, but feel he was dealt a very difficult situation coming in his first year. For sh!ts and giggles, i googled the roster for the 2018-19 season. Not a lot of HOFers on that list. 2018-2019 MT Hoops Roster Under the roster you can see an interesting note: "15.2% of minutes played and 10.2% of scoring return from 2017-18". Lost the incoming recruits, was hired well after signing day. Was not a good situation to come in to.
All coaches are hired after signing day - which I think is on Nov right?? I only piped in to address the ludicrousness that CNM inherited an awful program and situation - worse that Kermit. That’s simply not factually backed up. He didn’t hold the roster together that he inherited. Granted I think a lot of that had to do with two guys getting kicked off but attrition and turnover at a coaching change isn’t abnormal. Some coaches handle it better than others. I don’t knock him for year 1 (even though I did knock him for often appearing overmatched by other coaches). But year 2 wasn’t much better.
Year 3 was fantastic and at least to me a surprise but he proved in Year 4 he couldn’t follow up success with success. I just think he makes to much to be paid what Kermit was getting to win 25 to 30 games, wins over blue bloods, and winning NCAA Tournament games.
Year 3 was fantastic and at least to me a surprise but he proved in Year 4 he couldn’t follow up success with success. I just think he makes to much to be paid what Kermit was getting to win 25 to 30 games, wins over blue bloods, and winning NCAA Tournament games.
Posted this on the wrong thread previously.
One thing you guys have to remember is how brutal CNMs first year was.
OOC:
Belmont
Virginia
Butler
Stanford
Vandy
Ole Miss
Rhode Island
We lost every OOC game except lowly Charleston Southern and once conference play started ended up going 8-10.
The next year was pretty brutal as well. 20-21 year was a Covid mess. Honestly I think the best gauge of CNM are last year and this one. Which I give him (for whatever its worth) a B- if he can get to 20 wins this season. Keep those 20 win seasons up and that is something you can build on. I do love the idea of bringing Kermit back as Assistant Coach though...
One thing you guys have to remember is how brutal CNMs first year was.
OOC:
Belmont
Virginia
Butler
Stanford
Vandy
Ole Miss
Rhode Island
We lost every OOC game except lowly Charleston Southern and once conference play started ended up going 8-10.
The next year was pretty brutal as well. 20-21 year was a Covid mess. Honestly I think the best gauge of CNM are last year and this one. Which I give him (for whatever its worth) a B- if he can get to 20 wins this season. Keep those 20 win seasons up and that is something you can build on. I do love the idea of bringing Kermit back as Assistant Coach though...
Early signing period for basketball is November- regular signing period is April-May each year.. also no chance Kermit comes back as assistant.. that's a sad wet dream..
