| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- One snapshot of Indiana basketball. One afternoon. One practice.
One day of normalcy.
It starts and ends with Mike Davis.
He doesn't need his own parking spot in front of Assembly Hall. He finds a space like everyone else for his SUV. Hops in for a short drive to one of his favorite Bloomington lunch spots, with a reporter in tow, and the cell phone rings.
It's the secretary for Indiana president Myles Brand. Brand gets on the other end of the phone momentarily. The conversation is brief, polite and upbeat. Brand is checking in on Davis after handing him one of the most difficult jobs in the country Sept. 12 -- replacing the fired Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight.
|  | | Indiana interim head coach Mike Davis enjoys a conversation with guards Dane Fife, right, and A.J. Moye during Midnight Madness. |
Brand asks if Indiana's interim head coach needs anything, making sure everything is OK. Davis can't complain, even invites him to watch practice.
The conversation ends. Davis hangs up.
"We've talked before," says Davis, as if a coach and a president talking is supposed to happen on Indiana's campus.
"I usually talk to the athletic director once or twice a week, too," Davis said of Clarence Doninger, who still to this day hasn't spoken to Knight since the two got into a heated exchange after a February loss to Ohio State.
"I think they want the program to be very, very good," Davis said of the IU administration. "Everybody wants Indiana to win the national championship every year. They want to win. They all think I'm a nice guy. They're hoping I can coach and want to see us be successful."
Everything has been positive for Davis, except for a few disagreements with Knight's former secretary, who is no longer in the office. There was also the over reaction to the importance of walk-on Tom Geyer's decision to quit. Aside from those two instances, and a few people who Davis said chose sides and are still upset in general at the school, Davis has been allowed to coach.
"The first week or two were unbelievable," Davis said. "I was getting hundreds of calls and tons of mail every day. I could never return all the phone calls. If I did that, I couldn't coach this team. The bottom line is everyone wants Indiana to win. And for this to be a good season here I had to stay here. I had to give these kids security."
Davis arrives at a local cafeteria for lunch. It's 1:30 p.m., and most of the people have cleared out. But Davis is no longer just another patron.
"We're behind you coach!" screams one of the cooks, squeezing to get his face through a small opening in the wall that separates the kitchen from the food line.
"Your life changes, big time," Davis said during ESPN.com's preseason tour Monday. "I can't go anywhere without someone noticing me, and that's different and that's uncomfortable to me. You want to be able to just go out and go to eat. Not that they're all over me, they just recognize me. It's kind of strange."
The recognition and the response to it continue once he's back on campus. Walking into Assembly Hall, Davis is flagged down by anyone passing by, whether they're fellow administrators, coaches or simply the custodial staff. Everyone says hello and he returns the pleasantries.
Walking down to the court, a softball player sees him and Davis compliments her on the game he watched within the past week. Next, it's over to women's basketball practice to watch a practice being run by first-year head coach Kathi Bennett, daughter of Wisconsin head coach Dick Bennett.
Davis gets a warm welcome from the women's basketball administrators sitting courtside. He would have stayed more than 10 minutes had the reporter not requested to head back upstairs to chat with the rest of the staff.
"We've got a play you'll love to see," first-year assistant Dan Panaggio says as the coach arrives to oversee his team.
Davis watches Indiana sophomore George Leach seal off for a post-up move, and then a baby hook. He smiles as McDonald's All-American Jared Jeffries brings the ball up the floor and then moves down for a post-up move and layup.
Panaggio and fellow newcomer assistant Julius Smith, a veteran assistant who had worked at Tulane, James Madsion, Mississippi State and most recently Southeastern Louisiana, had the offense broken down on tape for his viewing. The only thing new for Panaggio is the Indiana golf shirt he's wearing and the players he's coaching. Panaggio's experience coaching is equal to almost any other assistant in the country. It's just no one knew of him in high-profile circles.
Like Smith, Panaggio came to Bloomington when Davis got the job last month. He just finished a stint coaching a Venezuelan club team in the South American Championships. He was getting ready to go back to the CBA where he would coach the Quad City Thunder. The 45-year old native of Rochester, N.Y., coached the Thunder for nine seasons with a record of 313-191. He won CBA titles in 1994 and '98, and was named CBA coach of the year for the third time last season.
Panaggio knew Davis and associate head coach John Treloar in the CBA when those two were coaching Wichita Falls Texans in 1991. Ironically, the Texans beat Panaggio's Thunder for the championship in a seven-game series, 4-3.
"It's completely normal here," says Panaggio in a distinctive New York accent. "It's funny because if you're talking about the Knight situation then that's all taken place outside of these walls. Inside Assembly Hall, it's very normal.
"We've got an experienced group, no question about it," Panaggio says of the staff. "We're still working at getting running on all cylinders. But we're working real well together. There is no shortage of experience here."
Davis exits the room to get ready for practice. Panaggio stays to go over some more plays. Davis has delegated some to the assistants, but more than anything, the staff seems to be working in concert, rather than in a top-down approach.
|
“ |
It's
completely normal here. It's funny because if
you're talking about the Knight situation then
that's all taken place outside of these walls.
Inside Assembly Hall, it's very normal. We've got
an experienced (staff), no question about it.
We're still working at getting running on all
cylinders. But we're working real well together.
There is no shortage of experience here.
” |
|
|
— Dan Panaggio,
Indiana assistant coach |
"Mike is handling this like a champ," Panaggio says. "He's hands on, a take-charge coach. He's in total control. Off the court he's a quiet, humble fun-loving guy who relates extremely well to his players. But once practice starts he's extremely demanding and he doesn't accept excuses or poor play. He holds everyone accountable without favoritism. He is instilling a work ethic and conditioning."
Panaggio said Davis gave the staff the freedom to coach, and to do that, he said Davis must feel comfortable with his position.
When practice starts, Panaggio is with the guards and Smith is working the big men. Davis is chatting up former Indiana Pacers assistant coach Rick Carlisle, while Treloar is observing from center court.
This is the second practice of the day. The players went to work early (6 a.m.), because on Mondays and Wednesdays at least two players have to leave the afternoon practice early for class.
Davis lives in Indianapolis, nearly an hour away, because his wife is a school teacher in the city. Monday, like most days, Davis leaves his home at 4:30 a.m. He returns closer to 8 p.m. Sometimes later.
He's trying to balance the demands of the job while also spending some time with his wife, Tamilya, 15-year old son Mike, Jr., and two-year old son, Antoine, as well as his 19-year old daughter Lateesha. Sundays is the team's off day this month and he usually spends the day with his family. If he gets the job full-time, he'll likely move his family to Bloomington.
But, for now, his attention shifts to practice. Once it gets going, the experience in the staff is obvious. Davis is the dominant voice, even though he doesn't project it in a demonstrative tone because of his deep soft southern accent. But when he speaks, the players listen and don't argue.
"They got instant respect," junior forward Kirk Haston says of the coaching staff. "It didn't take two or three weeks of practice. We knew from the first couple of workouts that they had a plan and ever since practice has been really intense. They're putting the time in, and we are trying to make it stay this way. There's no doubt in my mind if we want this team to stay together next year, then these coaches have to be here, too."
The staff emphasizes pushing the ball up court. Junior guard Dane Fife, a scorer in high school but primarily a defender and screener in college, is almost surprised when the staff encourages him to take a transition jumper rather than slow it down for a halfcourt set.
The ball is mostly in Jared Jeffries' hands, the McDonald's all-American forward. The coaches stress to put the ball into a scorer's hands.
"We all came through the CBA at a time of its height when Henry Bibby (USC), Flip Saunders (Timberwolves) and George Karl (Bucks) were coaching," says Treloar, who came to Bloomington with Davis three years ago. "It's no different than coaching in AA or AAA baseball. Players and coaches are out of the national media, so they don't pay a lot of attention, but there's a lot of experience here. We've all had it a very high-level of basketball. It's not like we're going into the season for the first time around the block."
When practice is nearing an end, the players think they're done when one team wins a shooting contest and the other team has to run. Wrong.
"He's not done conditioning them today," Panaggio says.
Davis gets the players who won the first contest to hit free throws or they have to run. They miss and the drill continues through two more cycles.
"I wasn't here last year, but this is what I wanted college basketball to be," Jeffries says. "This staff has been around basketball so much and so long there's no way they can't teach us so many things. They coached at all levels. Like any young team, we realize that we're still young and it'll still take us some time to figure everything out. They're doing a great job of being calm and helping us through it."
Jeffries and Davis have been tight since he arrived. So much so, Davis is worried that Jeffries might take on too much responsibility to save his job. The same thing is occurring with the rest of the players, who want the staff to stay intact at any cost. But Jeffries was smart not to make emotional statements or threats when Knight was fired.
"One thing my father said, 'Don't say something real quick,'" Jeffries says. "He said, see what's best for me. Things have calmed down and everyone is really happy."
When practice ends, Davis sits atop the bleachers discussing the day with the reporter, Jeffries, and sports information director Jeffrey Fanter. It's no mistake that none of the literature Fanter is working on say Davis is the interim head coach. The word "interim" isn't mentioned.
"I don't know what the formula is, or what we have to do to stay on," Panaggio says. "But we've got the pieces here. We'll be successful if we're allowed to stand alone."
No word from the administration on a target date for a hire. Doninger is out as AD in late June. A new AD may, or may not be hired by then. Doninger could put his own stamp on the program if he were to hire Davis in February, similar to Steve Lavin getting the full-time job at UCLA after he replaced Jim Harrick as an interim coach five years ago.
Davis is already recruiting well, getting commitments from Indiana big man Sean Kline and Louisiana point guard Donald Perry.
"When I was an assistant coach I did a good job recruiting, but now while I'm a head coach I can do a great job," Davis says. "I've got a lot of friends, AAU coaches, who have really good players. I had so many guys who wanted to help me with kids who I never recruited before I got the job. Top 10 players. But there was no way I could do that because of the commitments I made to the other players. That just goes to show you. I'll get them or at least have a shot at them."
The only thing missing, sort of, is a conversation with Knight. Davis hasn't spoken to Knight since he took the job, four days after Davis cooperated with Knight on his story on what took place between the coach and student Kent Harvey in front of Assembly Hall. But Davis insists that's not strange, claiming he wasn't a longtime assistant under Knight and wouldn't have been so close that they would have talked all the time.
When Davis leaves the floor, a few players are wrapping up the afternoon by taking a few shots. Jeffries and fellow freshman Andre Owens are two of the last players on the court.
"This has become a normal freshman year," Owens said. "This is just normal."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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